Self-Management puts an End to Procrastination

Anyone thinking about quitting procrastination during the New Year—but considering  putting it off until later — may benefit from a  system called the ABC's of self management, occupational therapists say procrastinators can get their lives under control by setting concrete goals and objectives. Decide on goals and objectives.

Without a master plan, other people's actions determine your priorities; time ends up being allocated to whatever lands in your lap. They say procrastinators should take a few moments each morning to prioritize tasks that need to be completed.

The tasks should be labeled A, B or C: A's for tasks that must be completed, B's for tasks that should be completed and C's for tasks that would be nice to have accomplished.  Now you ask, 'How do I do it all?' The answer is very easy: You don't, You do only what is important. Very often C's are routines that you can eliminate or get someone else to do.

Next, pros expound, procrastinators should keep a time log of all activities they undertake for about two or three days.  You’ll probably discover you spend far too much time on the unimportant and too little on high priority items, they say.

Behavioral consultants say procrastinators should plan ahead, putting aside time each day to consolidate, minimize and eliminate tasks. In addition, she said, procrastinators should set objectives and finish one job before beginning another.

“Don't start a B task until all A tasks are finished," they say.   Discourage drop-in visitors and when you delegate a job be sure to give it with complete instructions.

Procrastination— what one wag called "the art of keeping up with yesterday" — is something we all have in common. Everybody puts things off, especially things that are bound to be unpleasant or difficult.

In our more charitable moments, we think of this as a rather charming little flaw, a small and harmless human weakness. But when procrastination starts getting in the way of all the things we'd like to get out of life, it's no longer quite so charming or harmless.

There are a lot of people out there — even bright, successful people — who live with a sense of fraud and anxiety because they can't seem to get hold of their procrastination." Time lost in procrastinating can take years out of a person's life.  It just zaps enormous amounts of energy, emotion and time. But worse yet. the fears, self-doubts and low-tolerance for the unpleasant that arc part of the procrastination pattern can lead to alcoholism, depression and anxiety."

Not laziness

Isn't that a bit much? Isn't procrastination just sloppy time management or plain old laziness?  "Laziness is too sorry an explanation — it just doesn't cut it."