Pop The Procrastination Bubble

Procrastination is defined as ‘the action of delaying or postponing something’.

It is the one action in life that is only ever realized in hindsight. And what does procrastination always want to latch onto? Your ‘to-do’ list!

Now don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean that ‘to-do’ list won’t get completed…it will, surely—but, when? During the next few days? Months? Years?  That question still remains.

Procrastination is a common denominator in just about everybody’s life—myself included. During those times of procrastination, you always started your task with good intentions, feeling that ‘today will be the day, today I’m going to get everything done!’—only to find yourself an hour later immersed watching cat videos.

This can leave you feeling unproductive, defeated, depressed and guilty. My view is to not beat yourself up. Life is a challenge. Instead of becoming overwhelmed with all the new tasks that keep getting added to the ‘to-do’ list every day, switch your list into what can be completed in a timely order.

How do you do this? With organization! Yes, even your ‘to-do’ list needs to be reorganized.

Follow these steps to take the stress out of your ‘to-do’ list and nip procrastination in the bud.

  • Break the list down into the various sections of your life where the projects need to be completed (ex. kitchen, office, garage).
  • Add priority codes beside each task, within each section.
  • Give yourself a realistic deadline date for completion.

Just by completing this small step, I bet you’re starting to feel a slight weight being lifted off those heavy shoulders.

An important lesson in life is while you may not be in charge of outcomes,
you ARE in charge of your actions and you have a choice to procrastinate or not. 

Over the last 24 years, I have had the opportunity to work with every type of client out there. It has left me with the knowledge and tools to provide streamlined organization tactics, tailored to each individuals need(s). I am proud to say that I have earned the name “Dr. DeClutter” or “Doc’ for short, from a number of my clients. A title I hold dear to my heart.

Right now, Task Management Solutions is offering two programs to help you find the information you’ve been searching for to help you manage solutions to make your tasks easier.

Sign up NOW for your FREE Virtual Organizing Session to Help Prepare for Tax Time

Pricing is based on your lifestyle and responsibility levels. All 1-2 month packages are custom tailored to fit your needs.  Packages include weekly progress sessions via phone, email, Zoom or Skype.

Available by phone @ 516-433-2330 EST, email laura@organizedproductivity.com, or book your appointment via the calendar here.

I can’t wait to give you an overall sense of wellness and calm, so you can get back to being carefree for summer!

The Stressful Life of a Procrastinator

The Stressful Life of a “Work-From-Home” Procrastinator

Do you work from home and suffer from procrastination? See if this description of a typical day describes you:

You get up in the morning with positive thoughts that today will be the day everything on your plate will get  done. Your intent is strong and you are committed.

All is good for the first 15 minutes of your working day as you sit at your desk.  You feel in control…

Then real life kicks in as you start reading your emails thinking (hoping) it will only take a few minutes.

Well, let’s be honest – with today’s deluge of information you’re subscribed to there’s an overabundance of sites to manage all the information coming at you. You didn’t even get to finish your coffee as you’re answering emails and answering phone calls at the same time.

Then other interruptions come up – unexpected fires that you need to put out or get involved in without volunteering. It’s an hour into work and you’re starting to feel the drain as procrastination sets in causing the first wave of hesitation about how your day will go.

Where’s your list of tasks that need to be done?

Yes, its buried on your desk. So you start another list feeling the drain like you did yesterday … and the day before.

You make the list again but it seems larger than the previous one. You’re thinking about what you need to start/finish but it’s in your head because you can’t follow the numerous lists you’ve made and lost.

Of course you didn’t assign priorities or deadline dates to your tasks as you’re feeling the overwhelm. Yes you’re feeling like you suffer from a disease called “procrastination”!

Procrastination stops you dead in your tracks and makes you feel you are captive behind your desk because you know you have so much to do but you can’t remember what.

Hmmm, should have had some breakfast for fuel but you procrastinated thinking you’ll eat … later.  How about some water to hydrate your body and brain to function as it needs to … later. By the way, coffee does not count as it’s not a food group and you never get to finish a cup anyway.  And no, the large breakfast you’ll have on the weekend because you procrastinated about eating healthy during the week will not make up for it.

