OKAY, are you a procrastinator? Do you feel guilty that no matter what, you just cannot seem to force yourself to conquer your TO DO LIST. Instead, you find every other thing to do as more palatable, even if it is a tedious task like cleaning out the refrigerator or paying bills. ANYTHING to avoid the most important tasks at hand.
Well, procrastinators, there is a counterintuitive) body of research that suggests you can actually make procrastination purposeful and productive.Creating positive ways to “trick” yourself into getting things done! Even while procrastinating!
In a February 20, 2014 post on this subject, Tony Khuon writes: “Can you turn procrastinating into an advantage?
Given that you’re going to do it anyway, it makes sense to try and derive some benefit from procrastination. Productive procrastination requires that you have multiple projects going for you. You need a couple of projects going at any one time, each of which can give you tangible benefits if you complete them. If you get tired of working on one thing, you can “procrastinate” by jumping to another. This is a bit like the advice of <a ” title=”Setting Massive Reading Goals: How I Read 150 Books in 2012″ href=”http://agilelifestyle.net/reading-goals-how-to-read-more-books-a-year” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>reading multiple books in parallel to reach your reading goals. A person with multiple interests, multiple passions can make progress in any number of ways, even if they are procrastinating on one or two areas of his or her life.”…
- The goal is to keep moving forward on your goals, responsibilities, must-do’s, and wanna do’s. Set yourself up for success and a sense of accomplishment. So when you cannot muster up the wherewithall to tackle that top priority project, go down the list to something else that you can get done and do it!
And don’t beat yourself up that you didn’t do the biggest thing on the list. Maybe instead of repainting the shed — you went to the paint store and brought home awesome paint samples so you could at choose a paint color. And maybe you got some other inspirational, value-add ideas while you were there. GOOD FOR YOU!
<span “>And for those of you who live in North Carolina (and those who don’t can adapt to your location), I have a really great way to try out this theory of productive procrastination this weekend!
Do you have a big home improvement project on your list? Clean out the garage? Organize your files to get those taxes done on time? Redecorate the guest room for summer guests? But not ready to dig in quite yet?
Come to the reknowned Southern Ideal Home Show in Raleigh at the NC State Fairgrounds this weekend.
It is the Triangle’s largest home and garden show. You can justify the trip, knowing you will get great ideas, resources, product ideas, and more — like inspiration to actually want to tackle those home improvement projects.
And please be sure to visit the NC National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) exhibit to learn about what we do and how we can help you tackle those daunting home organizing projects. FREESPACES, my company, will be available at the NC NAPO booth Saturday, April 9 between 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm. [We are in the Exposition Building, Booth 2518]. Visit during this time block and enter a drawing to win a FREESPACES’ FREE 2 HOUR IN-HOME Organizing Consultation! I would love to meet you.