Transcript Slide 1

Procrastination –
NOW!!
October 8, 2008
12:00 – 1:00 P.M.
Room 2-334
“You may delay, but time will not.”
Benjamin Franklin
“You can’t build a reputation on what
you intend to do.”
Liz Smith, columnist
Plan for the Workshop
October 8, 2008 – Wednesday
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AGENDA ITEM:
Introductions and Welcome
Procrastination Quiz
Getting Out From Under – Procrastination
Look at Procrastination
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Reasons for Procrastination
Fear of Success
Cost of Procrastination
Stop Procrastination NOW – An Insight and Benefits
• Successful Vs Unsuccessful Students
• Goal Setting
• Talent Is Never Enough – Initiative Activates Your Talent
Introductions and Welcome
Procrastination
Quiz
Getting Out From Under –
Procrastination
Look at Procrastination
Do you stick with your plans?
Are you punctual?
Do you get things in on time?
Do
you
put
things
off?
You be on time, then
I don’t have to do it
for you
Well, it’s time to deal with the
most dreaded, dangerous time
monster of all…
Procrastination:
“Never do today what you can put off ‘till tomorrow!”
Forms of Procrastination:
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Ignoring the task, hoping it will go away.
Underestimating how long it will take.
Overestimating your abilities and resources.
Telling yourself that poor performance is okay.
Doing something else that isn’t very important.
Believing that repeated “minor” delays won’t hurt you.
Talking about a hard job rather than doing it.
Putting all your work on only one part of the task.
Becoming paralyzed when having to make choices.
Four Simple Reasons for Procrastination
1.
Difficult
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Task seems to hard to do.
Avoid difficult things in favor of those which seem easy to us.
Time-consuming
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3.
Task will take large blocks of time.
Large blocks of time are unavailable until the weekend.
Lack of knowledge or skills
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4.
No one wants to make a mistake.
Wait until you learn how before you start.
Fears
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Everyone will know how you messed up.
I can never be successful.
Four Complex Reasons for Procrastination
1.
Perfectionism
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Everything must go completely right.
Long on criticism and short on praise.
Anger/Hostility
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Unhappy with someone, we’ll often withhold our best efforts.
Delay a project as a way of “getting even.”
Low Frustration Tolerance
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4.
You find situations radically intolerable and terribly unfair.
Characterized by whining and complaining.
Self-Downing
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Minimize your own skills and abilities.
Express doubt about your ability to succeed.
Fear of Success
Fear of Success
“Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate
because they are afraid of the success that they know will
result if they move ahead now. Because success is
heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much
easier to procrastinate and live on the
‘someday I’ll’ philosophy.”
Denis Waitley,
Waitley Institute
author
Fear of Success
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Being afraid to achieve the very things that we want.
Self-defeating thinking, such as:
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“I don’t deserve it”
“If I achieve what I set out to do, everyone will know that I don’t
really deserve it”
“If I get it I won’t be able to sustain it. Why try?”
“If I am successful, someone will come along who is better than
me. Then, what will happen to me?”
“If I am successful, my relationships will change and I’ll have to
make new friends. My current friends would never accept a more
successful me.”
Fear of Success
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Self-defeating thinking leads to self-defeating actions
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Doing the wrong thing even when you know the right thing to do
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Minimizing your accomplishments so they are ultimately negated
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Then, you don’t have to live up to being all that you really are.
Feeling guilty when you have a success.
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That way, one can avoid having to deal with success.
Creates a slowdown in momentum, hesitancy to act, and a self-fulfilling
inability to move on to another success.
What to do differently
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Act in a way that will help build a sense of self
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Find ways to encourage and acknowledge accomplishments of those
around you
Seek people who have your permission to provide feedback –
positive and negative – about your progress.
When someone compliments you, respond with a firm “Thank You!”
