Posts Tagged ‘procrastination’

Take a Vacation from Your Email!

Considering how useful – revolutionary, even – email is as a communication tool, it can also be an incredible drain on productivity. If you’re anything like me, you have discussion listservs, newsletters, Google alerts, Facebook updates, blog comments, advertisements, automated backups, reminders, and all manner of other stuff pouring into your inbox all the time – all in addition to emails from actual people actually trying to communicate with you.Of… Continue reading

November 16 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: email, inbox, procrastination, time-management | 7 comments»

Getting Things (Re-)Started: Dealing with Mental Blocks

In any significantly big project, there are bound to be times when you lose the track of what you’re doing, when for whatever reason you stop moving forward and, what’s worse, can’t seem to find the motivation to get going again. When we “fall off the wagon” like that, a kind of psychological wall starts building up, making getting back in the swing of things seem more and more daunting… Continue reading

October 20 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: creativity, mental-block, motivation, procrastination, work | 12 comments»

Self Doubt: A Disease that Doesn’t Discriminate!

What if… What if I forget the words when I stand up there? What if I go completely blank? What if I totally suck? What if I look or sound stupid? What if they hate me? What if I’m not pretty enough? Cool enough? Smart enough? Qualified enough? Experienced enough? Talented enough? Thin enough? What if they see through my act? What if they discover what I’m really like? What if… Continue reading

October 6 2009 | By Craig | Tagged: fear, procrastination, self, self-doubt, worry | 17 comments»

The Work of Worry

I admit, I'm a worrier. Always have been – when I was a teenager, I used to lay awake nights worrying about… well, whatever teenagers worry about. In college, I used to worry about classes, girls, money – and eventually about the fact that I was laying up nights worrying instead of sleeping. Today, I worry about… well, I worry about the same things, I guess, except now I'm on… Continue reading

October 5 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: anxiety, energy, organization, procrastination, work, worry | 24 comments»

The Productivity Threatdown

Fans of Steven Colbert are familiar with his “Threatdown” segment, an irreverent countdown of the five greatest threats facing the United States at any given moment. As I watched this segment one night – instead of, you know, working on the project I was desperately trying to get done – it occurred to me that the “threatdown” was one of the five greatest threats facing my productivity, at least right… Continue reading

July 10 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: constraint, distraction, goal, limit, perfectionism, procrastination | 17 comments»

How to Create Self Help Momentum

Human StatuesIn order to get anywhere - either literally or metaphorically - we need to create and maintain a certain level of momentum. Sitting in your very-capable Porsche won't get you anywhere unless you choose to start the engine, engage a gear (or six), steer the car and operate the pedals. In my time as a coach, trainer and teacher I've encountered many people who have not only been sitting… Continue reading

April 6 2009 | By Craig | Tagged: personal-development, procrastination, self-help, self-improvement | 6 comments»

How to Procrastinate Productively

There's a popular quote floating around productivity circles that says, "eat a live toad in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." Many people apply this to getting things done, saying that if you tackle your most difficult and overbearing task first, nothing else will seem so difficult.I disagree. The way I see it, the thought of having to eat a live toad… Continue reading

February 5 2009 | By David | Tagged: cleaning, errands, gtd, organization, procrastination, Productivity | 14 comments»

Reaching Your Goals – Dutch Style

The famous ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ are upon us again, and those of us jaded enough to realize all our previous year’s failures may not even bother anymore. This is not a good strategy either, as it promotes fewer goals and dreams. It’s good to know the difference between a reasonable new year’s resolution – which is more like a goal – and one that is just plain silly: if… Continue reading

January 9 2009 | By Christine | Tagged: action, dutch, gaol, procrastination, resolution | 27 comments»

Procrastination Makes for Easy Frugality

We're used to thinking of procrastination as a bad thing. We should avoid procrastinating; if we do something now, we don't have to worry about it later. But when it comes to our personal finances, procrastination isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure, we need to get our bills paid on time, but by practicing putting off other expenses we can save money in the long-term. Procrastination and Saving The longer we… Continue reading

December 26 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: frugality, procrastination, saving | 4 comments»

How to Procrastinate

In December 2005, Paul Graham published an excellent essay entitled "Good and Bad Procrastination." It is an essay that is worth revisiting from time to time. In it, he argued that at all times we can work on one of three things: a) nothing, b) things that are less important, and c) things that are important. He refers to these as type A, type B, and type C procrastination. Type… Continue reading

December 26 2008 | By Art | Tagged: cleaning, clutter, interruption, procrastination, work | 7 comments»

How to Stop Being an Over-Thinker

As a rule, thinking is a good thing and while some people don't do it enough, some over-think everything. Both genders can fall into either category - today we're going to chat about the one who does too much.Some people think themselves into stagnation, frustration, exhaustion, anxiety and even illness. They have an aptitude for making the simple, complex, the easy, hard, the minor issue, a major drama and… Continue reading

December 22 2008 | By Craig | Tagged: action, overthinking, personal-development, procrastination, self-help, self-improvement | 47 comments»

Back to Basics: Procrastination – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Procrastination is very literally the opposite of productivity. To produce something is to pull it forward, while to procrastinate is to push it forward -- to tomorrow, to next week, or ultimately to never.Procrastination fills us with shame -- we curse ourselves for our laziness, our inability to focus on the task at hand, our tendency to be easily led into easier and more immediate gratifications. And with good reason… Continue reading

September 19 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: back-to-basics, concepting, idea, planning, procrastination, task | 24 comments»

Back to Basics: Setting Priorities

It is easy, in the onrush of life, to become a reactor – to respond to everything that comes up, the moment it comes up, and give it your undivided attention until the next thing comes up.This is, of course, a recipe for madness. The feeling of loss of control over what you do and when is enough to drive you over the edge, and if that doesn’t get you… Continue reading

July 11 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: back-to-basics, covey, goals, priorities, procrastination, quadrant | 15 comments»

How to Be On Time Every Time

In my last post, I talked about why being punctual matters. The short version: people who are habitually late (or are late even once, when it counts) project incompetence, self-centeredness, and even a lack of integrity.

In the comments, lapka asked if there were any tricks for people who have a hard time showing up on time, and through a little bit of research and a little bit of… Continue reading

May 16 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: planning, procrastination, punctuality, time-management, trick | 21 comments»

Read This Now! Stop Procrastinating and Get Stuff Done — or Else!

OK, I'm done with procrastinating. I'm done with the guilt, anxiety, stress -- and, of course, the not getting stuff done. I'm tired of answering "what'd you do today" with "nothing...". Of course, it's a lie -- I did do something, just not anything important. Not anything that made me feel happier, more complete, or more relaxed. What I did today was spend 8 hours kicking myself, putting myself down… Continue reading

April 30 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: getting_started, motivation, procrastination, reward, timer | 23 comments»

« Previous Entries