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too many of us are doing too much at once which is leading to the unfinished tasks or projects syndrome that led you to pick up this book.
The second is something I call “distractionitis.” People who suffer from this are too easily distracted and are effortlessly pulled away from one task, to do something else.
Remind yourself that only by starting will you be able to finish.
Is there something you really want to do after you finish this project? Only by starting it, and completing it, can you go on to the next challenge.
Try the “just a little” approach. Tell yourself, “If I just spend 10 minutes on this project, I can do something else.” Most of the time, if you let yourself spend just 10 minutes, you will get “into” the project or task and 10 minutes will become an hou...
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Delegate. Maybe you are reluctant to start a project because you should not be doing it in the first place. It is not making the most of your best skills or you are not the right person for the job. You just mi...
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Review all the behaviors and attitudes that you will learn about as possible reasons for failing to finish something and apply it to starting instead. That includes fear of success, fea...
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Your reputation at work depends on you finishing what you are asked to do and completing it on time within the agreed-upon deadline, whenever possible.
In my research, I’ve identified 22 behaviors, beliefs, or bad habits that stop us from finishing what we start. Fear of failure Fear of success Perfectionism Fear of completion Procrastination (covered in depth in chapter 4) Poor planning Poor pacing Setting an unrealistic deadline in the first place Taking on too many tasks (another vital reason that will also get its own chapter 3) Disorganization Emotional turmoil Anger Working under pressure backfires Allowing yourself to stop at a certain point and temporarily quit “Out of sight, out of mind”—a task is not looming in front of you Starting
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Where does fear of failure come from? It often begins early in life. A child is told that a 95 is not good enough. A teen gets the message that the college he or she is applying to could have been a better ranked one. Instead of a parent, teacher or any authority figure building up the child’s self-esteem they are taught to feel like a failure by being told they always fall short of what’s expected of them.
Now think about somewhere in between those two extremes. You are told your report needs work, but your boss is confident you can redo the report as needed.
Get the training and experience that will give you confidence.
2Imagine the worst consequence of finishing and see yourself overcoming it.
3See failure as a badge of courage, change how you view it.
You might succeed with whatever it is that you are delaying finishing, but the key point is that you’ll never know unless you have the courage to keep going and get it out there.
4Be realistic about whatever it is that is not working in whatever you are putting off and make those changes.
5Consider failing as a training ground for succeeding.
6If you do not finish, you bring out the very failure that you fear.
Sadly, most of the time, delays bring about the opposite of success: condemnation, criticism, and disappointment.
The perfectionist redoes and redoes something again and again trying to get it “just right.”
But making sure something is your best effort is not the same thing as delaying yourself days, weeks, months, or even years because it might be an imperfect whatever—book, play, business plan, revised website—the list goes on and on.
1Realize that you are a perfectionist.
2Accept that no one, including you, is perfect.
3Learn to be comfortable with praise or accepting of feedback that might be negative.
4Readjust your standards to strive for attainable excellence rather than unrealistic perfection.
5Delegate or partner with others.
6Remind yourself that perfectionism has its consequences.
If you have a perfectionism issue, you may fear completing something because it will not be perfect enough.
Poor planning is part of what I refer to as the 4Ps of delay and inefficiency – procrastination, perfectionism, poor planning, and poor pacing.
Promise less, deliver more. Keep expectations low or lower and come in ahead of those expectations so you look like a super performer rather than an underachiever.
Whether or not someone reads the mail that he or she finds when that check occurs, it is still a much more distracted situation leading to feeling pulled in more directions than when you could store your mail somewhere until you had time to go through it.
It’s hard to finish projects when you’re emotionally upset.
Anger gets in the way of completion more often than we’d like to admit. You could be angry at someone you work with or displacing and projecting your anger to the person you’ll be submitting a project to, or even the team that is awaiting your material.
Some people seem to perform better under pressure, but for most of us, working under pressure backfires.
Here are some affirmations you can consider repeating to motivate yourself to get back to the project or task at hand: “I am doing this project.” “I am completing this task.” “I am a finisher.” “I can handle whatever I need to do.”
Prioritizing, one of the cornerstones of time management training and productivity, will take you far in mastering the art of finishing.
If you fear success, procrastination delays that scenario from happening.
Perfectionism is behind procrastination for some; fearing that your effort will come up short, you delay and delay to avoid having to face your own imperfections.
1Try the reward system.
2Allow for delays.
3Try what I called creative procrastination in my book, Creative Time Management for the New Millennium.
4Make whatever you are procrastinating about the very first activity that you tackle first thing in the morning, or when you first get to the office.
5Find a great place to stop for the day.
6Partner with someone.
F = Focus on one priority task. I = Ignore interruptions or distractions. N = Now is the time, not later or tomorrow. I = Initiate and innovate so you keep going. S = Stay the course however tough it gets. H = Hail finishing by celebrating your accomplishment.
