Few people inspire me as much as Christine Kane. For one thing, I love her music. Popping in one of her CD’s can quickly jumpstart my day into a positive, motivative morning on track with my goals. It’s pretty hard to stay in a bad mood while listening to Virginia a few times. ( Go ahead…try it…)
In her latest ‘LiveCreative’ weekly ezine that landed in my in-box this morning, she shares these tips on beating procrastination that were just so darn good that I felt the need to shout them from the roof top. Well…it’s cold out and I didn’t want to go stand on the roof so…here you are.
The thing is, she is very generous this way and gives her fans and subscribers permission to share her words. So for those of you who don’t get her e-zine…here are some very good tips.
But seriously…I only re-print them here once in a great while so you should subscribe to her e-zine. You don’t want to miss out on a word she says.
9 Simple Solutions for Procrastinators
by Christine Kane
Irony: As I started to write this article, I thought, “I’ll just go play one Sudoku game first.” I caught myself in the act and marched to my laptop.
People who say that procrastination is about laziness are probably the same people who think that anorexia is about not eating enough.
Procrastination isn’t about laziness. It’s about fear. It’s about perfectionism. It’s about overwhelm. We all experience it, and there are some tricks to help you get moving again.
Here are 9 ways to break the procrastination habit
1 – When you get an idea, do some little thing to begin.
When I read Stephen King’s book On Writing, I noticed something. I noticed that when Stephen King gets an idea, he writes it. Immediately and imperfectly. Most people get an idea. Then they sit there. They wonder if it’s a good idea. Then, they wonder if it’s a good idea some more. Got an idea? Begin it now!
2 – All hail small chunks of time!
Lots of us complain about having no time. My guess is that we all have lots of time. It just doesn’t happen to be all at once. Are you waiting for many hours of spare time to begin your idea, your project, or your taxes? Stop waiting! Learn to use the spare half hour that comes up here and there. (I gave myself 45 minutes to write this article just to take my own advice.)
3 – Agree to do it badly.
Set a goal to do it badly. Set a goal to show up. Let go of doing it ALL, or doing it WELL. Some of my coaching clients’ biggest victories have a lot more to do with getting over perfectionism and fear, than they do about getting it all done perfectly.
4 – Commit aloud.
Call a friend and say something like this: “I’m going to spend the next half hour working on my Law School Essay.” Then go do it. Call the friend after the half hour and make her congratulate you. Repeat daily.
5 – Define quantities.
Nebulous goals make for nebulous results. “I’m gonna get my office organized” is a lot like saying, “We oughtta do something about Global Warming.” Most procrastinators have a hard time defining quantities. We think everything needs to be done NOW. When are you going to do it? For how long? Which part of your office? The file cabinet? Or your desk? Define the goal and acknowledge its completion.
Note: The Clutter Removal Action Process (or, “C.R.A.P.”) is one of the many bonus elements of my new “Uplevel Your Life Mastery Program” – and it makes this step a BREEZE!
6 – Install this System Upgrade into your Mental Hard Drive: Less is More.
Have fewer goals. Have no more than three priorities for a week. Why? Because you’re not lazy. You’re just trying to do too much. Find out what it feels like to accomplish one thing instead of not quite getting to everything. Wow – what a difference this makes!
7 – Do it first.
My first coach made me write songs first thing in the morning. He told me to schedule the 2-hour chunk as my first activity upon waking. Why? “Because you’re telling the universe that this is your priority. And then the universe lines up everything to align with your priority.”
Action grounds your priorities. It makes them real. It also makes your day easier because you’re not wasting energy thinking about this thing you’re supposed to be doing.
8 – Avoid nose-bleed activities.
Email, voicemail, web stats – any activity that bleeds itself into your whole day becomes a non-activity. It becomes a nose-bleed. When you do it all the time, you never complete it. You just let it slowly drain the very life force from you. Define times for these activities. Then, turn off your email, your cell phone, your web stats, until that time comes.
9 – Don’t ask how you “feel” about doing the activity.
Have you ever committed to getting fit? And then when the alarm goes off, you lie in bed thinking, “Do I really feel like going to the gym?” (Like you even have to ask!)
Change this pattern. Make your decision the night before. Commit to getting up and going right to the gym, the computer, the blank canvas. Don’t have coffee and sigh and think, “I’ll probably feel more like it at lunch time.” You won’t!
If it’s a priority, don’t waste time asking yourself how you feel about doing it. Feelings are an easy out.
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There. I did it. I wrote this article. And now, I don’t even want to play Sudoku! How about that?
Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her ‘LiveCreative’ weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.
WANT TO SEE HUNDREDS MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Christine’s blog – Be Creative. Be Conscious. Be Courageous – at ChristineKane.com/blog.
Amen. I never thought procrastination was about laziness and I’m tired of hearing from people who say “just do it”. It’s not that easy. And in fact some philosophies don’t even consider laziness to be completely what we know it as – instead it is based on fear of whatever lies ahead of us.
Now, on to work on my book writing…
Hi Wendi,
I happen to be a huge fan of Christine Kane – her music and her writing! So, seeing this is awesome Wendi!
Do it! That’s the message I’m getting. If you have an idea, do something about it. Even if it’s not perfect. I’m pretty good at procrastination (and that’s not good!!). So this is advice that I need to hear. That I need to be reminded of. And this is advice I need to act upon, most importantly! Thanks for reprinting this here Wendi!
Lance’s last blog post..Smile!
