What are you putting off?
Most of us have many minor tasks we're saving for "tomorrow" - picking up the dry cleaning, paying bills, returning a phone call, or even drawing up a new will.
More than 90% of the people who hire me do so in part because they have procrastinated answering large questions, completing major projects, or addressing longstanding unease. It's natural - when we lack clarity, feel overwhelmed and notice our doubts, we put off carefully looking at the causes and crafting a plan to move forward.
Also many of us are deadline oriented and just can't seem to get started without one imposed on us. Self imposed deadlines are easy to get around.
Research shows that there is a link between how we think about a task and our tendency to postpone it. Turns out that the more concretely you think about what needs to be done the less likely you will to put off doing it. Abstract thinking, on the other hand, makes it more likely that we will put off doing something or never get to it at all.
I've found this to be true in my own experience. For example when I have to make a difficult phone call, I can sit around all day fretting about it, thinking about what might happen to my relationship with the person because of it, ruminating about how I feel about it, and wondering why I'm getting worked up about it.
When I focus on simply dialing the number, I get through the call almost before I realize what just happened. I don't allow myself time to dwell because I am only thinking about the task in concrete terms.
In the words of the authors of a study published in Psychological Science, "Merely thinking about the task in more concrete, specific terms makes it feel like it should be completed sooner and thus reducing procrastination."
For concrete examples of strategies you can use to stop putting off your resolution to stop putting things off, check out this from getmoredone.com.
The tricks I use most often are breaking down large, gnarly problems into tiny bite-size pieces and keeping my focus on those pieces, and the tried-and-true checkoff list, which I attempt to plow through in order, starting with the most unpleasant task.
What works for you? What do you do to get things done today?
