Pick A Day, Then Stick To It

Pick A Day, Then Stick To It.

Procrastination is simple to do.  It takes no effort to make procrastination happen.  Do nothing and procrastination appears.  That is the extreme way to become good at procrastination.  I have some things that I automatically place onto the procrastination trail.  In my life those things usually get a lot of my 'do nothing' respect.  I typically procrastinate doing those things that I do not want to do.  Unfortunately, on that long list of things that I do not like to do are some things that need to be done.  When those important things find a place on that procrastination trail, a small collision occurs.  Demand and expectation usually runs right into that thing that is hiding on the procrastination trail.  It usually is not pretty.  I should have picked a day and do that thing I was procrastinating.  I didn't.

I usually notice it does not take very long to complete the work I was procrastinating to do.  In fact, I find it usually takes the better part of one day.  That is about it.  One day of dedication will usually do the trick.  Most of the time, I can complete the project I was procrastinating in just about one full day of dedicated effort.  For the most part, I find that is true.  So why do I skip that day?  Because I am procrastinating.  That's why.

Pick a day.  Any day will do.  Let's say Thursday this time.  On Thursday I will sit down and do the thing I have been procrastinating to do.  I need to produce an employee packet for describing how to do the detail arrangements to our new delivery program.  They want these packets.  They have described how they need a list of things they are supposed to do each time they arrange a delivery set-up for our customers.  It is not a hard project but I just dance around it somehow.  So I will pick a day to complete it and stick to that day.  Thursday will be that day.  I pick Thursday.  Pick a day, then stick to it.

Got any projects you are procrastinating?  Pick a day.  Pick Thursday like I did.  We should pick a day together.  That way we can check to see who really did the project on Thursday.  We can see who still wants more time to procrastinate and who is willing to stick to it.  Go ahead, pick Thursday.  Let's try Thursday to do a single project we are putting off.  I picked the employee 'delivery' packet project to do.  I will do that one.  Which one will you do?  Select one.  Do it on Thursday, with me.  You do yours and I will do mine.  We will check on Friday to see which one completed their project.  Be aware, however.  I picked an easy one.  I suggest you pick an easy one, too.  Or else I will finish mine and you will still be procrastinating yours.  Your project will still be sitting on the procrastination trail waiting for a small collision.  I am planning to get mine removed from that trail on Thursday.

See how this works?  If you have been wanting to complete writing a new song, pick a day and stick to it.  If you have been wanting to call up a close friend, pick a day and stick to it.  If you have been putting off some garden work, pick a day and stick to it.  If you have been putting off an important employee meeting, pick a day and stick to it.  Just pick a day.  Any day will do.  Do not look at your calendar.  Do not try to find a time slot.  Do not figure out when would it be a good time.  Just pick a day.  Do not pick the time slot, just the day.  All you need to do to kill procrastination is to pick a day and stick to it.  You might not actually finish the project, but if you pick a day you have a better chance to get most of it done.  In most cases, all of it will get done.  The problem we have is that we list the project down and pass over it when we work our lists.  We skip it.  We procrastinate one more time.  Just pick a day, then stick to it.

Pick A Project You Have Been Putting Off

Years ago I was a frequent drinker.  I liked my alcohol and drinking was fun.  I did a lot of it.  Drinking alcohol was a major part of my social life.  The two were very good companions.  Social life and drinking, a great combination.  I actually like it when I see people socializing with a drink or two.  They get a chance to loosen their plastic fences and show each other the real side of who they are.  As long as they control the level of drinking it can be a very good combination.

My problem with that combination is that I already had a bit of good courage.  I did not need very much alcohol to begin showing others who I really am.  In fact, in most cases, I do not need any alcohol to show others who I really am.  I blurt it out freely.  Add the alcohol and I can become very courageous.  Add a lot of alcohol and I am like a speeding bullet.  I can jump tall buildings in a single leap and fly through the air with the greatest of ease.  I failed to control my alcohol when I socialized.  I always had fun, I just made a lot of trouble.  In many cases, I flirted with serious trouble.  My restraint was terrible so the alcohol had to go.  It has been gone for nearly 25 years.  So has the collateral damage sitting along that trail.  The rubbish that comes with over drinking has disappeared.  Life has become a lot more easier to manage.

In order to get that problem under control I had to first admit I had a problem with it.  I had to admit it needed my attention.  I had to admit I was not doing well with too much drinking in my social life.  It may have been fun but it was hurting those who were traveling my life path with me.  They got some unwanted scrapes here and there.  I was placing them into harms way and not able to prevent them from the awful experiences I produced from too much alcohol consumption.  I had to pick a day and stop it.  I had to pick a day and stick to it.  I had to come to grips with doing what I was procrastinating to do.  I had to stop.  I picked a day and stopped.  That was almost twenty five years ago.  Pick a day, then stick to it.

If you are not the business manager you want to be, pick a day.  Pick Friday!  Pick Monday!  Pick Thursday with the rest of us.  On Thursday, order a new book on how to improve your business skills.  Get started on the improvement project.  If you do not have this book, "How To Win Friends And Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, go get it.  It should be your first book.  Order it on Thursday!  It is an old classic.  It should be required reading for any manager.  It is not a tough read.  It is also a night stand book.  Once you have read it, it needs to be sitting nearby to browse once in awhile.  We are humans, we tend to backslide a little bit.  A friendly reminder does not hurt once in awhile.  This book is written friendly enough that it can deliver friendly reminders quite effectively.  Pick Thursday to order that book.  Start building up your business leadership skills.  I will be writing my employee packets on Thursday and you will be ordering your new book.  Let's stick to it.

Procrastination can be cured.  All we need to do is admit we have the affliction.  Once we admit it, the work to fix it can effectively begin.  We need to admit we procrastinate.  We need to admit it needs fixing.  We need to look around us to see who we are hurting when we fail to do what we are supposed to be doing.  If we are supposed to be doing some things that we are putting off, someone next to us is suffering for it.  We need to see who that is and why they are being hurt from our procrastination.  We need to recognize the pain we are causing.  We need to admit we are the reason why that pain exists.  We need to accept full responsibility for creating that pain.  Once we accept this truth we have completed step one.  We have admitted we procrastinate.  Now pick a day, then stick to it.  Pick a day to do something that has been a project we have placed on the procrastination trail.  Pick a day to start its work.  All of us have picked Thursday this week.  That's the day we will all begin our work on something we have been procrastinating.  Thursday is the day we picked.  Let's stick to it.

Write it down.  Make it become a part of your written plan.  Let's go do that one thing we have been procrastinating.  One is all we need to do.  I have a bunch of other ones I am also procrastinating.  Only one is on my completion target for Thursday.  I picked Thursday to do this one single project.  Pick only one to do.  Leave the others alone.  They can remain on the procrastination trail.  We will pick a different day later for one of the other ones to do.  For now, just pick a day for one of those projects.  Just one at a time.

When I quit drinking alcohol it was just like they said, one day at a time.  I never attended any group sessions, got any help or went to any AA meetings.  I quit all on my own.  Once I made the decision to stop, that was it.  I stopped.  Now it is like a badge of honor.  When I tell others it has almost been 25 years, they quietly gasp.  They had no idea.  They cannot picture me as a drinker.  The same holds true for procrastination.  It can become something you no longer are recognized for.  It can become so far in the past that you will not be seen as one of those who procrastinates.  It will eventually be erased from their view.  They will not see you as a procrastinator.  It will become a thing of the past.  Start with just one project on one day.  Pick Thursday, then stick to it.

Until next time...