Procrastination: The Enemy of Productivity

procrastination flowchart

procrastination flowchart

 

Procrastination can have many manifestations but ultimately it impacts heavily on your productivity.  Some authors suggest that procrastination is putting off important tasks in favor of less important tasks or doing tasks you enjoy rather than tasks that will lead you to your goal.

There are many reasons why we procrastinate.  In my personal productivity course I discuss fear of failure and fear of success as possible causes.  In this blog post, I will look at procrastination in terms of pursuing our preferences, over doing what we should do in order to be productive.

[Image credit: Procrastination Flowchart by jean-louis zimmermann]

Procrastination: doing what you love rather than what will make you productive

One of the manifestations of your procrastination could be that you avoid the mundane, routine tasks that are necessary to realize and maintain your goals.   If you are a creative-type person, you will find yourself spending time on creating new things – new websites, blog posts or other endeavors – at the expense of doing things that are necessary to move you closer to your goals – things that would enhance your productivity in terms of goal achievement.

Sometimes we can become productive in the wrong things – we can concentrate on the 80% of things that don’t lead directly to our goals and ignore the 20% of tasks that do.  Yaro Starak describes this 8o/20 rule in the following terms:

… the important thing to understand is that in your life there are certain activities you do (your 20 percent) that account for the majority (your 80 percent) of your happiness and outputs.

If you focus only on the things that you enjoy, then you will avoid the things that are less exciting but that contribute more to your goals.  In fact, one of the things that have been identified about successful people is that each day they do first the things that they don’t like doing but see as necessary for goal achievement (before they do the things they like).  This daily discipline is a way they overcome procrastination to improve their productivity and achieve their goals in life.

So if you want to improve your personal productivity, it pays to look at the important tasks that you tend to avoid because they are routine or boring.  Ask yourself how you could give them a new priority, instead of leaving them to last (when you invariably have no time to complete them).

It may be you are putting off social bookmarking, writing that important blog post, updating your browser or making simple (but important changes) to your website – all in favor of enjoying endless interactions on websites such as Facebook or Squidoo.  Alternatively, you may be avoiding engaging on these social networks because you find logging in, reading and commenting boring tasks. 

You really have to take a close look at your procrastination and determine what is going on for you, if you want to improve your productivity.

How to Overcome Writer’s Block to Improve Your Productivity

Writer's Block

 Writer's Block

Writer’s block is the curse of all writers, whether writing online or offline.  Even the great novelists report that at times they experienced writer’s block.  

In an earlier blog post, I offered suggestions on how to achieve your daily blogging goal.  That blog post on daily blogging focused mainly on creating productive habits and establishing a routine. But what happens if, despite your routine, you are lost for words on a particular day when you want to write?  What if, despite your best efforts, no ideas come to mind? 

Well, there are a couple of strategies that I use that you might find useful to help you overcome writer’s block and improve your productivity. 

[Photo credit: Writer’s Block by orijinal

Strategies to Overcome Writer’s Block 

I have developed these strategies over time while writing both technical and popular articles and blog posts.  They have really helped me overcome writer’s block

1. Talk to the computer

This sounds a bit strange but it is a valuable technique.  I learned this approach from a colleague when we were doing an Australia-wide research project on action learning.  Whenever we got stuck for writing, he would go to the keyboard and start typing questions like:

  • What do I want to say here?
  • Who am I saying this to?
  • What’s the key message that I want to get across?
  • Why would I bother to write this?
  • What can the reader learn from what I am writing?

 He would then progressively start to answer these questions as if they were questions asked of him by the computer.  Invariably, we would have no trouble progressing once we responded to his questions on the computer. 

2. Record yourself – create a podcast 

Sometimes the act of writing is itself an impediment to what you want to say – you can’t find the right words to start.  What I have done to overcome this particular writer’s block is to use an audio recorder, my smartphone or a program like Audacity or AudioBoo to record what I want to say.  When you move to the auditory channel, your natural instincts to edit are turned off, so a natural speaking flow can occur.  You can then type from the audio and play around with the grammar and structure.  You could use the questions mentioned in (1) to get started.  It is amazing how using a different communication channel can free up your ideas (and overcome innate fears that can cause writer’s block). 

3. Speed writing 

This is a real challenge to the perfectionist who may suffer from fear of failure or fear of success.  It is a similar idea to the previous one but here you stick with writing as the primary task.  However, instead of concerning yourself with structure, grammar, spelling or complete sentences, you just write any idea that comes into your head about the topic that is the focus of your attention.  What you will find is that one idea will lead to another and you will find new ways to develop ideas mentioned earlier in your speed writing.  It takes a bit of work to edit the writing, but at least you will have captured the ideas and linkages – you just need to structure them and edit your expression. 

