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Aren’t some women fantastic. They have it all figured out. They have neat, tidy houses, beautifully-dressed, well-mannered kids, and always seem to be well put together, calm and in control.

In comparison, you feel constantly rushed, scattered and disorganised. There are countless household chores waiting for your attention.  A million things you need to complete. And you never have enough time or energy to get it all done.

So what can you do to overcome this? How can you get some order and organisation back into your life?

Well to start with, you can stop procrastinating. 

What does this mean? The Oxford dictionary defines procrastination as: “The action of delaying or postponing something”. And doesn’t that say it all! I am sure that most of us have been guilty of doing this at some time or another.

But why do we do this? Why do we procrastinate about things? And what sort of things do we usually find ourselves procrastinating about?  

Procrastination usually rears it’s ugly head when we are fearful of something or need to deal with a task that is low on our priority list. Maybe we view it as a chore. It may be something that has to be done, but we really don’t want to actually do it, because it is boring, difficult, maybe uncomfortable…

It could be time consuming. And it probably either has no deadline, or a very loose one. So there is no set timeframe that it needs to be completed in. Consequently there is no sense of urgency.

When this is the case, this task will continually be relegated to the bottom of your “to-do” list. Rather than knock it on the head and simply get it done and dusted, you will put it to the back of your mind and allow any newer, maybe more exciting tasks or opportunities, which will produce more tangible, faster and more exciting results to be front of mind.  And these will then be given a much higher position on your agenda.

But you will always have these unpleasant, tedious or uncomfortable tasks looming. Constantly nagging at your subconscious. 

For example, say you have an important call to make. This may be something that will have a big impact on your family or business, but is scary. Maybe you need to call someone to tell them you can’t attend their event, maybe you have to say no to something. Maybe you have to deliver unpleasant news. Or you may even have an exciting call to make, but are extremely nervous about it’s outcome. So you procrastinate. You find a million different reasons and excuses which prevent you from doing it.

Stop right there!

Instead of putting it off and simply delaying the inevitable, do it first thing in the morning, at the start of your day. Rather than have it hanging over your head all day, it will be done, dealt with, and you can move on.  This is a fantastic concept to apply to any task.

Just do it! 

So, rather than waiting until the last minute, like a lazy student who waits until the night before to complete a huge assignment or study for a test, do it ASAP, get it out the way, and you will also then find yourself open to any new exciting opportunity that comes along. You will have no “chore baggage”, but will be able to really take advantage and be flexible about opportunities if you keep up to date with things.

So as much as possible, banish procrastination from your life. Replace it with the positive attitude of “just do it”, and watch your productivity soar. You will feel in control of your life, and can accomplish anything without the limitations of excuses and procrastination to hold you back.

How do you stop procrastinating? Would it work for you to JUST DO IT first thing in the morning? SHARE your thoughts with us in the comments below.

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  • I find I procrastinate mire when I’m tired, haven’t eaten well it exercised,or have lots on. Doing yucky jobs first thing is a great idea. Maybe I need to delay gratification of treats too, like coffee after jobs not before :)

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  • I don’t procrastinate much, but I can get overwhelmed if I have a lot of things on. At work I set up a priority matrix each week, outlining the tasks I want to complete during the week and their relative urgency. I tick things off as I go – starting with the high impact/high urgency tasks. I also schedule any exercise classes in the morning so I get out of the class and do them first thing … it sets me up for the whole day!

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  • To Do lists are so good, I’m currently juggling so many things that they are an absolute life saver.

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  • Well, procrastination is definitely a habit I have. A way of avoidance really; putting off unpleasant, boring or stressful tasks. Needless to say that postponement rarely solves anything and can sometimes just make things worse and harder to finally overcome.

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  • I try to do the thing I most dread straight away … as in immediately … that way it’s done and dusted and I don’t have it hanging over my head anymore. I find most of the time thinking about doing something (and putting it off) is more stressful and energy-sapping than actually doing it. Once I’ve done it, I breath a sigh of relief because it’s now behind me, and I can on with doing other more pleasant things.

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  • I have a small whiteboard which is my todo list.. If I want to put someone else onto it, I have to take something off it.. Sort of works..

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  • this is good advise i always procrastinate with phone calls because i find i am not a good speaker on the phone and i panic, but i have found doing anything first thing in the morning is good because i feel easy for the rest of the day instead of stressing about that stupid call i have to make.

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  • it s great

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  • Yep I’m a procrastinator when it comes to chores like cleaning. The main reason is I feel like the only person in the household who does anything and when I do, my tornado of a 2yr old comes through and it doesn’t look like I’ve done anything, it’s disheartning :(

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  • When I have a lot of chores to do I always write a list. You may not always be able to do them in the same order burt you can work your way through them. e.g. You may have to go to an appt. and have time to do a chore further down the list. It may not be practical to start a chore that you can not complete and know you won’t be able to finish it that day.

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  • I’m a big procrastinator! Always putting things off. I find, not having the time to do everything I do what I can every day and put everything else off, but the to-do list gets bigger every day with extra things that come up. I am working on ways to get through everything life is throwing at me but it is hard.

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  • I get so anxious about all the things I have to do

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  • I’ll get to it once I finish eating/sleeping/reading/whatever…!

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  • My husband will tell you that I am the Queen of procrastination! What I have done that works for me, I write up all the things I need to do on separate post it notes and stick them to a door where I can see them. As I complete a task I can pull the post it note off and put it in the bin. I get a sense of accomplishment as I see the number of post its diminish!


    • Great idea with the list-it notes! Very visual.



      • Sorry, that was supposed to say “post-it” notes!


      • That’s a great idea! I write lists so I get to cross things off, but three post its sound like an even better idea!

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  • I do procrastinate unfortunately but I totally agree the best is to get it out of the way in the morning so the rest of your day is more calm and I will be less stressed.

    Reply

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