Best New Anti-Procrastination Technique of 2011

Today I want to introduce you to my best new anti-procastination technique of the whole year. It’s called the little green box (although yours may be a different color), and it was conceived by my daughter Jenny.

 Here’s how it works:

1. Get a little box or a jar. 
2. Write all your jobs on little squares of paper. 
3. Fold up the little squares and put them in the box. 
4. Shake up the box, and draw your first job. Complete it. 
5. Go back to the box and draw another job. Complete it. 
6. Keep going until there are no more squares in the box.

Here are a few advantages to the system:

1. It’s fun. Even if the jobs are crummy, at least you get the thrill of drawing them from the box. 
2. It’s not as overwhelming as a job list. Because you can only see one job at a time, you lose that tendency to look at the whole list and get discouraged. 
3. It’s relatively easy. When I have a big list, I look at a few jobs on that list and automatically dismiss them because they’re too hard. When I see that same job on a little piece of paper, I think Well, it’s just one job. I guess I can do it. 
4. It’s motivating. Because you want to see what the next job is, you’re more inclined to finish your first job. 
5. It’s satisfying. As I see the little slips of paper disappear from my box, I think Wow, maybe I can finish my list after all today. I’ve had much more success in emptying my job box than I've ever had in finishing a physical list. 

In my next post, I’ll share a few more ideas about this box system. But for now, it's time to draw another job from the job box!

My Brilliant New Anti-Procrastination Technique

I think I’ve found the secret to overcoming procrastination. And yes, I think it’s going to change my life. Would you like to hear what it is? Okay, here goes—are you ready? Picture a drumroll . . . here it is . . .

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Make a list, and . . . (here’s the brilliant part) . . . don’t put anything on the list that you dread doing!

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Now, I can just imagine what you’re thinking . . . That is such a dumb idea. How will you get anything done if you only do the things you want to do? Somehow, that doesn’t seem very brilliant—or responsible, for that matter.

Well, let me put your fears at rest and tell you that I’m not suggesting you stop doing the things you dread doing. What I'm suggesting is this: take the item that you don’t want to do and break it up into small steps—then, and only then, put it on the list—but don’t put the whole job on the list, just put the small step on the list! Now, do you see what a brilliant idea it is?

Let me show you two different lists, so you can see how it works. First, I’ll show you the list I actually wrote yesterday. Then I’ll show you the list I would normally have written.

List #1
Unpack: Computer case, suitcase, red bag, black bag
Put away suitcases
Weed: 20 weeds in carrot patch
Tidy: Living/dining room, kitchen
Do dishes
Look for graduation card for Sterling (I hadn’t come up with my brilliant new plan yet a month ago when I should have sent this card).
Paperwork: Take care of 5 pieces of mail.
Rhubarb: Pick 5 pieces and chop them up for freezer.
3 hours writing

List #2
Unpack
Weed
Tidy house
Send grad card to Sterling
Paperwork
Freeze rhubarb.
3 hours writing

See the difference in the two lists? The second one is shorter, but it’s much more intimidating. Why? Because I know very well that it would take hours and hours to bring the paperwork, gardening, and housework up to my perfectionist standards. In fact, the idea of it would be so overwhelming that I probably wouldn’t even bother trying. Instead, I’d force myself to tidy up and unpack, but that would be about all I’d get done.

The beauty of the first list is that it takes perfectionism out of the equation. When I see that all I have to do is just a little bit, all of a sudden, I don’t mind doing it. And what usually happens is I do much more than is on the list. But the really great thing is this: I complete the list. I don’t get discouraged. And slowly, but surely, I get those dreaded jobs done.

If you struggle with procrastination, why don’t you give this method a try? Make your list, but don’t put anything on the list that you’d likely procrastinate. If it’s something you don’t like doing, just put a small step on the list even if you really have to do the whole job that day.

Here’s an example. Today I had to make rhubarb cheesecake bars for a potluck we’re going to tonight. Instead of putting make rhubarb bars on the list, I put find rhubarb bar recipe and get ingredients out on the list. It may sound simple, but it really works. (My rhubarb bars are sitting in the refrigerator as we speak.)

Now, you may wonder why I didn’t say write one sentence instead of write three hours on the list. That’s because it’s a daily job that I don’t really dread doing. What I do with a job like that is to put six different “30s” on my list. Then each time I write for 30 minutes, I check one of the 30s off. It often takes me until late afternoon to get all of my writing done, but it’s not something I put off and never do like some of the other things on my list (thanks to hours and hours spent truth journaling when I first started writing).

Anyway, I hope this idea helps you as much as it has helped me. I’m still in the early stages of it, but it seems like it will be life changing if I can just remember to keep making a list each day.

Well, I better get going. I still have to pick out a card for Cheryl and address the envelope and write a message on the graduation card for Sterling. I better get busy. After all,who knows? I might just go wild and decide to finish both cards and mail them today!

