Her Magazine is New Zealand’s only women’s business lifestyle magazine! Her Magazine highlights the achievements of successful and rising New Zealand businesswomen. Her Magazine encourages a healthy work/life balance.
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Beating Procrastination Procrastination is a common avoidance habit, a self- sabotage pattern which often leads to poor quality of work, missed deadlines, high stress levels and team tension. We all have tasks we would rather not do. People use many excuses for not doing tasks which they find boring or challenging – "I'll have a coffee and then I'll start... I'll have a quick check on trademe and then I'll start... I'll wait until I have all the information and then I'll start...I don't like upsetting people so I won't make that call... I'll do it tomorrow..." sound familiar? 6 STEPS TO Any of that Procrastination causes important tasks to become unnecessary crises!! HAVE YOU EVER LOOKED at your desk and thought, 'I hope my clients never see this!'? Is it layered with files, incomplete projects, reports waiting to be read? Can you see the top of your desk? If this description sounds uncomfortably close to the bone, here's your next thought-provoking question. What happens to your energy when you survey this cluttered scene? (Yes, yes, I know it's all important – but if it's turning your office into a town tip it is still clutter!) Every piece of paper, information or equipment lying around is a symptom of a decision not made or an action not completed. When I share this phrase at conferences and workshops many of the attendees start writing furiously – it seems to really hit a button! Maybe we need a new association – Clutterbugs Anonymous! One of the biggest time challenges in today's business world is the sense of being overwhelmed. We've got too many emails, too many interruptions, too much 'stuff' coming at us all day long. Many people feel really helpless under this barrage of information. The great news is it's really easy to reduce a large portion of what is making you feel overwhelmed once you know and apply a few simple processes. Trouble is the more 'stuff' we have lying around, the greater the energy drain. Imagine everything in your space has invisible hands waving at you, silent voices shouting 'Pick me. No, pick me!' It's emotionally exhausting – at a subconscious level. Once we've sorted, minimised and re-organised we feel as though we've got more time – and we do have more energy. Cleaning out clutter is the FASTEST stress reducer in town! There are three major steps to the topic and all need to applied: 1. The right equipment and an efficient layout 2. Clean up the clutter and set up effective systems 3. Maintain the systems I could write a book on this topic (oh, that's right – I did!) but in the interest of brevity, let's just focus for now on part of step 2 – how to clean out the clutter. Robyn Pearce www.gettingagrip.com 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Analyse the reason why you're postponing a task. Behavioural psychologists say that the underlying cause for procrastination is fear or boredom. Which one pushes your buttons? Commit yourself to start times for each task - practise 'front-end loading'. Don't think about the deadline/due date. Instead diary in when you will start on the task and then do it! Prioritise your tasks and then discipline yourself to stick to the priorities. If you don't priorities your tasks human-nature will kick in, you will be distracted and go for the easy tasks you enjoy Eliminate the distractions. Clear the desk and the surrounding workspace of things which will distract you or you can use as an excuse when the task is boring or challenging. Break "elephant" tasks/ projects into bite size pieces. Get started! Even half an hour a day will have you making inroads into that large project. Enlist the help of a colleague/ team member to make you accountable. Tell others what you're working on and commit to deadlines which they can monitor. Innovative Training Services custom design and facilitate training programmes for business clients. www.innovativetraining.co Marie Posa, Founder/Director www.hermagazine.co.nz | 39 BEWARE OF UNFINISHED 'STUFF' – IT'S A BLACK HOLE!