Working Moms - Stop Putting it Off

Fact: the cost in time of putting things off is far higher than simply getting them done.

The more you keep adding to your to do list, the more you feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done, the more that you get stressed by it all. It doesn't take a scientist to know that isn't ideal!

There tends to be four reasons why we put things off.

1. Complacency - thinking it'll only take us a few minutes to do, so it can wait
2. Avoiding Discomfort - believing the task will cause us to experience a negative emotion
3. Fear of Failure - believing we're likely to fail in the task, so why bother starting it
4. Action Illusion - we're very busy "around" the task doing lots of "stuff", but none of it is meaningful or actually getting the job done

And here are some ways of overcoming these barriers and just getting it done!

1. Complacency - if you really believe it'll only take minutes to do, pick a time within the next 48 hours when you're going to get it done and do it.

2. Avoiding discomfort - the more you think about the negative feelings, the bigger and more severe they'll feel. If it involves someone else (you're scared of hurting their feelings) write down what you want to say, how you want to say it and the outcome you're looking for. This won't take away all the discomfort, but it'll certainly minimize it. If it's something you just don't like doing, set yourself a super fast time limit for getting it done and go for it. Racing through it faster will also keep discomfort to a minimum.

3. Fear of failure - if it's something you've done before and you failed last time, look at the reasons why you failed and build in some ways of avoiding those. If you haven't tackled this before but are still afraid of failing, find someone who has managed it successfully, or research what you need to do in order to increase your chances of success. Then allocate a time within the next three days to get the job done and strike while the iron is hot.

4. Action Illusion - look at all the busyness and actions you've taken in this area but have failed to move forward on. What are at least three things you could stop doing and one thing you could start doing, which would increase your actual action, rather than your illusion of action? Go do them!

Source: EzineArticles.com