Procrastinating with the Best of Them

We always open our Tradewinds Council™ https://www.jimthomasintl.com/the-tradewinds-counciltrade.html meetings with an ice breaker—where we each introduce ourselves and our business, then answer a special question to provide personal, professional insight.
 
We have learned resilience during 2020, so we could all reflect on lessons learned this year. There were impressive insights from our Council members that I captured in meeting notes and would share with blog readers. A personal lesson-learned was discerning a skill I just assumed everyone had. During 2020, a client asked me to instill my innate “bias to action” temperament into their employees, as management increasingly felt productivity enhancement was vital to “keeping the doors open” during this period. I really had not grasped that an inability to procrastinate was actually a viable skill—an unusual attribute. 
To implement such an “anti-procrastination” program required first identifying the root cause of the problem. We all procrastinate on some matters. However, honestly, do we chronically avoid a project which could have a significant impact on results? Conversely, we do not want to deploy “ready, fire, aim” tactics into a major project just to shorten our task check list. So, why do people procrastinate on the big stuff? After researching the “experts” I isolated the problems into these four buckets…

• LACK OF FOCUS. Do you have clear goals and a “true north” personal compass? On the latter, mine is growth and a desire for enhanced relationships with trusted partners. I ask myself: Would resolution to the problem I am confronting help achieve my goals? If not, it gets lower priority. Still it may need to be done, just not as expeditiously.
• FEAR OF CONFRONTATION. This is usually the strongest reason for procrastination—e.g., “solving this problem will ruffle feathers and trigger pushback…and I don’t want to wake a sleeping docile dog into a mean, biting dog.” For such problems, determine optional paths and be flexible. Certainly, keep the optimum end-result in mind, but rationally consider execution paths that may favor preferences of “colleague resources” you will likely need for the overall project to succeed. Getting your project completed by applying others’ processes might be incredibly wise and politically prudent. Be generous with deserved accolades. Play the long game.
• FEAR OF FAILURE. This is common. (I have this phobia when I use hand tools in the garage!) But you cannot fail if you do not try. And very seldom is failure professionally fatal. It is a learning experience. Often, if we pay attention, more valuable character lessons are captured through failure than through success. Recall Phil Knight in “Shoe Dog”? If you are going to fail, fail fast. You will adapt.
• PERFECTIONISM. Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Every winning run is not a ball flying over the center field wall, nor should such perfection be the batter’s objective. Good, smart base running management has more value than home run perfection. Insisting on the perfect people, plan, product, process, profit will surely tap your most limited, valuable resource: time. When you find a project is delayed, determine if there is a “perfection obsession bottleneck” in the process. Take corrective action. 

Tips:

• Know your peak time. Address your hardest problems when you are at your physical, mental, emotional best. Resist the urge to solve “multiple minutia” mini tasks when you are in your optimum efficiency zone!
• Break down large projects into a series of smaller projects.  It is easier to ford a stream by making a series of small steps going from rock to rock.  One rock at a time to get to the other side.
• Schedule effectively.  It is OK to put task on your “futures” list to gather required information, just do not let them die deaths of benign neglect If important projects are in the queue, be certain the information needed is being obtained and provided by a high-urgency resource.
• Keep score! Tick them off as achievements. Conquering tough issues needs to be recognized. Celebrates to reinforce the good feelings

Cancer has taught me that looking at your past honestly casts light on why you are where you are today. What skills have you learned that you may have undervalued? Now may be a good day to discern your survival skills you employed in 2020. 
We cannot get through these times alone. Impossible! Use your unique skills and talents to help others. You can receive this blog directly by subscribing @ https://www.jimthomasintl.com/blog

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