Jun 2019 How to stop putting off the important things
I am often asked, how do I do those important things, that will benefit my business, but I just keep putting them off?
So what things am I talking about?
Things like analysing your financials and seeing where you could be making more money, re-organising an area in your business or revamping your website. We all have some tasks or projects we keep putting off, so here are some ways you could make them happen.
Step 1 – What is the task?
Firstly, write don’t the task you are putting off and then ask yourself, can I delegate it?
Step 2 – See if you can Delegate the task
Can you delegate this task to someone else? If the answer is yes, then I would suggest talking or emailing that person now and giving them the outline of the task. If you can’t delegate it, can someone work with you? See the next step.
Step 3 – Perhaps someone can partner you on this task?
Is there someone who could partner you on this task or project? If the answer is yes, obviously go and ask them to help, if the answer is no, let’s go through these reasons you are putting off doing this task.
Here are some other core reasons we procrastinate and what to do about them.
Do you see it as too hard?
If you do, ask yourself do I need someone (an expert or someone who has experience with such a task) to give me some ideas on how I need to approach it.
But if you feel you are quite capable of doing the task yourself and just need some quiet time to jump on google and research some information. Then I suggest you put 20 mins aside tomorrow and do the research. Everyone can find 20 min to do research on google, after all, we waste time every day, so finding 20min tomorrow or during the week will not be an issue.
Often the idea that a task is too hard is because we see the whole task as one big heavy project that is going to take a long time to complete and we just don’t have time at the moment.
But if we project forward in our minds to a time in the future when this task has been completed and we see our business benefitting from the results, the necessary motivation we need to get started has been triggered. Go on, try it with a hard task you have been putting off?
I use this technique with all tasks I find boring or hard to start. I also spend just 15-20min researching or just getting started, so at least I have started something that seemed hard or boring. Then I come back to this task again the next day, but often find, that because I have started the task I move through it much quicker than expected and often find that it wasn’t as boring or difficult as I thought.
Putting something off because you don’t “feel” like doing it
Who says you need to wait until you ‘feel like’ doing something in order to start doing it?
You don’t. I know half the time when I go to the gym, I don’t really feel like it going, I just go anyway because I know I will feel better when I am finished, and after many years, this activity has become a habit.
Afraid you will stuff it up
If you are worried about stuffing up a task, see it as a way to end up better off than you are now, as an achievement or accomplishment. Anyway, so what if you make a mistake or it doesn’t end up the way you anticipated. Most things we do, don’t end up perfect. Our personal development consists of learning from our mistakes or what could have been improved so we can grow, so cut yourself some slack, and get started. In the case of a complex task or expensive project, you may need to do some thorough planning and talk to skilled advisors to determine whether the project should be undertaken.
So I have outlined the many simple approaches to getting starting on important tasks or projects you may be putting off. But most of the time if you just decide to spend 15-20 mins so you start a task, it tends to put everything into perspective and makes moving forward much easier and enjoyable.