Business
Distractions are everywhere. If you work from home, you have everything within your home. If you are at an office, you have colleagues, watercooler talk, and phone calls that distract you. Even if you’re not distracted by home or office, chances are you’re distracted by social media pings and email notifications… the list goes on and on! When you’re distracted it’s easy to blame distractions for the reason you’re not getting all the activities you know you need to do (especially high payoff ones) done. You are procrastinating and using your distraction as a crutch. Why do you think distractions are pulling you away from the tasks at hand? On what are you blaming your procrastination? If it’s a distraction, let’s explore 5 potential reasons procrastination can derail your business or career. 1. You forget about your future because you’re living in the now – and with the current distraction. It is sometimes difficult to see the end of the road when you’re surrounded by distractions, pressing to-dos and the day-to-day “grind”. When you take your eye off the big picture though and give in to distractions, you’re going to find it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve your dreams. 2. Blaming your procrastination on distraction is an easy way out. It’s easy to put off the difficult tasks in lieu of something quick and easy. The quick and easy may make you feel great because you’re crossing items off the list, but are they moving you toward your larger goals? Are the insignificant items keeping you from success? 3. When you’re distracted, or when you’re multitasking you are inevitably turning in sloppy work. If you’ve procrastinated yourself up against a hard deadline, you will find yourself throwing something together at the last minute to get the project done and it will not be your best work. Distractions that make you miss deadlines will be more stressful because you will know, deep inside, that you have not turned in a project that is worthy of your best effort. 4. Procrastination and being distracted is draining on your emotions. Even if you’re not completing a project, it is still there tapping you on the shoulder. You know it needs to be done, you can’t avoid it, but pushing it to the side won’t finish it either. Jump into that project you’re putting off, shut out distractions – your health will thank you. 5. Procrastination won’t give you more free time; in fact, it will cut into your free time. Many people who don’t work on projects because they’re distracted are usually not pursuing other worthwhile projects, either. Distractions can lead you to spending hours on Facebook liking and commenting on posts and doing nothing that is even related to work. Then again, you’re facing a hard deadline and are frantic to meet it. This could cause you to miss out on family or friend time and free time. How can you move away from distraction and procrastination and toward completion? Try one or more of these 5 actions you can take to help you move away from distractions that cause procrastination. 1. Make a list of everything you have to do. 2. Look at the list of everything you have to do and make note of those you dread. Be honest. 3. Now write down why you think you’re procrastinating on those tasks. Lack of information? Fear of failure? Fear of success? Not enough knowledge about the topic? When you narrow it down, you can ask for help. 4. Is your perfectionism holding you back? Be honest. 5. Can you delegate specific tasks? If so, get activities off your plate as much as possible. You should only do what you can do and nobody else can do. Delegate everything else. To download a free Delegation List Sample to help you identify more activities to delegate, go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/delegation-list-sample/. The author of the book, Atomic Habits, suggests a simple “2-Minute Rule.” It works something like this. Rather than saying, “read a book before bedtime every night,” give yourself two