So let’s talk about procrastination! (Okay, it’s true, you could mark this article to read tomorrow…but there’s no better time than now to turn over a new leaf and stop the cycle of procrastination.) Matter of fact, let me begin by sharing some of the top items on my list. First is an unfinished book project I’ve been wrestling with for months – part perfection, part time crunch, part fear…it just doesn’t seem to get lift off; next, there’s the dental work I’ve been postponing – this is a perfect storm…I dread the pain and discomfort and my delaying the inevitable causes even more of the same (who said it’s rational!); then comes the closets that haven’t been sorted since the kids left home (I know, an analyst’s heyday!); and finally a mounting stack of paperwork on my desk at home…anything on my list sound familiar to you?
We’re all faced with multiple decisions about where to allocate our time and attention every day. We’ve got more demands than we can usually accommodate and sometimes it’s hard to identify what is ‘procrastinating’ and what’s simply ‘life’. The bottom line question is:Are our decisions influenced by rational thinking?
This is the theme of our third edition of InRoads – Procrastination. We’ll review some current thinking about this behavior, share some expert opinions, suggest some techniques and tools for managing it in our own lives, and learn about how other HI coaches have been impacted by, as well as dealt with this issue. We’ll also examine where and how it shows up for us when we are in the process of making changes and we’ll hear some tips from well-known author, Marilyn Paul, PhD., on how to tame our procrastinating ways.
Procrastination: A Routine Behavior for One Out of Four
Procrastination is second nature to most of us. The more important issue is how often and how much we engage in this maddening behavior. According to current studies 95 percent of us engage in procrastination ‘occasionally’ and 25 percent of us do it ‘consistently’ and ‘problematically’. Those who fall into the latter category, find the costs significant and the challenges hefty. If you are in this group, chances are you are almost always feeling behind, chasing deadlines, trying to catch up and internally a thorough mess about all of it.
If you’re a member of the Hudson CHICoach Community, this issue of InsideCoaching is already available to you. Please sign in to view it in the Resources section of the CHICoach Community.
Creative Strategy & Website Design by Tarfoot, Santa Barbara, California.