“I know I should be doing it, but . . .”

It's eight o'clock. You are working on an assignment that you were supposed to start working on last week. The dead line is tomorrow at twelve o'clock. Your phone starts ringing. It's your friend calling to ask you to go to the new restaurant that has opened in town. You know that you are supposed to continue working on your assignment  but you choose to go with your friend to the new restaurant and you assure yourself that you will finish your assignment when you come back.

            If you see yourself in the above description, you can at least draw comfort from the fact that you have plenty of company. Putting it off, postponing, procrastination or whatever else you want to call it is one of the most common of human weaknesses. There is hardly anyone who has not at one time or another said to himself or herself, “I know I should be doing it, but . . .”

            So what can be done to avoid procrastination? Well, there are many ways but we will only consider a few and they are the following:

            Tell time. If you are always running late, literally running because you’re late, learn to tell time. That is, make an accurate assessment of how long you’ll need to do a task. Add a few extra minutes to the task for the “disaster” that may happen.

            Delegate. We often try to do everything ourselves although we may not always need to. Another person may be able to drop off a package for us if we know he is going to the post office.

            Slice it. Sometimes we don’t start a new project because of its size. Why not slice the large task into smaller ones? As we complete the smaller tasks, we’ll see our progress and be encouraged to complete the next phase.

            Plan for interruptions. There are always interruptions in our workday—phone calls, visitors, problems, mail. We want to work effectively, which includes working with other people who also have deadlines. If we are concerned only with working efficiently, we’ll become upset when others get in the way of our activities. Therefore, plan for interruptions. Allow time daily for unplanned developments. When these arise, you can take care of them, knowing that you’ve allowed some time for them.

            Reward. When you do your scheduling, you should plan for intense or concentrated performance for about 90 minutes.  After you’ve actually started the job and have been working for about an hour and a half, you may need to take a short break. If you work in a confined space, pause, stretch, and reflect.  Reward yourself for your work.

So the next time you have something to do rather than postpone it, deal with it there and then Though, it is easier said then done, the benefits of making an effort of doing the right thing will be priceless!