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AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Time management made simple STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Time management CATEGORY: Busy Doing Nothing CATEGORY: Procrastination Habit CATEGORY: Overcoming the Procrastination Habit DATE: 06/04/2006 03:20:32 AM ----- BODY:

Believe it or not, we have all been given the same amount of time every day that we can use. And we can use it any way that we want. It's true! The difference between those people who achieve their dreams and goals and those who don't isn't about luck, or being in the right place at the right time. No, the answer is far simpler than that. The people who achieve their dreams and goals are those people who spend their time wisely. They know that if they spend 2 hours a night watching the television, they won't have time to do anything else. A case of stating the blindingly obvious perhaps, but somethings just need saying.

It's a simple equation:

The answer is NOT VERY MUCH.

But if you want to work it out, I would say you have between 2 and 4 hours per week day to spend on things you want to do, as opposed to doing things that you have to do. Of course, you could tell yourself that you'll do it on the weekend - but we all know what happens on a weekend. We get distracted by other people and their expectations of what we should be doing. Why do we allow ourselves to be distracted by people and things that take our energy and move us away from where we say we want to be? Every day we get nudged a little bit further off course, and most of the time we don't even know that's it's happening.

And then of course there are the technological distractions that fill our days with endless chatter. It has been said that for every distraction it takes another 8 minutes for your creative brain to return to the frame of mind where it can "work" properly. The problem I have found is that I don't get 8 uninterrupted minutes before the next distraction.

So what can you do?

Busy work is rarely productive work. Busy work does not bring in the money. Busy work allows us to pretend that we have achieved great things in a day, when in reality we are stuck on a turntable - going nowhere fast.

 

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: demotivated worker No13 EMAIL: [email protected] IP: 81.152.225.225 URL: http://www.demotivate.org DATE: 09/17/2007 09:55:09 AM Bless you for trying to motivate people.
I have given up on that thankless task. Instead we have decided to go with the flow. We believe hardwork pays later, but laziness pays now.

http://www.demotivate.org/pages/posters/hardwork/hardwork.htm



----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: :| EMAIL: IP: 86.146.238.119 URL: DATE: 10/01/2009 06:14:09 PM This site does not motivate me, it just makes me want to procastinate even more. ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Elle DATE: 10/03/2009 07:27:26 AM Then by all means go and find a website or other medium that does motivate you.

Remember: What motivates you will not motivate your neighbor, and what motivates you today may not motivate you tomorrow.

But - when you are ready to be motivated to do more, be more and achieve more - let me know.

All the best

Elle ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Motivated person EMAIL: IP: 203.115.90.130 URL: DATE: 04/04/2010 12:59:27 PM I have a week to go before my finals, and I'm procastinating. A lucky co-incidence led me to this site. Thank you so much for this article. I'm off to work now. :) ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Elle DATE: 04/14/2010 11:51:35 AM How did your finals go? let me know.... ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Cody EMAIL: IP: 75.139.193.48 URL: http://www.fastwaystoloseweightinfosite.com/ DATE: 03/19/2011 03:36:23 AM Those are some great ideas for curbing procrastination, Thanks! http://www.fastwaystoloseweightinfosite.com/ ----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Elle DATE: 03/22/2011 04:07:03 AM You're welcome Cody ... Elle ----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Structured Procrastination STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Time management CATEGORY: Procrastination Habit CATEGORY: Overcoming the Procrastination Habit CATEGORY: Structured Procrastination DATE: 06/04/2006 03:56:28 AM ----- BODY:

"Some people spend half a day looking for the shortest way to do a job that could be done in an hour"
W.G.P.

Do you have a to do list? 
Or do you rely on your memory to remind you what you need to do today?

Let's pretend you have one - a to do list that is, I'm assuming you do have a memory you can use. If your "to do" list is anything like most, the things that you have marked important and urgent are sitting in the top one or two spots, with all the other items sitting further down the list.

Now if you had your choice, which item would you choose to do first?

Please do not answer with the point that you think I want to hear, I want you to be honest. If no-one were looking over your shoulder, which one would you pick first?

That's right, the easy ones. Most people choose those items they think they will be able to do quickly and easily, leaving them plenty of time to do those other items they really don't want to do, or are afraid of doing. Putting off difficult decisions doesn't make them easier, in fact the opposite is usually the case.

Does that mean all procrastinators rarely if ever get anything done?

Actually no. We do work, and we can do the hard stuff - if we want to get out of doing something else.

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Challenging yourself STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Time management CATEGORY: Overcoming the Procrastination Habit CATEGORY: 100 day challenge DATE: 03/12/2010 06:00:29 AM ----- BODY:

The next 100 days will pass whether you work on yourself or your goals or not.

Most people don't do well, because they are usually busy doing nothing very much. Or more to the point, they think they are busy and productive, when in reality all they are is busy and don't mind telling anyone who listens.

At the end of 2009, 100 days to the end of 2009 to be precise, we laid down a challenge. What can you do in the next 100 days to finish some projects / goals or to kick start a goal you've always wanted to begin but never found the time to start?

It was quite exciting and there were a lot of success stories. So we decided to create an undated version which you can use and re-use. Working in 100 day blocks of time to challenge yourself to do more, be more, achieve more.

But why 100 days?

For people who have trouble maintaining momentum with long term goal planning, they find it easier to work in 100-day blocks. Every time you commit to working in 100-day blocks of time, added together can and does create massive change.

So, what can you achieve in 100 days?

Well that is up to you.

Any day you can decide to change your life, all it takes is a decision on your part to do something a little different, or if you want – a lot of different things in your own unique way. But in 100 days you can achieve many things.

To give you an example of the way the 100-day goal achievement challenge can work.

You may decide you want to save some money. So you make a commitment to save $1.00 a day for 100 days – that will give you $100 by the end of the challenge. It may not sound like a lot of money – but if you have never had $100 dollars saved before, then you will appreciate the money. How do you save $1 a day? Simply by taking it out of your pocket and sticking it into a jar. But what if you want to save more money – but don’t think you can. Well consider the following:

Imagine that you are in the habit of buying a cup of coffee on the way to work every morning. What would you be able to save if you decided to put that money into the jar instead of someone else’s bank account? Do you buy lunch every day? Why not take lunch and add that money to your jar. It’s not hard to spend $10 a day on take out food and drinks. And yes, you’ve guessed it - $10 saved for 100 days is $1,000 – what can you do with $1,000?

So let’s take the 100-day goal achievement challenge a little further:

Limit the extras:

Are you carrying excess weight? Have you related that extra weight to the food you purchase on the way to the office? You’ve already eaten breakfast – but on the way to work there is a little coffee shop that sells the most amazing muffins and coffee, and you indulge in the treat a couple of days a week. I’m sure you can appreciate that a few days every week of eating an additional muffin and coffee will add a bit of extra size to your frame – over time.

And that is the key to this 100-day goal achievement challenge – if you do something repeatedly over a period of time, you will create a new habit

What we want to achieve during the 100-day goal achievement challenge is to create good habits whilst letting go of some of the bad ones we don’t think we have.

So if you are in the habit of eating more than your body needs, and your waist line and your bank account are both suffering as a result, the 100-day goal achievement challenge is to limit the “extra” items you don’t really need, but your brain tells you it wants, and add the money you would have spent to your savings jar.

Please note, I am not saying you can’t have them, just asking you to think about it.

The same can be said for the beer you indulge in after work with your friends, or the half bottle of wine with dinner. Most of the time we do these things because we’ve always done them – they have become part of our habitual behaviour.

Habits are those things we don’t think we have – until we try and stop doing them.

But what if your diet, health and finances are OK, will the 100-day goal achievement challenge work for you?

Well that’s up to you and what you say you want to achieve. But yes, I do believe, the 100-day goal achievement challenge can help everyone.

Most people don't think they have time. Of course you have time, you have the same amount of time per day as everyone else, it's just what you choose to spend your time on is what counts in the end. And taking your projects and goals forward one day at a time, with suggestions, hints, tips and suggestions for review to keep you on track - that is what the goal achievement challenge is.

You can achieve amazing things in 100 days. The question is – are you willing to make some minor changes so you can?

Are you ready to take the challenge?

----- -------- AUTHOR: Elle TITLE: Are you busy doing nothing? STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CATEGORY: Time management CATEGORY: Busy Doing Nothing CATEGORY: Procrastination Habit CATEGORY: Overcoming the Procrastination Habit DATE: 12/06/2006 04:07:08 AM ----- BODY:

busy-doing-nothing-working-the-whole-day-throughAre you killing time waiting for inspiration to strike, or for the clock to tick around to the desginated "home time"? Are you bored and wondering if there has got to be a better something than the something you are currently filling your days with?

You may be interested to know there is a whole section on this website dedicated to beating the procrastination habit. Hints, tips, suggestions, proddings, downright annoying nagging that you can use to think about your days in an entirely different way.

If you are busy doing nothing and would like to procrastinate a little while longer why not visit the newsletter archive of motivateme.... the Daily Dose of Motivational Medicine. And if you are so inclined you can subscribe to the e-zine yourself, just follow the link at the top of the home page.

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