Procrastination impacts your health and well-being.

It’s 11:00 am and time to start your tasks even though you’ve been at your desk for a couple of hours. If you’re an entrepreneur or business owner working from home, you’ll side step it to the shower as you procrastinated about it when you got up.

Now you sit down at your desk after grabbing another cup of coffee and a yogurt or granola bar and you start all over again answering emails, checking social media, returning phone calls …

Now what was that all-important project you put off several times already? Can’t find it because its buried on your desk along with your previously made to-do notes?

Here comes that mental and emotional drain again! 

Regroup – dig through just the top layer of those piles on your desk. Feeling like what you need is there “somewhere”?  Will you procrastinate looking for it as it’s just “easier” to deal with what’s coming at you in the moment?

It’s 11:45 am and you ask yourself what you can accomplish before lunch so you do small, menial tasks that are not “A” priorities – “A”= MUST get done today.  You dilly-dally with the easy stuff.  Yes those must get done anyway so they are justified in your head and gives you some sense of completion even though it didn’t add to your daily income or help you develop those projects that will get you new clients and earn you $.

That keeps you busy till 12:30 pm so you fit in some more smaller, easy tasks before you take lunch as the clock ticks and it’s 1:00 pm. You are hungry as you didn’t have a decent breakfast so you take that lunch break but the symptoms of procrastination (meaning you didn’t get the important tasks done) are tying that knot tighter in your stomach.

During lunch (gulp!) you think about what would make you feel good about completing today, you plan in your head what you will start when lunch is over. It’s 1:30 pm-ish+++ and sitting at your desk feels better than when you left before lunch, so where do you begin – oh yeah its time to tackle that big project … but what are the starting steps? Did you write down an outline of prioritized tasks to follow to completion to achieve that goal?  Oh right – it’s on that (those) buried to-do lists covered up by sticky notes or vice versa! (gulp again!)

You do get bits and pieces of the project done during the afternoon, but was it in an order that made sense? Did you zigzag through the steps without a “map” to follow aka action item to-do list with priority codes and deadline dates?

4:30 pm approaches, time to read and answer more emails, try making some phone calls ….  Its 5:30 pm and you’re still in your office but the knot in your stomach returns as it was another unsuccessful and unproductive day because you have that “procrastination disease”.

If you work from home, you take that dinner break but not with a feeling of accomplishment.  So it’s back to your desk about 9:00 pm after the family and pets have been tended to for another shot at those emails and social media posts.

You answer what you can or do more of those C, D priority items but you’re too tired to tackle the A or B tasks.  But it’s OK – there’s always tomorrow … and you dream of crossing things off your list again.

The lack of systems at your desk has you drowning in computer files and paper piles.  And let’s forget about the personal responsibilities you try to fit in with children and spouses, house tasks, bill paying, exercise …

Hmm, could this be why you don’t feel your best as those knots that keep tying themselves tighter are affecting your health, peace of mind, mental stability?  Yep you’re in the big procrastinators club that most of the population is in.

How do I know all this?  Am I a mind reader?  Procrastination is a common daily feeling for everyone as it’s triggered by lack of systems, lack of direction and hierarchy of priorities, interruptions, delays, clutter …

If this is what your day sounds like, or every day for that matter, we need to talk!  Let’s do a virtual coffee break = free 20 min. chit chat about what’s not working and how I can help eliminate procrastination. Disorganization is at an all-time high with productivity at its lowest point ever.

Book your free consultation now as the spring energy invites a new refreshing perspective.
Available by phone @ 516-433-2330 EST, email laura@organizedproductivity.com, or book your appointment via the calendar here.

Our “Spring Into Action” program starts April 1stSecure your FREE Consultation NOWspace is limited!

The internet makes it easy to work virtually so there is NO excuse as I’m there for you and appointments with nationally known “Dr. DeClutter” are open for evenings and weekends to accommodate you.

