- Procrastination is the No. 1 cause of
stress. Do you ever wonder why the most successful
entrepreneurs-people like Bill Gates, for instance-always seem
so relaxed in interviews and public appearances? They work
harder than most of us and they make billion-dollar decisions
that the rest of us will never have to face in life, yet they
never seem stressed out, worried, or depressed. Why not?
Research shows that stress is caused by leaving too many
things undone. That's why habitual procrastinators always
complain about chronic fatigue-putting things off creates
enormous stress in our lives, which manifests itself as
fatigue.
- Break down your long-term goals into
manageable segments and milestones. Without a way of measuring
your progress on long-term goals, you can easily delude
yourself into believing that you're making progress when
you're just spinning your wheels. Setting project milestones
is a good way to measure your progress and stay focused.
- Reserve some time each day for working
on your long-term projects. Spend most of your time on the
things that need to be done this week, but try to spend some
time each day on work that helps you make progress toward your
long-term goals. The tasks that help you achieve long-term
goals are easy to leave undone. They don't seem urgent in the
way that telephone calls seem urgent, but they usually
represent our most important goals in life. In many cases,
these larger goals get pushed off the radar screen by the
countless distractions and "urgent" but unimportant things
that demand our attention throughout the day.
You need to spend 75 to 80% of your time
on jobs you have to wrap up this week. Dedicate the rest of
your time to projects that need to be finished in the next six
months. Have you set milestones for these projects? How are
you measuring your progress on each project?
Always ask yourself: What have I learned
about the consequences of procrastination, based on the
decisions I made-or failed to make-yesterday? Never lose sight
of what's most important in life, and ask yourself every day:
If I only get one thing done today, what must that one thing
be? Then get it done.
