Why do some of the brightest, most accomplished people out off important projects until the very last minute? They waste precious time busying themselves with unimportant matters until time runs out. Then they hurriedly put together something that's not their best work.
The very people who are the brightest and most accomplished often set such high performance standards for themselves that they're impossible to meet? Their self image requires that they turn out superior work every time, even when it's not necessary. So if a project is new or complex, they hesitate. They're afraid they won't be able to do it perfectly.
The irony is they may delay so long that when they finally do get started there isn't enough time left to do the superior work they expect of themselves. They've created a self-fulfilling prophecy. They did a less-than-perfect job, and kick themselves for procrastinating. You can see how self-defeating this is!
If this sounds like someone you know (you, maybe?), here are some tips to interrupt this pattern:
- Evaluate how much of your time and effort the project is worth.
- Break it down into small steps that are easy to get done.
- Try to outsource the steps you hate to do, or don't do well.
- Work backwards from the due date to create a realistic time line.
- Schedule a block of time in every week to work on projects.
- Just do it! The stress caused by putting it off is usually worse than the task itself.
Remember, when you have a project before you, it doesn't have to be done perfectly; it just has to be done.
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