What You Need to Know About Clutter and How It Affects Your Life

What You Need to Know About Clutter and How It Affects Your Life

Clutter: A Quick Definition

What exactly is clutter? Here’s some thoughts to put it into perspective:

  • Something you don’t need
  • Something you wish you didn’t have 
  • A whole lotta nothin’
  • Useless “stuff”
  • Meaningless mania
  • Unsorted mess
  • Illogical thinking      
  • Junk
  • Valueless items  
  • Someone else’s…
  • Unrelated items
  • Postponed decisions
  • Unfinished actions
  • VISUAL NOISE                                                   

How Clutter Makes You Feel

Can you relate to any of these?

  • Disorganized
  • Unproductive
  • Sloppy
  • SadToo Much Stuff
  • Tired
  • Overwhelmed
  • Like you want to run away!
  • Unprofessional
  • Drained
  • Guilty
  • Out of control
  • Unfocused
  • Out of sorts
  • Guilty
  • Angry
  • Stagnant/Frozen

What Clutter Causes

The sad truth is, clutter can have a very adverse effect on your personal and professional life. Here’s a variety of ways clutter can be causing you costly mistakes:

  • Lost time looking for things              
  • Lost $$$
  • Misuse of valuable time
  • FrustrationPaper Avalanche
  • Anxiety
  • Stress
  • Arguments
  • Miscommunication
  • Paper “pain”
  • A physical mess
  • Lack of space
  • Confusion
  • Inefficiency
  • Depression
  • Lack of focus and concentration
  • Distraction

If you feel like you’re the only one on the planet who feels disorganized because there’s cluttered chaos in your home or office, rest assured you are not alone.

From my 23 years of being a Professional Organizer, I have heard words listed above directly from clients and those who have shared their feelings in general life conversation.  It takes over your life resulting in the causes I listed.

Huffington Post did a recent survey stating 84-87% of those polled worry their home is not clean or organized enough causing anxiety over maintaining their homes.

What’s interesting is that people have similar issues – a/k/a “symptoms” – however they still need a customized solution.

When dealing with disorganization, I use an “outside-the-box” approach that caters to a client’s specific needs and personalities.  Each person is unique in their situation. I help clients understand the why and then develop a long-term solution.

Why do they feel this way? I listen with compassion and design systems from their comprehension of how it will work for them.

These days home offices are the “norm” which has taken over space unplanned for in their original design and success only happens when systems are set up. Business owners, department Managers, and employees need to be on the same page via an organized, systematic environment improving the bottom line.

Organization starts at homeMost of the time I find that it goes back to their roots. Was organization taught at home? Did they have a place for everything? What role models did they have to show them the logic behind the solutions?

School does not teach you how to keep your bedroom neat or how to keep your kitchen set up to cook with ease.  You learn that from your environment.

I came from an organized environment.  When Sundays used to be Sundays – oooh so long ago – we all gathered at Grandma & Grandpa’s house – aunts, uncles, cousins.  Whoever was left at the end helped clean up assembly style.

I remember the routine fondly.  The men got the living room back in order the way Grandma had it.  The women handed each other items off the kitchen table in line to the appropriate cabinet to store dishes, glasses, silverware to the exact spot they came from.

My fondest memory was standing in front of the open fridge next to my Grandma and handing her the next item for her to store.  It went exactly in a specified spot.  Just to be a prankster with her, I moved things around when she wasn’t looking and she laughed.  But it always came back to her system.

Little did I know then that she was actually teaching me the profession I so enjoy when I can teach others the logic behind what goes where.  Having set chores on Saturday was a built-in benefit that started young.

I started my business after she passed and I would sense her hand on my shoulder at the end of client sessions in recognition of a job well done!  I will add that she taught each of her 6 children the “art” of organizing.

I never knew what a cluttered home looked like until I had my first babysitting job. I took the task of washing the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen for the parents who were busy with their 5 children – trust me, there were no organizational skills taught in that house so my help was so appreciated!

Time to DeClutter

It’s Time to DeClutter!

Whatever age you are, it is not too late to learn. Let’s discover together how to remove the “chaotic clutter” from wherever you are nationwide through virtual organizing sessions in your office, home office, or home.

Click here to sign up for a Complimentary Discovery Session 

“Think Out Loud” Sessions also available to declutter your brain!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn