I’ve been meaning to write this blog for a while…. (See what I did there?)

I am a world-class procrastinator.  I have years of experience under my belt in putting off things I do not like doing.  I have also spent a lot of time trying find ways to stop procrastinating.

I have read books.  I have bought planners.  I have hired people who I ask to remind me to do things.  All of these have helped.  But, I now realize I will never be rid of this trait.  Procrastination will always be there. 

Maybe later…

I am at war with procrastination. But, I now win more often then I lose.  That is because I have embraced two strategies that help me win more than I lose.

1.  Know My Priorities

Much of what I believe I have to do is actually optional.  I have things I have always done and therefore continue to do.  But, they are not truly required activities.

I used to put off reading weekly reports my people generated.  They were boring. Even the good ones were drudgery after reading 8-10 other reports.  This task would hang over my head and eat at me.  I felt like I made my people do them, so I should at least read them!

I ended up eliminating these reports for my team’s sake and for my sake.  They did not make any of us better.  If I have the power to eliminate things from my “To Do” list that do not make me better, I do it ruthlessly now.

Sometimes other people required me to do things that I soon found were optional as well.  There were times I made the conscious decision to perform higher priority tasks and sacrifice the mundane things assigned by my boss.

On those occasions if I was called to the carpet, I made my argument regarding my priorities.  Sometimes I was praised, sometimes I was scolded and sometimes I got a mundane task eliminated.  In all cases, my priorities became clearer.

I know having priorities is not a new concept, but sometimes we all get in habits of busyness versus disciplines of productivity.  If it is busywork, eliminate it.  Be ruthless with the things you can control and speak up against the low priority things you can’t control.

2.  Do What I Hate First

Unfortunately, I always have things I must do that I hate doing.  As a sales director, I hated the administrative requirements of my job.  I hated unscheduled frivolous reports created by my boss, the marketing department or Human Resources.  I hated expense reports and other regularly scheduled drudgery too.

Unfortunately, I was required to complete these tasks whether I liked them or not.  Doing what I don’t like to do, when I don’t want to do them is a requirement of being a professional in any venture.

I went to Franklin Covey seminars and other time management classes to try to get a handle on doing the things I hated.  They provided me with good ideas, but I finally came up with my own system that works for me.

I do what I hate to do first.  Typically there are things on my to do list that energize me and other things that suck the life out of me.  The required work that sucks the life out of me now comes first.

When I was a sales director I determined that expense reports would be the first thing I did in the morning.  I got them out of the way early so I could look forward to the rest of my day.  If I did not do them first, they hung over me like an ominous cloud.

By accomplishing the energy sucking tasks right away, I did not allow them to affect how I looked at the rest of my day.  They were done and I could now do what I loved.  When I made this change, my days changed for the better and I was more productive.

The Bottom Line:

Some tasks are optional and some are not.  The first step is determining what my priorities are and eliminating the things that are optional.

The next step is to accomplish the priorities that I hate at the beginning of the day and not leave them until the end.  It takes discipline.

It’s like taking cough syrup.  I do not like the taste at the time.  But once accomplished, I am able to do more and feel better while I am doing it.

Each of us may have different ways to beat procrastination.  Some people say to accomplish your biggest priorities first.  That helped me to a point.  But, it did not help me with the priorities that I did not like to do.

The stuff I like to do is easy to accomplish.  Once I have established my priorities, completing the priorities I hate to do, first is my best strategy for beating procrastination.

Question:

What priorities do you hate doing? How do you beat procrastination when dealing with them?