Stop procrastination
”Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”
Drucker, P. (n.d.)
When we open a dictionary, most of them defines procrastination as “to put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.”. No one wants to be thought of as careless or lazy, especially in the office. Nevertheless, we all procrastinate in our lives.
As salespeople, we tend to be the ones that most procrastinate. In a sense, it is part of our DNA as salespeople. Procrastination has severe drawbacks; it keeps an individual stuck in a problem and prevents them from moving ahead in life. People find it difficult to focus on performing other chores till they have finished the one at hand.
However, procrastination has nothing to do with work. Tim Urban calls it the gratification monster, while Melrose Robbins calls it a form of stress-relieving.Melrose Robbins says that we have a habit of procrastination, and if we acknowledge it as a habit, we can break it. Research suggests that it takes ten weeks or 2.5 months to break a habit and to do so, we need to:
- Diagnose the trigger, the stress
- Understand the pattern, avoid doing something
- Recognize the rewards and the stress relief you get
So if we accept that procrastination is a habit, to break it, Robbins advises us to:
- Acknowledge the stress, the trigger
- Count from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 so that you can break the pattern in your brain
- Intercept the procrastination habit by starting to work just 5 minutes in what you are putting off. Thus you can break the habit
Bringing It All Together.
If you accept procrastination as a habit, you can break it, and if you can break it, you can be more productive and effective, thus winning by bringing your best self to work, accomplishing more and being more effective.
P.S.: The ONLY way to stop procrastinating | Mel Robbins on Youtube
DISCLAIMER. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author, and they are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organisation, company, individual or anyone or anything.