In This Episode…
n this episode I share another story about how I overcame procrastination to get another major task done. In hindsight I kicked myself when I realise just how simple and effective this approach is.
I left myself asking this question – “Why don’t I do this ALL the time?”
Episode Show Notes…
00:18 – My challenge in developing my productivity is to switch the knowledge I am accumulating around being effective into actionable behaviours…and then carrying out those behaviours.
00:47 – To know and not to do is not to know.
01:06 – Sometimes when I even know what to do, my automatic hardwired natural responses kick in. If I find a task that appears to be too difficult, too large or just too distasteful, then automatically my brain perceives that as a threat.
01:31 – I then kick in to the fight or flight mode, become overwhelmed (freeze) and shut off my thinking brain from addressing it.
01:42 – However, understanding the power of the IF-THEN formula (implementation intention), I can set up behaviours to happen WHEN I get overwhelmed.
02:46 – Here are a set of nested IF-THEN behaviours I have identified for when I am overwhelmed:
- IF I’m overwhelmed, THEN I’ll break down my tasks into smaller chunks.
- IF I’ve broken a task down into smaller chunks, THEN I will sequence them in the most logical order.
- IF I have sequenced chunks into the most logical order, THEN I will do the first one.
- IF I have done the first one, THEN I will do the next one….
- IF I have sequenced chunks into the most logical order, THEN I will do the first one.
- IF I’ve broken a task down into smaller chunks, THEN I will sequence them in the most logical order.
03:11 – Now I have a framework, a recipe even, for being able to start working on tasks I might usually put off.
03:23 – For example I had been procrastinating a very important task to do with the marketing of my keynote speech on personal productivity.
03:53 – I got out my favourite productivity tools – a large piece of paper, a stack of small post it notes and a pen. Here are the steps I took:
- I brain-dumped all of the tasks I knew I had to complete to get the marketing material generated and put up online onto individual post it notes.
- Then I sequenced them in the most logical order I could think of.
- Then I did each task in turn.
04:29 – Sometimes the tasks might come out in the order you eventually do them. However it is good to do it this way because sometimes you miss tasks, or come up with the task out of sequence.
04:55 – An now as a result of this I have my marketing material for my productivity keynote speech up online and doing its job.
05:08 – When I had finished the project, I asked myself “why didn’t I just do that first time round?”. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!
Until tomorrow…
