Springtime usually decides to arrive for real during May with sunshine and spring storms, runoff from snow melting in the mountains, and some warm days to remind us of summer to come. May reminds me of the Kentucky Derby, with the ladies in all their finery and fancy hats. Some of the hats I saw this year would have looked better on the horses! Memorial Day reminds us of the sacrifices made by our veterans and their families. As a former Hoosier, I also think of the Indy 500 and usually try to watch the excitement on TV. May also brings Commencements with robe-clad graduates and visiting dignitaries spouting long speeches that nobody remembers.

Our goal is to make this newsletter interesting and useful. Each month, we feature an overview of a different topic, some food for thought, and perhaps a smile or two. Enjoy! and please invite others to join the Viewpoints subscription list – it’s an opt-in list on our website: www.infiniteperspectives.com .

Warmest Regards,

Charles (Charlie) Boyer
Infinite Perspectives, LLC
www.infiniteperspectives.com

PROCRASTINATION “Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.” “Manana.” “I’ll get around to it.” “Later!” Do any of these sound familiar to you? They sure do to me! I planned to get this newsletter written and posted a lot earlier in the month – but I put off getting it done! Oh, sure, I had other things to do, and not enough time to get everything done – but that’s just an excuse. I’ve started listing my excuses as “Lame Excuse #1,” “Lame Excuse #2,” etc. But that’s MY list – what’s YOURS? It’s easy to put things aside and let other things get in the way, isn’t it? Let’s take a look at the art of procrastination, what it is really costing you, and some ways to change your “do-it-later” voice to “do-it-now!”

Procrastination isn’t new. The word comes from two Latin words, “pro” and “cras,” meaning “for tomorrow.” The ancient Romans must have understood the put-it-off concept very clearly. Makes you wonder if that’s one of the reasons Latin is a “dead” language.

The Art of Procrastination. Many people have developed procrastination into an art. Psychologists tell us what may sound like a simple behavior – putting off a difficult, complicated, or unpleasant task – is really a complex set of behaviors involving emotions, skills, thoughts or attitudes.

Clayton Tucker-Ladd wrote that putting things off may seem to make life more pleasant, but doing so usually adds stress, disorganization, and frequently failure. He describes the process as (1) you want to accomplish something and need to get started; (2) you delay, thinking there is an advantage to waiting; (3) you delay more, making excuses to yourself and others; (4) you delay still more until you have to hurry or decide you just don’t have time; (5) you berate yourself or decide that the task isn’t important after all; (6) you tend to repeat the process on other tasks.

John Perry has refined the art even more by adding a new wrinkle he calls “Structured Procrastination.” He says that procrastinators “…seldom do absolutely nothing; they do marginally useful things…” to keep busy. Procrastinators tend to do little things -- sharpen pencils, rearrange desk drawers or files, untangle paper clips – to keep themselves from doing something more important. A list of tasks usually has the most important “to-do” tasks on top. By picking off lower level tasks, the procrastinator fools him/herself into thinking that important things are still getting done.

What Procrastination Costs You: Procrastination is a very expensive habit. Can you afford it? Here are some ways that it affects us:
• Missed opportunities – you don’t have the time or energy to consider new and perhaps better ways of doing things
• Long and harried work hours – you’ve got too many things to do and not time to stop and think about anything
• Stress – you lie to yourself that you work best under pressure
• Overwhelm – you just can’t get it all done, so you don’t. Remember the procrastinator’s motto: Don’t just do something, stand there!

Change Your “TO DO” List to “TA DA!” Do you have a long “to do” list and not many completed projects? You need to aim for more “TA DA!” moments in your life.

Steve Pavlina suggests several self-talks that may help you overcome procrastination:
1. Replace the words “have to” with “want to.” You are always free to choose. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.
2. Replace “finish it” with “begin it.” Think of one thing you can do to start a task rather than all the things you’ll need to do to finish a big job. Just like eating an elephant – one bite at a time.
3. Replace “perfect” with permission to be human. Getting something done imperfectly is more important that a perfect job delayed and delayed and …
4. Replace depriving yourself with guaranteed fun. Set up small goals and reward yourself for each small goal you accomplish. And take some time off just to BE.
5. Use timeboxing. Pick a small task and set a definite time limit for yourself – 30 minutes, perhaps. Then give yourself a small reward just for completing the time on task. You’ll find that you become less aware of the small timeboxes and actually look forward to getting the task completed.

Brian Tracy writes that failure to execute is one of the biggest problems facing organizations. People confuse activity with accomplishment – stay busy, make plans, hold meetings – but not much gets done. Tracy says big tasks are like eating frogs. If you have to eat a frog during the day, do it first and the rest of your tasks will seem easy. If you have to eat two frogs, eat the biggest and the ugliest one first. Tracys’ book, Eat That Frog!, describes 21 ways to stop putting things off and get more things done.

POINTS TO PONDER . . .
Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. (Denis Waitley)

Procrastination is the thief of time. (Edward Young)

Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday. (Napoleon Hill)

Procrastination is opportunity’s assassin. (Victor Kiam)

Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill. (Christopher Parker)

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. (Don Marquis)

Pile up too many tomorrows and you’ll find that you’ve collected nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays. (Harold Hill – The Music Man)

RESOURCES: Here are several good resources that may help you learn to turn your “to do” list into “ta-da!” accomplishments:

The Now Habit by Neil Fiore
The Procrastinator’s Handbook: Mastering the Art of Doing It Now by Rita Emmett
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy

Search Now:

Internet sources:
ToDo Institute: an online library of resources.
www.todoinstitute.com/Procrastination.html
Psychological Self-Help by Clayton E. Tucker-Ladd. http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap4/chap4.htm
Overcoming Procrastination by Steve Pavlina.
www.dexterity.com/articles
Structured Procrastination by John Perry.
http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~john/procrastination.html

NEXT ISSUE: Excluding Other Perspectives. “Don’t confuse me with the facts – my mind is already made up.” “Be reasonable – do it MY way.” Do you tend to react to other viewpoints or opinions by getting upset or frustrated? Do you think you know the answers so you stop listening to the questions? In the June newsletter, we’ll explore some of the issues and ideas involved with the differences between thinking and knowing.

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• Find your sunshine and stay out of your own shadows

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