Dot Com Women - Procrastination

As a woman in business, do you struggle to fit in all the tasks and responsibilities you have both within your workplace and at home? Do you find yourself putting off particular jobs? Do you say yes to unimportant tasks rather than getting on with important ones?

Perhaps part of the problem is procrastination. Procrastination tactics can make us feel like we’re “getting nowhere” – and in many cases, that’s probably true.

Yes, women in business generally have a lot on their plate to plan, organise, manage and undertake. But procrastinating and not completing the tasks we don’t like to do, only makes the ‘to do’ list get longer. And you may be interested to know that perfectionists are often the worst procrastinators because they have the attitude of “If I can’t do it perfectly right no, I won’t do it at all”.

So here’s some tips to stop procrastinating and create a more balanced work/family life:
1. Focus on one task at a time (recent research shows that multi tasking doesn’t work!)
2. Give yourself a time limit for working on a task (eg ten minutes). Stop, take a break, then work another ten minutes.
3. Get unpleasant tasks out of the way first and keep in your mind the unpleasant consequences of not doing it.
4. Complete tasks you don't like doing, at times in the day when you work best.
5. If you’re overwhelmed by the task, break it down into manageable chunks (start with some small tasks, even if these aren’t the logical first actions)
6. Be accountable to someone – ask someone to check up on you!
7. And most importantly, reward yourself for completing a task.

Michelle Grice runs Dot Com Women, an online forum for entrepreneurial women:www.dotcomwomen.com.au