Speed writing can really free up writer’s block because it enables you to overcome your lifetime conditioning – having to proceed in a logical way and write perfect sentences. The speed writing approach stresses lateral thinking and randomness, and activates the right brain.  Eventually, you need to activate your left brain to impose some order on what you have written.  The speed writing process can really help you overcome writer’s block by tapping into a part of your brain (the right side) that you may not use on a regular basis (depending on your type of work).  

4. Record a reflection 

Yesterday I was lost for a topic, so I reflected on what helped me to become productive with my blogging.  This led to my extended post on the how you can use focus to improve productivity.  That blog post started out as some random ideas that I thought I could write 200 words on and it ended up as a 7 point article of more than 1,200 words.  So even if you are slow to start writing, the very act of starting can loosen up your mind and capture the connections that are already resident there.  In the case of the focus blog post, I ended up jotting down some key points that turned into the 7 reasons why focus helps to improve productivity. 

This current post came about because I was experiencing writer’s block and was reflecting on how I had overcome it in the past – hence the focus of the article. 

5. Don’t try for perfection every time 

It’s better to write something, however short, rather than nothing.  The more you write, the easier it gets. Not every blog post is going to be a ‘pillar article’.  So it’s worth persisting and settling for something that may be good but not great.  Action generates ideas and ideas build on each other. 

If you want to be productive with your blogging, you need to explore strategies to overcome writer’s block – hopefully, my strategies will prove fruitful for you too.

 

7 Ways Focus Improves Your Productivity

Improve productivity through focus

 Improve productivity through focus

I’ve been reflecting on how focus has helped me to improve productivity with respect to blogging.  Over the last 3 months, I have written 80 blog posts for my Small Business Odyssey blog (from 400 to 1000+ words each), while in the previous three months I wrote only one blog post.  This improved productivity is the result of focus. 

One of my early posts on this blog was about the benefits of focus for small business marketing.  In this current blog post, I want to discuss how focus improves productivity – as it has obviously done for me with regard to blogging. 

[Photo credit: Close Focus Lens by SqueakyMarmot]

7 ways to improve productivity through focus 

There is no doubt in my mind that focus was one of the key means that helped me to improve productivity.  In reflecting on this, I identified 7 key ways focus contributed to my productivity improvement: 

1. Focus builds momentum 

Early definitions of ‘momentum’ described it as ‘the power residing in a moving object’.  You know yourself that once you get a heavy object moving, it gains momentum and is a lot easier to push (e.g. trying to push a broken-down car).  For me, momentum is the key benefit of focus.  Once I decided that I would focus on writing a blog about small business marketing, I began to overcome the resistances (the heavy objects) that were residing in me – the barriers to productivity.  Once I started writing blog posts with my new-found focus, I began to gain momentum – writing blog posts became easier and I looked forward to writing them. 

2. Focus is motivational 

Once you become focused, you start to achieve things that seemed impossible before.  You become more disciplined, avoid distractions and build sound habits that help to improve productivity.  The sense of achievement you gain is motivational – it provides the intrinsic reward, a sense of satisfaction, that keeps you going.  Extrinsic rewards, in the form of increased traffic and revenue usually follow, but it is the inner sense of achieving a worthwhile goal that provides the initial impetus.  Focus enables you to gain this sense of achievement and the resultant motivation that leads to improved productivity

3. Focus channels energy 

Focus brings an alignment of your energies (mental, physical, emotional) so that you are able to pursue a single goal or direction with increasing energy.  You know yourself that a lack of focus dissipates energy – you are ‘all over the place’.  Focus, on the other hand, results in harnessing energy towards a single goal.  I think of the analogy of using a magnifying glass to focus the energy of the sun’s rays to burn a hole in a piece of paper (as we used to do as kids).  The sun’s energy is there all the time, but it is unfocused unless you capture it with a magnifying glass (or nowadays with solar panels to produce electricity).  It is the focus (or the focusing instrument) that channels and concentrates energy.  This channelled energy helps you, in turn, to improve productivity. 