Cost of Procrastination
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Your health
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Evidence of compromised immune systems
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More colds, flu, and gastrointestinal problems
Insomnia
Shifts the burden of responsibilities onto others, who
become resentful
Destroys teamwork in the workplace and private
relationships
Other costs?
Stop Procrastination – NOW!
An Insight
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Procrastination is reinforcing – every time you delay, it
reinforces your negative attitude toward that task
Every time you put off something you dislike, you:
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Strengthen the habit of not doing.
Practice avoidance instead of participation.
Avoid acquiring training and skills.
Indoctrinate yourself with fears.
Stop Procrastination – NOW!
Benefits
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Benefits
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Peace of mind
Feeling of strength and purpose
Healthy feeling of being in charge of your life
Make you feel strong, competent and capable.
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Not weak, useless, and helpless.
You will experience more freedom and greater personal selfsatisfaction.
Successful Student
Successful Student
“A successful student accepts personal responsibility,
discovers self-motivation, masters self-management,
employs interdependence, gains self awareness,
adopts lifelong learning, develops emotional
intelligence, and believes in themselves.”
Skip Downing, On Course
Choices
of
Successful Vs Unsuccessful
Students
Choices of Successful and Unsuccessful Students
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Accept Self-Responsibility – 100%
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Primary cause of their outcomes and experiences (E + R = O)
See themselves as victims
Discover Self-Motivation
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Finding purpose in their lives by discovering personally meaningful
goals and dreams
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Feel depressed and/or frustrated over lack of direction
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Master Self-Management
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Planning and taking purposeful actions in pursuit of their goals
Seldom identify specific actions to accomplish goals (procrastinate)
Employ Interdependence
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Build mutually supportive relationships
Solitary, seldom requesting, even rejecting offers of assistance
Choices of Successful and Unsuccessful Students
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Gain Self-Awareness
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Consciously employing behaviors and attitude that keep them on
course
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Make important choices unconsciously
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Adopt Life-Long Learning
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Primary cause of their outcomes and experiences
View learning as fearful or boring rather than as mental play
Develop Emotional Intelligence
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Effectively manage their emotions in support of their goals
Anger, depression, anxiety, or need for instant gratification
Believe in Themselves
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Capable, lovable, and unconditionally worthy human beings
Doubt their competence and personal value to achieve success
How to Stop Procrastination
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Commit, commit, commit to being on time.
Set and keep deadlines.
Organize, schedule & plan.
Divide a big job into smaller ones.
Use lots
of
Make a game of it! Make it fun!
Stickies
Give yourself a prize when you’re done.
Daily – Work On Your…..
Self-esteem – Self-image – Self-confidence
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Self-esteem
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What you say to yourself about yourself when no one is listening –
the respect (or lack of) you have for yourself.
Self-image
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How you think others perceive you, and the way you interpret that
input becomes a component of esteem.
Self-confidence
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How esteem and image are shown externally – the assurance that
is portrayed to others.
Beat Procrastination –
Goal Setting
Creating SMART Goals
“Vague goals produce vague results.” – Jack Canfield
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S = Specific
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Do you know exactly what you want to accomplish with all the
details?
M = Measurable
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Are you able to assess your progress?
A = Attainable
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Is your goal within your reach given your current situation?
R = Realistic
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Is your goal relevant towards your purpose in life?
T = Timely
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What is the deadline for completing your goal?
Hand-out
Goals and Commitments
Goal: What you would like to achieve
Commitment: A specific action you agree to take to move you toward your goal.
Goals:
• Commitments:
To get an A in History
I will spend an extra 30 minutes
per day studying History. I will go
to the library at least 2 times a week.
To lose 10 pounds in the next 2
months.
I will go to the gym 3 times per week.
I will spend 20 minutes on the treadmill.
Procrastination –
NOW!!
