Ops! Not again. You may find it strange, but I was tired of my habit of procrastinating things. Yes, I also used to procrastinate things. Procrastinating gave me a thrill. I used to have thousands of excuses for a single situation like:
- Still lots of time is there.
- I will do it later.
- I am not in the mood.
- I do things just like this.
- After fifteen minutes.
- I have lots of work right now.
- Not in a hurry.
- Will do it on Monday.
- Why make haste?
- First, I will plan.
- Let's wait for some more time.
The list was never-ending, one after another, just to prove my fear right. But I know, just as you know, this is not going to help. In such a fast-changing time, you don't have the leverage to miss important things or stick with such a silly thing as procrastination.
It was a tough one, but I decided to beat every deadline thrown at me. For the last few months, I have found that these few simple tips are helping me achieve more. So, I thought of sharing with you...
Sky is the limit. Of course, it is, but don't you think it's better to know where you are heading in the sky?
What my one friend recommended to me was to fix a deadline for every task at hand. He advised that we should break our task into small parts. This one was the ultimate tip – just as a pizza can be enjoyed in small pieces rather than as a whole, in the same manner, we can break our task at hand into small parts and keep deadlines for each piece.
The lion was always in the cage. I have heard stories about brave people who faced and fought lions, and a few even succeeded in killing them. But for me, the lion is always preferred in a cage. The biggest thing that helps people in procrastinating is the lion in the cage, i.e., fear. This feeling is still unexplained, but it is there. Fear of the unknown...
What holds us back is just a feeling. Sometimes, in the case of a task, it is called insecurity.
A thousand sweets make you confused. In Delhi, whenever I visit someone's marriage, one thing that amazes me is the number of dishes that are prepared. Most of the time, I get confused about what to eat and what to leave. Believe it or not, but this is one of the reasons for procrastination – having too many tasks at hand. Simplify your work, organize your start and end. It will help you get a bit more organized.
Perfectness is not a state; it's a path. As a human being, you cannot expect yourself to be in the same state forever. Sometimes, you don't even understand yourself. So, talking about starting as perfect is the same as saying to clap with one hand – for a good clap, you need both hands. It's amazing to see a kid trying to learn how to walk. See him/her carefully; you will understand my point here.
Have a barking dog. I have a dog; he's a faithful buddy who barks at everybody who tries to enter our house. In this manner, we have controlled unwanted visitors from visiting us. Oh, don't get me wrong, I am a good host. Come visit me sometime; we'll have a blast. But the point here is to have something that can keep you on track and give you the results you want.
I keep a deadline book (no, not horror, please) – a book in which I mention my deadlines, when to achieve them, about my day-to-day approach towards my goals, and things I was supposed to do but didn't. Trust me, guys, it will work as an eye-opener.
I understand some of you will comment right at the moment to appreciate the share, and some of you will leave it for next time. But understand, there is no next time.
Have a happy, procrastination-free life.
Regards,
Ashish Paliwal
(Wisdom from an idiot: Ashish Paliwal: How to develop the art of listening: I never had a formal subject called listening)
- Still lots of time is there.
- I will do it later.
- I am not in the mood.
- I do things just like this.
- After fifteen minutes.
- I have lots of work right now.
- Not in a hurry.
- Will do it on Monday.
- Why make haste?
- First, I will plan.
- Let's wait for some more time.
The list was never-ending, one after another, just to prove my fear right. But I know, just as you know, this is not going to help. In such a fast-changing time, you don't have the leverage to miss important things or stick with such a silly thing as procrastination.
It was a tough one, but I decided to beat every deadline thrown at me. For the last few months, I have found that these few simple tips are helping me achieve more. So, I thought of sharing with you...
Sky is the limit. Of course, it is, but don't you think it's better to know where you are heading in the sky?
What my one friend recommended to me was to fix a deadline for every task at hand. He advised that we should break our task into small parts. This one was the ultimate tip – just as a pizza can be enjoyed in small pieces rather than as a whole, in the same manner, we can break our task at hand into small parts and keep deadlines for each piece.
The lion was always in the cage. I have heard stories about brave people who faced and fought lions, and a few even succeeded in killing them. But for me, the lion is always preferred in a cage. The biggest thing that helps people in procrastinating is the lion in the cage, i.e., fear. This feeling is still unexplained, but it is there. Fear of the unknown...
What holds us back is just a feeling. Sometimes, in the case of a task, it is called insecurity.
A thousand sweets make you confused. In Delhi, whenever I visit someone's marriage, one thing that amazes me is the number of dishes that are prepared. Most of the time, I get confused about what to eat and what to leave. Believe it or not, but this is one of the reasons for procrastination – having too many tasks at hand. Simplify your work, organize your start and end. It will help you get a bit more organized.
Perfectness is not a state; it's a path. As a human being, you cannot expect yourself to be in the same state forever. Sometimes, you don't even understand yourself. So, talking about starting as perfect is the same as saying to clap with one hand – for a good clap, you need both hands. It's amazing to see a kid trying to learn how to walk. See him/her carefully; you will understand my point here.
Have a barking dog. I have a dog; he's a faithful buddy who barks at everybody who tries to enter our house. In this manner, we have controlled unwanted visitors from visiting us. Oh, don't get me wrong, I am a good host. Come visit me sometime; we'll have a blast. But the point here is to have something that can keep you on track and give you the results you want.
I keep a deadline book (no, not horror, please) – a book in which I mention my deadlines, when to achieve them, about my day-to-day approach towards my goals, and things I was supposed to do but didn't. Trust me, guys, it will work as an eye-opener.
I understand some of you will comment right at the moment to appreciate the share, and some of you will leave it for next time. But understand, there is no next time.
Have a happy, procrastination-free life.
Regards,
Ashish Paliwal
(Wisdom from an idiot: Ashish Paliwal: How to develop the art of listening: I never had a formal subject called listening)