The P-Word, Procrastination: The Big Stall

The Nation of Procrasti is out there.
It’s not actually on any map, but we’ve all been there. Some of us gonthere quite often and have racked up frequent flyer stuff to prove it. It’snnot actually very far away, so it’s very easy for anyone anywhere to getnthere.

Lots of us make an annual pilgrimage, or semi-annual, monthly, weekly,nor daily. We don’t actually have it on our calendar, a trip there usuallynjust happens. Often we often go there on a side trip, while we’re on thenroad to anywhere else we’re going.

Procrasti is a scenic place, filled with many like-minded tourists alsonbusy seeing the sights. “Might as well, since we’re here,” we say. Somendays it’s a very busy and bustling place. Sometimes we’re in the moodnto stay awhile or at least we’re not in a hurry to leave it, so we look at allnour favorite spots:

The Museum of Maybe Later
The Town Hall of Tired Right Now
The Fire Station of Something Else is on Fire
The Fountain of Forgetfulness
The Lake of Let’s Float That Idea For Awhile
The River of Rushing, Can’t Stop for That
The Gargoyles of Gee, I’m Not in the Mood
The Statue of I’m Waiting for Word From Them First
The Main Street of Might, Might Not
The Forest of Fine, First Thing Tomorrow
The Park of Pretty Tough Job to Tackle
The Tunnel of Take Too Long Right Now
The Garden of Golly, I Need to Sort my Socksnn Most of us go alone, but a few of us even take a buddy for company.
Sometimes we say we’re going on vacation there, and take other worknalong. That means we are stalling. Plain and simple. And the trouble isnwhen we come back home there’s that task waiting for us. It just waits.
And eventually we do come back home because there’s no place likenhome. And Procrasti is nice, but we wouldn’t want to live there.
* * * n Nancinator Anti-Procrastinator Action Ideas ONE, TWO, THREE:

When you finally decide to come back from Procrasti or just stay homenin the first place to tackle a task/get it done/make it happen-- here arensome ways to win:

1. >>>>Worst First Monster<<<<

Look at what you have to do and decide what is the ickiest,nyuckiest, vile part or section of the job. What is the thing you hate tondo? What is the most horrible thing...Gather your courage, look thatnmonster in the face, and attack! Shout to the task, “You don’t scarenme! You’re done for!” And then dig in. Do the big bugaboo beginningn(scrape the paint off, write the outline, make the tough phone callnetc..etc..) and when you’ve accomplished that much, shout, “Now,nthere! Ta DAH!” Whee! And the rest is downhill. n

2. >>>>The Pepperoni Principle<<<<

This is also known as “Divide, Divide, Divide and Conquer” and it’s thenthird and even the fourth “divide” that makes the difference.
Nobody eats pizza with the whole pepperoni plopped on top. It’s thenthin slice, that makes it nice, edible, and do-able. MMmmmmm!
Every job to be done can be sliced into sections, and the smaller thensection, the more approachable it is. So, don’t take on the taxes, thenP.3/ mending, and the mailing list all in one big chunk! Break it down,nand down and down starting with a teensy slice: nget the tax records together in one place; find the buttons that fell off,ngather the article of clothing, the scissors, the needle and thread; get outnthe list of data to be entered in the spreadsheet. Now there, that’s easy.
Step two should also be small: separate one pile of receipts, thread thenneedle, enter 10 addresses. To get us back from Procrasti, sometimesnwe have to do wierdly simple baby steps. Trust me.

3. >>>>Sticky Sticks To It<<<<

Sticky notes are perfect for procrastinators. Write down each individualnstep of the whole project. Jot each teensy, weensy task on a separatensticky. Things like: find the phone number, find the phone, make a listnof points I want to cover and results you want, rehearse aloud, preparenwhat you’ll do if you only get voicemail, dial number, talk/leavenmessage.... Post those notes in sequence in your work area, on thenkitchen cabinet, wherever you’ll see them and have it stick in you
mind...so you can stay stuck on this job. As you do each separate task,npull them down and revel in the rightous feeling.
***
Go for it. Choose ONE, TWO, or THREE, or a combination.
Taking a trip to the Land of the Great Getting Things Done is ever sonmuch more satisfying. That’s a *zippy* trip! Email me, I’d love to hea
about it.

PROCRASTINATION: The BIG Stallnby Nanci McGrawnc 2001 All Rights Reserved. Nanci McGraw, www.Nanci.org