Talent is Never Enough
… by John C. Maxwell
Initiative
Activates Your Talent
Talent is Never Enough
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Belief lifts your talent
Passion energies your talent
Initiative activates your talent
Focus directs your talent
Preparation positions your talent
Practice sharpens your talent
Perseverance sustains your talent
Courage tests your talent
Teachability expands your talent
Character protects your talent
Relationships influence your talent
Responsibility strengthens your talent
Teamwork multiples your talent
Insights on Initiative
People Who Lack Initiative
Initiative Action Plan
Initiative Activates Your Talent
Insights on Initiative
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Initiative is the first step to anywhere you want to go
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Where you finish in life isn’t determined so much by where you start
as by whether you start
Successful people initiate – and they follow through
Initiative closes the door to fear
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If you want to close the door on fear, get moving
Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence.
Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear
Initiative opens the door to opportunity
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Anyone who doesn’t take initiative is almost guaranteed to fail
Can’t wait until everything is perfect to act and expect to be
successful
Initiative Activates Your Talent
Insights on Initiative
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Initiative eases life’s difficulties
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“Nothing is so fatiguing as the hanging on of an uncompleted task.”
- William James
The only way to get rid of a difficult task is to do it. That takes
initiative
Initiative is often the difference between success and failure
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Without it, true potential is never reached
Goals are not achieved
Initiative Activates Your Talent
People Who Lack Initiative
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People who lack initiative fail to see the consequences of
inaction
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“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the
consequences of dodging our responsibilities.” – Sir Josiah Stamp
Whatever we do - or fail to do – will catch up with us in the end
People who lack initiative want someone else to motivate
them
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Motivation comes from within.
If we wait for others to motivate us, what happens when a coach, a
boss, or other inspirational person doesn’t show up
Initiative Activates Your Talent
People Who Lack Initiative
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People who lack initiative look for the perfect time to act
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“He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire
life on one leg.” – Chinese proverb
For many people, the tragedy isn’t that life ends to soon; it’s that
they wait too long to begin it
People who lack initiative like tomorrow better than today
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Focus your attention on today instead of tomorrow
“Tomorrow is the only day in the year that appeals to a lazy man.”
- Jimmy Lyons
For people who never start, their difficulties never stop
Initiative Activates Your Talent
Initiative Action Plan
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Accept responsibility for your life
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“To move the world we must first move ourselves.” – Socrates
Responsibility and initiative are inseparable
You cannot wish your way to success
You need to take responsibility and act
Examine your reasons for not initiating
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Separate legitimate reasons from excuses
An excuse puts the blame on someone or something outside you
Easier to move from failure to success than from excuses to success
Eliminate excuses
Initiative Activates Your Talent
Initiative Action Plan
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Focus on the benefits of completing a task
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Procrastination is the fertilizer that makes difficulties grow
If you procrastinate about a task – it is a necessary one
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Focus on what you’ll get out of it if you get it done
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If it’s not, don’t put it off; eliminate it
Will completing the task bring a financial benefit?
Will it clear the way for something else you would like to do?
Does it represent a milestone in you personal growth and development?
At the very least, does it help to clear the decks for you emotionally?
Share your goal with a friend who will help you
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No one achieves success alone
Share your goals and dreams with people who care about you and
will encourage and assist you in accomplishing them
Initiative Activates Your Talent
Initiative Action Plan
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Breaking large tasks down into smaller ones
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Divide it by categories
Prioritize it by importance
Order it by sequence
Assign it by abilities
Accomplish it by teamwork
Allocate specific times to tasks you might procrastinate
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“The greatest time wasted is the time getting started.”
- Dawson Trotman
The hardest part of writing a letter is penning the first line
Schedule a specific time for something you don’t like doing
Initiative Activates Your Talent
Initiative Action Plan
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Remember, preparation includes doing
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“The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
- Louis L’Amour
Desire isn’t enough.
Good intentions aren’t enough.
Talent isn’t enough.
Success requires initiative
Plans are nothing…unless they are followed with action. Do it now!
Success flows from Doing, not from planning