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Procrastination & Perfectionism

 
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PostPosted: Dec Sun 17, 2006 1:27 pm    Post subject: Procrastination & Perfectionism Reply with quote

Procrastination & Perfectionism

Beat the Procrastination and Perfectionism Trap
By Jeanne Sharbuno

Do any of these sound familiar to you?
1. "I've got to get such and such done" and then you always find other things to do instead?
2. "I'm going to take that long awaited vacation" and then the time never seems right?
3. "I'll get to that project once I'm done with "X" and then you never finish "X" so you never get to the project?

Whoa ... sounds like some big time procrastination is going on here! Maybe even some perfectionism!! You see ... procrastination and perfectionism go hand-in-hand. They are actually first cousins. Did you know that? And ... they are two of the biggest blocks to Work Less, Make More.
Perfectionism keeps your life on hold while you wait for the perfect circumstances to show up. This causes you to procrastinate. Now you may so "No! That's not true. I'm not waiting for the perfect circumstances to show up. I procrastinate because I'm just plain lazy!" Well ... I'm here to tell you that procrastination has absolutely nothing to do with laziness and everything to do with FEAR! Yes, fear!

Fear is a powerful motivator. It will keep you stuck. And until you identify and overcome your fear, you will continue to procrastinate and put your life (or project, career, vacation, relationship) on hold until the perfect circumstances are in place. By facing your fear and overcoming it, you ready yourself to take action and to move forward in your life. Fear can show up in many ways -- fear of failure, success, looking stupid, not doing it good enough, being "found out", etc. You may be saying "Well, I'm not even aware of my fear. So how can I possibly overcome it?" Let me tell you about my client Beverly (not her real name) and what she did.

Beverly is an independent technical writer who recently started a new contract. This involved her writing a program in a language that she doesn't normally code in. She knew she needed to study and read the code so she could talk more intelligently with the programmer. Yet she kept putting it off. I suggested she try answering this statement in as many ways as she could so she could get to the bottom of what was holding her back: "If I didn't have to do it perfectly, I would ...". And when she was finished to ask "Then why don't I"? Some of her answers were, "I would read more quickly", "I would make fun of every piece of wierd terminology I come across", and "I would make up pet names for all the system tools". When she asked herself "Then why don't I do these things?" she found that the reading was very boring for her and that she was AFRAID she wouldn't be able to read the code at her normal speed because it's in a language she's not real familiar with.

The truth was that she could read at her normal speed and retain lots of information. However her FEAR was blocking her. It wasn't until she uncovered and faced her fear that she was able to take an action to move forward with her project and stop procrastinating. What Beverly then did was to apply pet names to the system tools as she was reading. By doing so, she was able to get acquainted with 10 new tools in just under 5 minutes. It normally would have taken her 5 - 10 minutes per tool! How's that for beating the procrastination and perfectionism trap?

You can experience the same kind of results that Beverly did. Where are you procrastinating? What are you trying to do perfectly? Identify one thing and answer this statement 10 times, "If I didn't have to do it perfectly I would ..." Next ask yourself "Then why don't I?" and see what answers come up (your fear). Now you're ready to face your fear head-on. Just being aware of it will allow you to move forward. No more procrastinating and doing it perfectly for you. Decide what action you want to take and handle what you want to accomplish with confidence and pizzazz. Go ahead ... you can do it!

Start beating the procrastination and perfectionism trap today. Remember, overcoming these two blocks is your ticket to success as you Work Less, Make More!

© 2000, Jeanne A. Sharbuno. This article was written by Jeanne Sharbuno, PCC, Certified Work Less, Make More Coach and Editor of the Work Less, Make More In Action E-zine. You can reach Jeanne at jeanne@mindspring.com.
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