Communications Insight For More Inspiring Leaders Do You Suffer From the Terrors of Procrastination?

Do You Suffer From the Terrors of Procrastination?

 17th Aug 2022
 
Do It Tomorrow
 
 
A Book Recommendation: "Do It Tomorrow" by Mark Forster.

Personally, I find Inbox Zero to be a lovely, lovely thing.

More to the point, it's also achievable!

After some weeks away, I've spent the past 2.5 days working through and clearing the accumulated backlog.

There are many other aspects of my day-to-day living which are "overgrown"... (e.g. Facebook Messenger and my near dormant old hotmail account!)

But my working email Inbox is rarely one of them.

Over the years, I've found I cannot bear the sight of "2,232 unopened emails" in there.

It's just one of those things.

I continue to find Mark Forster's book (above) absolutely indispensable as a resource/toolkit for dealing with this stuff.

The productivity tips he preaches are bliss...

To give just one example: Set a "Current Initiative".

A Current Initiative is the thing you Do First, Every Day.

It needs to be something finite (i.e. write that report you've been putting off or clear your email backlog, NOT 'learn a new language' or 'post sthg on LinkedIn').

You commit to doing 5 minutes on the Initiative each day, first thing... until after X days, it's completed.

Then you choose a new Initiative.

You cannot do anything else UNTIL you've done 5 mins (min.) on your Current Initiative.

So, tasks which you might otherwise procrastinate on (like clearing an email backlog) are perfect.

You can do MORE than 5 mins.

But crucially, it's hard to justify doing less.

5 mins flies by!

More satisfyingly, so does the task in hand...

#productivity #personaleffectiveness #personaldevelopment #email

I employed Simon for one-on-one presentation skills coaching, as I was required to speak at my company's annual conference. With Simon's advice, coaching and guidance, I gained valuable knowledge and confidence which made a huge difference to, and significantly improved, my delivery on the day. Simon is a great coach, and I will certainly consider using his services within my business going forward.

 

Gary Prike | Managing Director, Rohlig UK Ltd

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