The Effects of Procrastination and Action Steps to Make the Most out of Your Time

Procrastination is a very common habit among professionals and business owners. It affects them on a daily basis and can create a huge amount of unnecessary stress. 3 Most Common Effects of Procrastination: 1. Lowered morale. Knowing that a job is still incomplete or is unfinished can really lower your morale and self-esteem. 2. Inefficiency at work. Unfinished business tends to clutter up your day and thoughts. Even if you’ve moved on to other tasks, you will tend to remember the one that is undone. 3. Feeling of dread. The more you postpone a task or project, the more stress out and dreadful of it you become. You begin to think of the task as more complicated than it really is. This leads to stress and to even more procrastination on your part. Ways in Which People Procrastinate There is a multitude of ways in which people procrastinate. However, the methods people use to procrastinate tend to fall into two categories. People either 1. Don’t take action and end up using their own procrastination and not having “enough time” as an excuse for their failure to accomplish their goal, or 2. Don’t make decisions out of fear of choosing the wrong option, failing, or not knowing enough to make the decision. Instead, what they do is research all options to an extreme as an excuse for not making a decision. These people may later find it even more difficult to make a decision when looking at all the information and choices in front of them. If you procrastinate often, you are well-aware of the effects it has on your professional and personal life, the way in which you view yourself and the way in which others view you. Procrastination is a self-inflicted obstacle that can be overcome. However, you have to want to combat it. Creating work life balance is a continuous process. It does not happen ove ight and it varies depending on the life stage you are in. The way you establish work life balance in your 20s will be very different to when you are in your 50s. This is because your work responsibilities and family setting will change throughout the years. Knowing this, don’t get frustrated when you realize that you will have to make changes to your priorities list and boundaries on a regular basis. Also, keep in mind that your work life balance and boundaries are your own. Everyone needs an individualized system of boundaries to create the work life balance that is healthiest for them. The only constant thing in life is change. As such, the amount of work life balance that works best for you will change many times throughout your life. Make sure to use the worksheets and exercises in this book as often as you need them. You should also go back and compare your most recent answers with earlier ones. It will give you great insight into where you are today in life and the changes that have occurred. Action steps to make the most out of your time. 1. Emails. Check your email once or twice (at most) during the day. If this creates a potential problem for you, write a message at the bottom of your signature line explaining that you do this and that it allows you to increase your productivity and give better service. 2. Categorize. Make a list of all of the tasks that you do each day, each week, and each month. Organize them into categories accordingly. Beside each task, write whether it’s a task that you 1. Like, 2. Dislike, or 3. Absolutely hate. 3. Delegate. Delegate as many tasks as you possibly can from the “Dislike” and “Absolutely hate” categories. A primary example of this is tasks involved in customer service. After all, who wants to sit and listen to complaints or questions all day? Who has time to make all the phone calls, answer the same questions, and STILL continue to build your business or career? Remember that if you are a business owner, your main role is to build your business. This requires that you work ON your business not FOR or IN your business. Delegation also works wonders for professionals who want to get ahead in their careers. You can delegate any task that you find mundane by simply creating rules and specific instructions and systems.