I’ve also found myself saying, “I’ll do that later”, or I might as well do that while I’m doing such and such. I’ve tried mentally asking myself, “what if I don’t”. Its similar to Christine’s concept of ignore what you’re feeling about something. “I should put those up on my desk, I’ll leave them here on the kitchen table until the next time I go upstairs”… but what if I don’t? I’ll have a big mess on the kitchen table after about 2 days. Course, that’s hypothetical… I never REALLY had a big mess on my kitchen table. 🙂
Wendi:
You *know* I’m going to do a detailed response to this one… 😉 All great points and I love seeing how other people approach things. This is how I deal with the procrastination in each of the areas.
1. I don’t write down ideas. I look at them and say: “oh hello idea, thanks for coming by” and then I let it go because I’ve always found that when I want to start something new, ideas come flocking up. By not writing them down, I don’t distract myself from whatever I’m doing in the moment
2. I agree completely! I’ve recently decided to commit 20 minutes a day to my fiction which means that even when I’m feeling overwhelmed by everything else, at least I move the novel forward slightly.
3. Perfectionism is the bane of many people’s existence – the number of Professional Organizing clients who were former perfectionists was amazing. They’d go from having an exact spot for everything, to a house full of stuff and sleeping on the sofa because the bed was covered. I’ve also learned to let myself write badly. It’ll never be as good as it sits in my head because inside my head I can ignore all the details.
4. I’m torn on the committing aloud thing – if taken too far, it can become a form of procrastination (talking instead of doing) or a good way to beat ourselves up (I’ve committed to do something and didn’t, I’m so worthless, lazy, etc…). I do like the praise part, however.
5. This is one place that I agree details are very important. Normally I hate them (ie, they get in the way of the big picture), but if you can’t define clearly what you’re doing, then it’s highly unlikely you’ll do it.
6. I just did my weekly goals update on the Foward Mortion Writers’ website (http://www.fmwriters.com) and I struggle to keep it down to 9 items (granted they are spread across my whole life and not just one area). But as I get bored easily doing one thing, the multiple goals keep me interested all day long (in short bursts)
7. I change up what I do first each day. I can be writing for others, writing for me, commenting on blogs, exercise, etc… all depending on how I feel energy-wise. I’ve tried making myself do the most important thing first each day, but if I’m low-energy then I just end up doing a crap job and procrastinating more.
8. This one is so true. Some days because checking comments, email, Facebook and Twitter, I lose most of the day. For this I’ve learned to timeblock. For example, I take a few minutes between each activity to Twitter throughout the day, ignoring it the rest of the time. I reply to blog comments once a day (or at most twice). The nice thing with this is if I’m done something early within the timeblock, I see it as playtime and go do a Facebook puzzle or watch a bit of TV – which totally encourages productivity! 😉
9. I’ve never thought of this, but you are so right! Of course we don’t feel like doing things have the time. If I was given a choice, I’d not do anything except putter all day long.
Christine – thanks for this – the article really helped me focus on what I do to be more effective in my activities and now I know where I’m doing well and what could be improved.
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome’s last blog post..Get out of that hole: Someday-busting lessons from Take That
oops I procrastinated on responding to comments!
Sorry guys, I have been out of the house a lot this week!
Stacey,
I think once in awhile it is. But even then..I say..I’m feeling Lazy..why is that? And there is always an underlying reason. Maybe I’m too tired, hungry, overwhelmed or I’ve been pushing to hard. I think it goes back to we have to listen to our bodies. A lot of times our bodies are talking and we aren’t listening…
Lance,
We should have planned ahead better and met up for her concert…you would have loved it! Next time!
John…
Um…did you get a new CLEAN kitchen table that I don’t know about? 🙂 No seriously…at our house we TRY to follow FLYLADY’s hotspot idea. That is the idea that we all have spots in our house that the family wants to pile stuff on. The fact that we eat in our dining room makes our kitchen table a hot spot. But FLYLDAY says if you just take two minutes everyday to clear the hotspot it doesn’t get hot. And when we follow this- and truthfully we do now for the last handful of years- it stays cleared off. Or at least it gets cleared ott without it becoming a mountain.
Alex,
YEAH!!
a guest post from Alex!
I’m not responding to your detailed list, but thanks for adding so many good insights, thanks for the link in # 6 I’ll go check it out! and I agree with your thoughts on most all of them, except #1. I carry around a notebook with me so I can write down my ideas as they come along. Nothing drives me more batty than to have an idea and then for it to fade away. Then when I’m going to bed at night I can’t sleep because my mind is trying to put the idea back together and its never as good as it was fresh.
hehe well done Wendi, yeah point taken!
Darren Daz Cox’s last blog post..Grey Cat love!
Wendi, I’m surprised at you… were you sick the day my kitchen table was clean? Perhaps you were tripping on all the items on my steps waiting to be taken upstairs. 🙂
Oh, the beauty of hotspots. They are wonderful for keeping our life in order. Thanks Wendi!
Love,
John
Kind of Ironic, but I’ve started to put some of these tips in motion lately. I thinK I may just have to go see what this Miss Christine Kane is all about!
Having someone hold you accountable is always a good one for me!
Jenny’s last blog post..Not My Omega
Wow! Thanks Wendi! What a cool thing to be a guest on your blog. (And you’ve got some VERY great readers too! LOVE the extra comments.)
Christine Kane’s last blog post..Learning It’s Okay to Say No