TM4T Using Your System 2.2.1.3.2.1 - Procrastination in Particular

I've tried to avoid writing this page - putting it off and putting it off.  Dealing with procrastination can be tricky.  Good time management means doing the right things at the right time: doing things NOW if they take very little time, but otherwise batching them up to do more efficiently later. In particular, you should CHOOSE when and where to do important tasks, whether they are important for your students or important for the school.

For some people, this leads to a problem. They find that this choose-when-you-do-it approach leads to procrastination, which in this context means sub-consciously delaying tasks in order to avoid doing them.

If you feel this applies to you, the first thing is to identify when this is happening and to figure out exactly what it is that you are avoiding. When you have done this, you should modify your priorities - make a point of doing these things more promptly than their importance demands. You should of course, also seek to remove, or ameliorate, whatever it is that you genuinely dislike for a valid reason.

Set yourself a deadline. Not just a deadline to complete one task on your Ticklist, but a deadline to completely deal with an issue, finish an entire activity, or implement a whole project. This will create urgency where previously there was only a niggling worry. As far as possible, do the most unpleasant part first - the less onerous tasks then become a reward for completing the other. Build in a real personal secret reward. Promise yourself that cup of chocolate, that Facebook catch-up, that half an hour of TV after you have completed the task, not before. Give yourself an incentive!

Also, where possible, adopt a single-handling approach. When doing Tens, try to complete a task before you put it down - be decisive with the contents of your in-tray and e-mail. Answer post by writing comments on each letter immediately, so that you know what action is required. Respond decisively to e-mail messages. Cut short non-productive activities, such as long telephone conversations. Skip-read your Ticklist before you start it and identify the wobbly tasks. In this context a wobbly task is one which creates an automatic reluctance, a task which you really could have done earlier. Do it now. Do it first.What this really means, in the context of TM4T, is adopting an EA mindset much more than you would usually do.

The intention here is not just to tackle unpleasant tasks (there is always another one just around the corner); it is to convince yourself that this procrastination just is-not-you. By practising TM4T you are routinely prioritising objectively and you are routinely clearing your inbox daily and routinely leaving an empty desk behind when you go home. You can tackle nasty jobs whenever you darn well choose.

You should periodically remind yourself that this is not a binary decision. The alternative to procrastination is not doingi-everything-straight-away. There are a million mid-say routes to choose between, all of them better than either extreme.