I’d just returned to my office after having been on the road in two countries for five weeks. You can imagine the pile of paper ready to grab me by the throat! Everything screamed ‘Do me now’. I also had two major projects to attend to – one of them to tidy up a number of email address errors from a Top Time Tips ezine. I could have delegated this task, but many of the people were clients and/or friends I wanted to personally talk to. Through ‘good’ procrastination I was able to enjoy the major project work and still catch up with the most important items.
Next time you come back from holidays or a business trip, start by taking 10 minutes out. Sweep the clutter on your desk into one pile. Now quickly sort everything into two heaps – the ‘must-be-done’ and the ‘nice-to-do’ – and have a rubbish bin handy.
Realistically, you can’t immediately get to the ‘nice-to-do’ pile. Take the guilt off your mind – put it out of sight. I recommend a drawer or drop file in your desk (but don’t forget it’s there when you’ve caught up with urgent matters. Make a diary note or alert on your computer). With this pile, you can procrastinate with impunity.
Now, what’s left? Many people just struggle their way through the ‘must-be-done’ pile one thing at a time. Don’t. As if you’re laying a game of cards, sort it into categories – phone calls, action (i.e. letters or similar), internet action, other people, and reading. You’re applying a powerful principle – putting like with like. I use coloured plastic pockets, putting each category into a different colour. Then before you place the materials into their pockets, put each pile in order – most urgent at the top.
You now have two possibilities. You’ve been away and perhaps there’s a major matter to attend to. Is this day going to be spent focused on the activity or activities that will make a real difference to your business, or is it more useful to have a catchup day, ready for a clean sweep tomorrow? If it is a ‘major project’ day, only leave out the most important thing to work on, and put your coloured pockets in the drawer.
If it’s a ‘catch-up’ day, allocate a realistic amount of time for each category: 30 minutes for calls, 1 hour for action, etc. Put in a drawer all but the activity pocket you’re working on, and stay focused until the time is up. Then put that task away and go to the next most important activity. By sorting into types of activity you don’t waste time constantly shifting from task to task and you’ll achieve much more.
The key principle: by procrastinating on less important things you focus on what matters – one thing at a time.
So, don’t feel overwhelmed with too much to do – Learn to Procrastinate!
