As a time liberator, I teach my clients that the only difference between prioritization and procrastination is how feel about it. Both are making a decision to do one activity before another. When we feel bad, we call it procrastination. When we feel good about it, we call it prioritization.
When you feel bad, look at the activity you did versus the one you didn’t and ask yourself:
Did I make a good decision about completing the activity that was done?
If yes, stop beating yourself up – it was prioritization.
If no, why did you make the choice? We tend to take the path of least resistance. ID the resistance and you’ll move ahead.
– Are you missing information? Make finding it a separate task
– Is it an activity you dislike? Delegate or trade with someone who enjoys it
– Don’t know where to start? Task 1 is break it down into managable tasks
– Can’t execute to your standards? Start it, allow yourself to do it poorly as a learning exercise then evolve it.
– Don’t have the education/tools? ID what’s needed,ID a resource and move ahead
– Is intuition telling me it is not the right time or activity? Listen more closely, intuition might be telling you what to do.
– Is it something you think you should do but not something you want or need to do? Chances are the activity can be dropped – it is someone else’s priority not yours. Time to say “No”. You can do it gracefully and when it is done honestly, everyone is better off.
It’s important to be kind to yourself – we all have more than enough to do. Don’t let procrastination drain your energy or pull the fun out of owning your business. One simple question will help you gain clarity so you can move ahead with a simple solution.