When To-Do Lists Drive You to the Refrigerator

I had a hard time sticking to my boundaries yesterday. It was one of those days when I felt like just sitting by the fire with a bowl of ice cream in my lap and a book in my hand doing nothing. Now if this had been just a fluke day in my otherwise diligent life, it wouldn’t be a big deal. The problem is that I often feel like sitting in front of the fire doing nothing. I’m a lazy person by nature.

Now I suppose I could say, “Well, that’s just the way I am. Besides, there’s nothing that really needs to get done today.” But what if I were to say that day after day after day? What would my life look like?

I know what it would look like, because I’ve lived it. You might think it would be a fun, relaxing life, but it really isn’t. What it is is a series of last-minute “oh no – I need to get this done today!” moments. It’s a feeling of being overwhelmed and out-of-control—feeling like you’ll never catch up with life.

Does God really want me to live my life like this? I don’t think so. I know that my laziness keeps me from doing things He wants me to do, so I’m working on bringing this area of my life captive to Christ.

Instead of sitting all day by the fire yesterday, I did this. First, I pulled out my procrastination verses and prayed through them. Then I truth journaled about my list (It would be more fun sitting and eating by the fire all day than working, I don’t feel like working so I shouldn’t, idle time is the best time, etc.), and finally I broke my jobs into smaller more manageable tasks and got to work.

Now you might say, “That’s crazy—all that work just to make yourself work? Why not just force yourself to do it?” Here’s the answer. If I just force myself to do it (which I’m not good at anyway), I miss the opportunity to renew my mind and change the way I think about work.

It took a lot of effort yesterday to carry my thoughts captive to Christ through truth journaling and praying Scripture. It would have been much easier just to sit by the fire and eat ice cream with the plan of “doing better tomorrow.” It would have been much easier to just try and force myself to do the work. It would have been much easier to give up and say, “I’ll never change.”

But do I really want what’s easy? Or do I want to please God? I can’t do both at the same time in this situation.

If I continue to renew my mind when I feel like procrastinating, one day I’ll have victory over this area of my life. I’ll probably never be a “let’s get it done” sort of person, but as God changes the way I think about work, I'll actually be more inclined to "get it done now" rather than waiting until later.

One day my first reaction will be to do the list—not head for the refrigerator. Taking the time to renew my mind now will lead to a weight loss later - because I won’t be eating to procrastinate anymore.

Did you think I haven’t written for so long because I was procrastinating? Not true! I’ve been so busy doing my “worst first” and “most important” that I haven’t made it to “write a blog post.”

You may think I’ve been a whirlwind of activity, but that’s not true either. Sometimes it takes me until noon to work up the courage to tackle my worst first. Sometimes I pray some Scripture, get in the mood to tackle the list, and then get side-tracked by something else and have to start all over again.

What’s happening is that I’m making slow (very slow) and steady (shaky steady) progress. I even did one item in my paperwork drawer that I’d been procrastinating for four years. Yes, you heard me right, that was four years. Are you beginning to feel better about your own procrastination habits?

Every time I do one of those dreaded items, I feel a sense of relief. Even though I don’t think about those things on a regular basis, they’re in the back of my mind, draining my energy, and keeping me from doing other things I should be doing. It’s an incredibly freeing sensation to get them accomplished.

Let me show you one of my journal entries about procrastination. I could have written this exact same entry about emotional eating a couple years ago, so if you’ve got it all together in the “getting things accomplished” department, see if you can apply it to your struggle with emotional eating. (I’ll put the truths right under each lie, so it will be easier to follow.)

1. It’s terrible that I didn’t finish my to-do list. (If this were about emotional eating, I would have said, “It’s terrible that I ate so much yesterday,” or something along those lines.)
Truth: It’s not surprising I didn’t finish it. After all, I’m just learning. If I were perfect from here on out, I couldn’t have been much of a procrastinator in the first place. Change doesn’t happen in an instant.

2. I will never catch up.
Truth: I won’t catch up if I only work on this in my own strength. But if I continue to renew my mind and see this problem through God’s eyes, He will change me.

3. I am too inept.
Truth: God can transform inept. His power is made perfect in my weakness.

4. I think I’m doing well, and then I fail again.
Truth: Duh—that’s what change is—I can’t expect to succeed without failing time and time again. Remember the figure skater. (They have to fall a bunch of times if they want to execute the perfect jump.)

5. It’s hopeless. I should just give up.
Truth: On the contrary, it's incredibly hopeful. If I turn to God in this trial, He will change me. It may take awhile, but it will happen. My only chance for hope is to keep trying and to try in His strength.

How many entries like this will it take to conquer procrastination? I don’t know.

But I’ll keep making those entries and praying those Scriptures, until my natural reaction to procrastination is to turn to God rather than food or some other form of entertainment.

