One of my favorite characters in literature and on screen is Scarlett O’Hara, the heroine of “Gone With the Wind.” She is strong, determined and a bit outrageous, but she shows the greatest traits of survival in tough times. One of her famous lines, however, when confronted with a huge problem or task, is, “I will think about that tomorrow.”
We all have those big activities that I call “A” items on our daily ‘to-do’ list. If you set goals (which you should routinely), I like to break them down into A-1 Lifetime goals, followed by B and C goals. All goals are not created equal! But why is it so easy to procrastinate and not get around to the important ‘A’ goals?
Our goals are formed from desires. They must be stated so they are attainable and measurable. Because ‘A’ goals are the most critical ones and the most difficult to tackle, we can put them off and sadly never attain them. For many, the reason we put them aside is fear of failure. We want to achieve them, but after we state them, they may seem like too big a leap or too big a hill to climb. Like Scarlett, we push the work to get started until tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes and a bunch of other things get in the way.
We can put them aside because the demands of others and unexpected emergencies can take every waking second of every day. Potential activities we have scheduled are greater than the time available.
My only solution to the procrastination game (for anything we need to really get done) is to categorize our to-do list. Next is to delegate anything that someone else can do. Identify your habits that can waste time. Consider time as money. Think of life as a limited number of hours in which to live. Calculate how much your time is worth.
The Swiss cheese method can help you to take off small bites of a big goal that eventually push you forward. Find some instant, smaller tasks that can be done in ten minutes. Once you get started and chip away with smaller increments of time, you will find you are making progress, which gives you hope and energy.
Last, schedule at least one large block of “A” time each week for the next four weeks. Identify your most creative time of day and schedule “think” tasks during this time. Let personal goals guide your daily actions. Focus on the rewards of accomplishing your goals. Realize that interruptions will happen, but don’t be your own worst interrupter.
Many ask me how I get so many things done and, “Do you ever sleep?” Oddly enough, if you can reduce your sleep time by just 30 minutes a night, that adds up to additional time to achieve the most exciting and fulfilling goals.
And as the old proverb says, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”
Gay Gaddis
Founder. Author. Artist. Trailblazer.
SIGN UP! Receive Gay’s blog posts in your inbox by joining her bi-monthly newsletter.