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Welcome To the March 2008 eTalk Newsletter!
Procrastination: many of us have been guilty of it at one time or another. Putting off work until the last minute can force a rush on the back end of a project and ultimately have a negative impact on the finished product. While it’s easy enough to say “I’ll stop procrastinating,” it’s just as easy to lose sight of that vow and once again “let things slide.” This month’s eTalk newsletter features articles and tips that can help you take measured, methodical steps to put an end to the bad habit of procrastination.
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Many psychologists agree that procrastination is a psychological problem based upon some sort of fear. These fears include such things as fear of failure, fear of facing an unpleasant experience, and even fear of boredom. I confess, fear of boredom is why I procrastinate doing my expense reports.
All techniques to help overcome procrastination are designed to help us bridge the gap of fear, no matter what the cause. My favourite technique is to make an appointment with myself to do the thing I’m procrastinating. But do it away from my regular environment. That way I don’t have excuses to not get the job done!
Some common techniques used to overcome procrastination are:
Recognise what fear drives your procrastination and pick a technique to help you get through it. For example, maybe you’ve put off making a difficult phone call because you feel it will be an unpleasant experience. I’ve made many such calls in my career and almost always I’ve found it was never as bad as I thought. Also, my self esteem would shoot up, my stress would go down, and I would be far more productive the rest of the day.
What are you afraid of? What are you procrastinating? Do it now. The benefits of eliminating procrastination are huge.
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Leonardo da Vinci was a man of incredible talent, but he was also a chronic procrastinator who never finished a project on time. Part of what made Leonardo such a Renaissance Man was that he was distractible as he was talented. The Last Supper was only finished after his patron threatened to cut off all of his funding, and the world- famous Mona Lisa took twenty years to complete!
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a famous eighteenth century poet, whose better known poems include “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Kubla Khan.” Coleridge was also one of the most infamous procrastinators of all time. Throughout the course of his life, publishers were reporting imminent pieces from Coleridge that never saw the light of day. Today, scholars find most of his work left in fragments; brilliant fragments, but fragments nonetheless doomed to obscurity.
Douglas Adams is famous for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” and eight other well-received books. He was also a procrastinator of legendary proportions. Although his finished works are world-famous, he absolutely hated writing! He never overcame his procrastinating ways, and literally required publishers and editors to lock him into a room and monitor him until he produced written pages. Adams’ procrastination robbed fans of a tenth book: for over a decade, he had promised delivery but died before even finishing an initial draft.
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Some humorous and relevant quotes on the subject of procrastination:
Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. - William James, Psychologist and Philosopher
Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday. - Author Unknown
You may delay, but time will not. - Benjamin Franklin
Procrastination is opportunity’s assassin. - Victor Kiam, Entrepreneur
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. - Mark Twain
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St Patrick’s Day – 17th March
St. Patrick’s Day is Ireland’s greatest national holiday as well as a holy day. The date marks the anniversary of the death of the missionary who became the patron saint of Ireland. It is a happy holiday for the Irish wherever they may be - in Dublin, New York, London, Auckland, or Sydney. The day is celebrated with parades, speeches, festive dinners, and dances.
The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place not in Ireland, but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers to reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as with fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.
On the Australian front, Governor Macquarie gave benign recognition to the anniversary in 1810 when he provided entertainment on 17 March for convicts employed by the government. It became a custom for a committee of the most reputable Irishmen to arrange a dinner on 17 March in a Sydney hotel. It continued as a celebration for the Irish living in Australia, and every year there is a St Patrick’s Day celebration in the City of Sydney.
Shamrock: According to legend St Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock as a visual aid to explain the concept of the Trinity. It is said that while he was preaching he plucked a shamrock from the grass in order to illustrate the true existence of the Trinity in everyday life. While this story is probably a 17th Century invention, there is no doubt that the Shamrock, Ireland and the colour green have now become intrinsically linked.
Snakes: St Patrick is also credited with driving snakes from Ireland. Again this is probably not the case. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland. But chances are there haven’t been any since the end of the ice age when the country was separated from the rest of Europe.
I have been using Day-Timer® Planners for 14 years. You will note that at the end of this year I will need to migrate to another shelf to store the next volume! On many occasions in the past when I have needed to refer to what happened and when -- 95% of the time I’ve found what I was looking for. The whole system has helped me not only in business and in court cases but also in my social life too. I have needed to use electronic diaries with work but still fall back to the reliable entry of the appointments into my Planner.
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Don’t put it off any longer…
…take steps TODAY to rid yourself of the nasty habit of procrastination. You’ll reduce stressful rushed periods, enjoy enhanced productivity, and improve the end result of your efforts!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this issue of Day-Timers’ eTalk Newsletter. We’ll see you next time!
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