The Art of Catching Up with Yesterday

By Stephanie Stewart

Ever had a month where the sooner you fall behind, the more time you will have to catch up! I get that way when it comes to organization. I have two years worth of newspapers that I keep because I have not had the time to read them but I need to catch up on the news in them. Go figure! I also have a tendency towards saving papers I know I will never use but I have an emotional attachment to - you touch, you die! I have had the occasion to notice that when I am in a fog, its foggy. When it comes to filing, for instance, a friend asked me if I knew how to put things in folders. I heard people do that! but how do you know what is in it? My friend replied, you label it. I seem to be incompetent at eight thousand things so I spare myself the distraction and only do three. Saves time but boy, does it leave a mess!

I have approximately seventeen messes in my life; no, I did not count them, I just know they are there because they keep reminding me they are there by not having the good grace to clean themselves up on their own. Only recently have I learned the art of goal setting and the saving grace of delegation as related to achieving my goals. Seems the answer to my messes is that I procrastinate over them instead of cleaning them up so they go away, hopefully forever. I am currently at the six month level in my present near-perfect postponement and I am looking forward to its tenth year Anniversary! What to do? What to do!

There are two Categories that most people procrastinate over. One, because certain things are so small that they never get on the ever present To-Do list and because you're still confident that you will 'get to it' eventually; the other being things that at far too big for you to handle and you can not, for the life of you, wrap your brain around actually attempting them in the first place. So, the consensus seems to be that they are either too meager to bother about or too huge to even consider. Now, where did I say delegation fits in? Or goal setting for that matter? I can even provide an equation for you.

There is a neat trick I just learned at one of the seminars I attended that involves linking your desires - the positive changes or directions you want to make in your life, to the goals you set for yourself.

Desire = Goal calculated to achieve that desire + Delegation = Cured!

Desire - what mess needs immediate attention? Your house. Your relationships. Your office. Your finances. Perhaps its joining a club, meeting new people, asking for a promotion or curbing spending.

Goal to achieve that desire - if one of your desires is to have an organized office, your goal would relate back to this desire. Put up shelves and purchase mesh containers; find a home for absolutely everything that is messing up your 'space' and organize it to within an inch of its life.

Delegation - what part of this goal can't you do? What part can you ask someone else to do? Ask people you know who are good at what you are not and find out if they would be willing to help. You would be surprised at the response you get.

Okay, now you have set not only your desire but a goal that will match it and when worked toward, it will achieve it. Next step - ACCK! Procrastination rears its hideous head and towers above you as you cringe under your desk in terror! Moving right along, the degree to which you procrastinate is the same level at which you are abominable at doing a particular task. In your head there exists a benefit to your constant deferment that overcomes the negative influence its having on your life. It is also where your flimsy excuses are allowed to live because you do not look at them and see them for what they really are. It goes to the root cause of this continual stonewalling.

Some root causes can include things like fear of rejection, judgement or failure, fear of being perceived as weak or of loss of respect. Fear of distraction and not finishing. Laziness - if you have a sloppy life, a sloppy way of thinking or you don't respect yourself. Loss of comfort, fear of change or pain - its just too painful to change your habits and make the effort.

There are only three areas to any goal or the reluctance to undertaking a necessary mission to clean up a certain mess. Start! Persevere Finish! Which are you having the difficulty with? Starting the task. Maybe its somewhere in the middle, actually continuing to work at it or it could be finishing and marking it off as accomplished. Once you identify this area, move on to the part or parts you can not do yourself and ask: to what degree do I need help, a lot or a little delegation. What part of this can I delegate!? More importantly, who is willing to barter some time and talent so you both can maneuver out of this habit.

Too much down-time concerning clutter that needs attending to costs too much in the end. You are at its mercy every time you ignore the fact that side-stepping the untidiness in your life is doing some serious damage. After a lifetime spent running after the disorganization procrastination leaves behind, maybe it time to end that cycle by changing the attitudes that have promoted it. You need to get out of your own way to accomplish this. Constant postponement lowers self esteem and confidence as it represents the level to which you are letting other people in your life down. It is also one of the Greatest of Time Wasters and serves as a continual impediment to efforts to change for the better. How many years have been wasted to it? How many more years are you prepared to sacrifice to it? Ask for the Help you need! Delegate what you can't do yourself! Cure yourself of your of this most damaging Habit!

I work as a Freelance Writer writing only completely original web content, landing pages and doing copywriting for other sites online. I work from home and my chief joy in life is writing the articles I publish on Ezine. These articles serve as part of my growing online portfolio but more importantly, they serve the people who read them. At a future date, I will be working on a website of my own where I will feature my work. My site will be active by this Summer for you to visit, but Ezine will remain my home for publishing my articles first.

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