To Do or NOT to Do…That is the Question!
Posted on January 12, 2010 - Filed Under Get Organized, Organize Your Life, Self Help
“Even if you’re on the right track,
you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
–Will Rogers
A colleague of mine recently shared that she enjoys procrastination so much that she has decided to give herself permission to do it daily. So, once a day she sits down and plans, schemes, and lists anything that comes to mind - particularly things she knows she “should” do. She said that “it feels delicious constructing those plans with full awareness that I’ll probably not carry them out! Who cares? The fun is in the planning!” She reported that since she started allowing this frivolity, she gets it out of her system in one sitting, and she no longer feels the desire to procrastinate. She has cut in half the amount of time she “wastes” in this manner, which has freed her to fill the time more productively. She says, “Since it’s going to happen anyway, why not be at choice?”
A few hours after I read my colleague’s e-mail about how she plans to procrastinate, Oprah was on TV interviewing life coach Martha Beck about how to de-stress your life. During her interview with Oprah, Martha suggested that instead of making a To Do list, we make a NOT To Do list.
That same week, I came to the realization that I had over committed myself when I agreed to be part of a weekly teleconference meeting over the next eight weeks. As I thought about the topic of the teleconference, I had to laugh. The teleconference topic - Balancing Between Work and Life - hit a nerve. I realized I was getting out of balance myself!
How often do you commit to something that you later regret, and then say to yourself, “Well, I HAVE TO DO IT because I gave my word!” Then you go on your way, grumbling about how over committed and stressed out you are. That’s what I used to do, and I am getting better at recognizing when it’s in my best interest to renegotiate commitments I have made. In this case, I renegotiated my participation in the teleconference, and by doing so I have freed up several hours a week of my time over the next eight weeks.
I think it is more than coincidence that I was bombarded with similar messages from several different sources, all within the same week. Perhaps the universe was telling me something that I needed to hear, and just in time for March Forth Day and National Procrastination Week, which coincide with each other the first week in March.
Last year at this time I wrote an article titled March 4th. Time to March Forth!, and the year before that my March article was titled Fear Not! - The Perfectionist’s Credo - an article about procrastination. To do or not to do - to march forth or to procrastinate - that is the question. Or IS that the question?
It occurred to me that perhaps the best way to march forth in my life is to NOT do some things - to just say NO! I think that’s why my colleague enjoys her procrastination exercise so much, and why Martha Beck has helped so many of her clients reclaim their lives by creating a NOT To Do list. We’re all too busy being busy! Meanwhile, life is passing us by.
Several years ago I made a poster that says, “Every time I say YES to someone or something, I am saying NO to someone or something else.” (Remember, I’m a recovering workaholic!) This poster has helped me make better decisions about what I say YES and NO to. Given that procrastination means not doing something, perhaps one of the reasons that many of us procrastinate is because our lives are so full of things that deserve to be on our NOT To Do lists. Of course, there are also many other reasons for procrastinating.
What is possible once you de-clutter your life of activities and commitments that are not top priority to you? What does your NOT To Do list contain?
This is the first of four blogs about dealing with procrastination. Please check back in a few days for more on this topic. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts, which you can send me by clicking on the comments button below. For free resources and valuable productivity tools visit www.orgcoach.net.
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