Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post

simon · 09-27-2007, 11:36 AM

I wanted to throw this out to see how people react to it when they try this technique. It works for me, but lets set the scene first.

It's either morning and you really cant get yourself together, get motivated to do anything, feel depressed, etc; or its the afternoon and you haven't done anything of note in that day- so you're even more annoyed with yourself!

Try this - it does work for me!

The universe rewards action, therefore we need to immediately get you to completing some small tasks that you know that you can do.

Here’s how we do it- take a word processor, or pen and paper, PDA, or whatever you feel works for you and list twenty really small tasks that you can do right now, as soon as you’ve finished the list.

The only reason for failing at this is that you’ll either get distracted, you’ve picked a task that you really were not ready to do, you physically ran out of time or you didn’t do the tasks in the correct frame of mind. The final reason is probably most important- you really have to do a self-analysis on yourself and your self-esteem to properly ‘get it’.

In reality it doesn't matter at all what the tasks are- what matters is that you've chosen twenty small tasks that are totally doable; and then you do them! The first time I tried this here's my sample list (i've replaced my clients names with <> - im a webdesigner)

1. Do the washing up
2. Put my clothes out to dry
3. Put all my papers and paperwork into one pile on a shelf
4. Delete ten old emails that I don’t need anymore
5. Upload <> Ticket System to their servers
6. Find out why some of the images are broken in < >
7. Template the remaining images for < >
8. Create an invoice for the setup of the ecommerce shop
9. Find a copy of the terms and conditions for
10. Clear up my laptops desktop
11. Make some pasta and mincemeat for dinner
12. Clean up the stuff off from my floor
13. Close the cupboard doors
14. Take the rubbish out
15. Clean up the bathroom
16. Read the next chapter on the smoking book
17. Phone mum and dad to see how they are
18. Put my clothes where they belong
19. Do the <> updates
20. Make a small quick list for how to approach the <> update

The amazing thing was, that I did this so amazingly quickly that once I had got through all of these steps I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment.

This technique really kick starts my positive emotions whenever I take the time and effort to do this. You can literally start from a totally depressive stance and this should work for you.

Does this work for anyone else?

09-27-2007, 11:36 AM	#1 (permalink)
simon Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 67	Overcoming procrastination technique I wanted to throw this out to see how people react to it when they try this technique. It works for me, but lets set the scene first. It's either morning and you really cant get yourself together, get motivated to do anything, feel depressed, etc; or its the afternoon and you haven't done anything of note in that day- so you're even more annoyed with yourself! Try this - it does work for me! The universe rewards action, therefore we need to immediately get you to completing some small tasks that you know that you can do. Here’s how we do it- take a word processor, or pen and paper, PDA, or whatever you feel works for you and list twenty really small tasks that you can do right now, as soon as you’ve finished the list. The only reason for failing at this is that you’ll either get distracted, you’ve picked a task that you really were not ready to do, you physically ran out of time or you didn’t do the tasks in the correct frame of mind. The final reason is probably most important- you really have to do a self-analysis on yourself and your self-esteem to properly ‘get it’. In reality it doesn't matter at all what the tasks are- what matters is that you've chosen twenty small tasks that are totally doable; and then you do them! The first time I tried this here's my sample list (i've replaced my clients names with <> - im a webdesigner) 1. Do the washing up 2. Put my clothes out to dry 3. Put all my papers and paperwork into one pile on a shelf 4. Delete ten old emails that I don’t need anymore 5. Upload <> Ticket System to their servers 6. Find out why some of the images are broken in < > 7. Template the remaining images for < > 8. Create an invoice for the setup of the ecommerce shop 9. Find a copy of the terms and conditions for 10. Clear up my laptops desktop 11. Make some pasta and mincemeat for dinner 12. Clean up the stuff off from my floor 13. Close the cupboard doors 14. Take the rubbish out 15. Clean up the bathroom 16. Read the next chapter on the smoking book 17. Phone mum and dad to see how they are 18. Put my clothes where they belong 19. Do the <> updates 20. Make a small quick list for how to approach the <> update The amazing thing was, that I did this so amazingly quickly that once I had got through all of these steps I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment. This technique really kick starts my positive emotions whenever I take the time and effort to do this. You can literally start from a totally depressive stance and this should work for you. Does this work for anyone else?