Because He’s the only “escape” that will make me get back to work!

To all my fellow procrastinators

I finished my list yesterday! I think I found the one thing that's going to transform my life in this area, and that's to do the worst first and focus on only one thing at a time. That's what I did yesterday, and I never even reached the point where I didn't feel like doing my jobs - probably because I got the two baddies done first thing in the morning when I still had energy. By the time afternoon rolled around, the only things left on the list were things I kind of enjoyed anyway, so it was easy to make myself do them.

If you're a procrastinator like me, give this a try and see how it works! Think of it this way - if you have nine easy things on your list and one hard thing that's been stressing you out for awhile, would it feel better to do the one hard thing or the nine easy things?

Oh, I almost forgot one more benefit from doing this. I didn't feel like eating in the late afternoon, which is when I most feel like breaking my boundaries.

I think the reason for this is that usually I still have my worst jobs left by late afternoon, and I feel like eating because I know I should do those jobs but don't want to. Since I had already done those crummy jobs by late afternoon yesterday, there were no feelings of guilt or dread, so I was able to just relax and enjoy life - and since the negative emotion (stress) wasn't there, I didn't feel like eating.

Anyway, I'm excited about this new idea - we'll see if it continues to work.

Hi Everyone,

I hope you're all enjoying the holidays and not eating too much! We finally went up in the mountains and got our tree yesterday. It was so warm, my teenage son was wearing shorts! (Although admittedly, he wears shorts when I wouldn't.)

You may be wondering if I finished my list yesterday, and the answer is no, but I did have a great time with my family instead. I guess I'll always choose people over the list - at least I hope I always do.

I'm back at it today again, though. Let me share something that helped yesterday. I wrote my list down and then numbered the things on it, putting the worst things first - in other words, the ones I dreaded the most, and you know what? I did get those dreaded items finished.

I'm going to try to keep numbering my list and do it in order. If I concentrate only on the one thing I'm doing and not on the whole list, I think it will help me not get overwhelmed. These are the questions I'll ask myself before I number the list:

1. Which item is the most important? (judging importance by what God says is important)
2. Which item would give me the most satisfaction if I did it?
3. What do I dread the most? (Or which item would bring me the most stress relief?)

I'll try to put the answers to those three questions at the top of the list. Well, I guess I better get to work. I'll start with the answer to number two (which is also the answer to number one), since I already had my quiet time, and everyone else in town is still asleep (like I wish I was - but oh well, I'll get a lot done now and take a nap this afternoon if I get tired.)

Barb

Today, I’m going to apply the ideas in my last post toward my problems of perfectionism and procrastination. In fact, I’ll start right away on my problem with perfectionism by trying to write and post this blog entry in 20 minutes! I’ll resist the urge to correct and change it, so I have more time to get other things done today.

I’ve learned from experience that the only way to really be free of a problem is to keep going to God with it, so that’s what I’m going to do. Every time I don’t feel like doing my to-do list, I’ll go to God. (It’s procrastination and perfectionism that keep me from doing the to-do list – that and a desire to have fun in life and not do boring things!)

Here we go:

1. We need the right type of fuel.

My commitment isn’t to finish my to-do list—it’s to go to God every time I don’t feel like doing the next item on the list. I printed out the procrastination and perfectionism verses (from the list in my Bible study) and attached it to a clipboard that also has my to-do list and a lie-truth chart on it. (I know, I sound like an organized person, but it’s all a mirage—I’m really not—in fact my first sentence when I was truth journaling about this this morning was “I’m inept.” The truth was “I’m a beloved child of God; He looks at me with compassion, not demanding perfection.”)

Anyway, whenever I lose my steam (which will probably be every time I finish one item on the to-do list), I’ll sit down and pray through some Scriptures or truth journal. That will make me feel like doing the next thing on the list.

2. We need enough thrust.

My commitment will be to keep doing this each day, until procrastination and perfectionism aren’t a major issue in my life. I know from experience it will take six to eight weeks if I’m faithful to go to God each time. Now—I know I might not be faithful! But remember—I’m also working on perfectionism, so I’ll have to realize all along that I’m an imperfect person, so I might not end up doing what I want to do. That’s when I’ll have to remember that God loves me no matter what and doesn’t condemn me, and then keep trying even though I'm doing an imperfect job of trying.

3. We need the right type of structure.

I already have my structure in place—my plan, my clipboard with the Bible verses, and I might get a journal for the truth journaling part of it.

That’s about it and I just finished twenty minutes of writing (including looking for the paper I truth journaled on this morning to see what I wrote). So I’m going to post this now, even though my mind is saying, “No, that sounds really dumb, you better read it over again!” (I’m telling my mind, “too bad, so sad, I’m posting it.”)

I hope you have a good day—pray for me if you get a chance! I will be here in my house diligently trying to complete my to-do list for once in my life! (and no, my to-do list is not that long.)