4. Focus creates a new significance 

Lou Tice, famous organizational psychologist, used to talk about the power of organization vision to ‘create a new significance’ – visioning is about focusing on a desired future state that you want to work towards achieving.  He explained that the process of visioning, focusing of some desired future, activates a part of the brain called the RAS (reticular activating system) which is responsible for arousal and activating the conscious mind.   So, for example, you may be driving to work in a ‘mindless state’, almost on remote control.  Then suddenly you see the rear lights of the car in front of you turn read (the brake light).  It is the RAS that tells your body to take evasive action (your brain has recognised the significance of the red light – you are going to crash if you don’t stop or swerve away).  TheRAS brings you back to a heightened state of consciousness.  And so it is with focus in any arena of life, especially in small business marketing.  The consequence is that you start to see things you did not notice before, new resources come to your attention, and you recognise new resource people – your brain has created a new significance around your focus and this new consciousness helps you to improve your productivity because you become better resourced and informed. 

5. Focus attracts productive people to you 

Other people value focus because it demonstrates commitment and achievement – a goal that many people aspire to but cannot achieve.   People who have achieved in life are attracted to other productive people and recognise their expertise.  Here’s a simple example from my own experience.  I decided a few years ago to spend a year acquiring expertise in Squidoo and eventually attained the level of Giant Squid100 (100 excellent Squidoo lenses determined by Squidoo itself).  This enabled me to write many blog posts about Squidoo and create an e-book on Squidoo Marketing Strategies which I sold via Paypal.  As my expertise developed I came to the attention of Mari Smith, Facebook expert, who asked me to run a webinar for her on Squidoo for her Social Media Certification Course.  This gave me increased exposure and access to resources and contributed substantially to my visibility, branding, motivation and productivity.  Mari is a great example of how focus attracts others, builds expertise and increases personal productivity.  

6. Focus improves efficiency 

Efficiency is about achieving more in less time – the hallmark of productive people.  With focus you are able to avoid distractions and use your time better.  You can overcome information overload because your focus gives you the basis for ignoring, or attending to, the endless bits of information that you are bombarded with.  You can sift through information quickly and attend to only those things that further your goal (your primary focus).  As you become more time efficient through your focus, you improve your productivity in terms of achieving your goal. 

7. Focus taps emotional energy 

It is very difficult to sustain a focus unless there is some emotional attachment to the goal underlying your focus.  So in my case, the focus on small business marketing contributes to two key goals of mine – the promotion of my own HR consultancy business and the development of a future stream of revenue when I wind down from running workshops.  I have a very strong, emotional commitment to both these goals which are interrelated and intertwined.  This enables me to tap into the emotional energy involved in my focus and to improve my productivity.  The positive emotional energy sustains me when the going gets hard – writer’s block, downtime on my computer, the pressures of my offline business and illness.  A key lesson here is to align your focus with a goal you find emotionally energizing and your focus will help you to sustain and improve your productivity. 

For further information on ways to enjoy the benefits of focus and learn to improve productivity in your small business marketing, subscribe to my free e-course on how to be productive

 

Sometimes You Have to Stop to Move Forward: A Montville Break

View from Montville

 View from Montville

Over the weekend, I spent two days in a cabin in Montville, a mountain village on the Blackall Range in Queensland, Australia.   It was great to take in the mountain air and the glorious vistas and to stroll through Montville village, an arts and craft centre that I featured in one of my Squidoo lenses.  

I had deliberately left my laptop behind on this trip and took a real break from computers, the Internet and work generally.  There are times when you need to stop to move forward – to slow the momentum of your body and your mind.

Improve your blogging productivity with a rest

Without rest and relaxation, you can become stale in what you are doing whether it is article writing, social media marketing or writing blog posts. 

With a break, you can return to your daily blogging with renewed energy, insight and enthusiasm.  A break can also improve your productivity through the energy renewal and new perspectives you gain.  Often you will find that the solution to your current issue or problem lies in front of you – you just need time out to see it.

 This is particularly true when you are engaged in running a small business offline.  The daily demands can mean that you are constantly ‘chasing your tail’.  Eventually, you can’t ‘see the wood for the trees’ – you are blind to the bigger picture because of reacting to small things. 

Stepping back, taking time out, is essential to develop a new perspective.  You could take a weekend away to refresh your mind.  The beauty of a place like Montville can be really invigorating.  

View from The Potter's Place Montville
View from The Potter's Place Montville

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Time seems to stand still when you stop – minutes turn into hours and hours become days.  This is in stark contrast to when you are busy chasing deadlines. 

I was able to take heaps of photos on my Samsung Galaxy S11 Camera (8 Megapixels) on my Montville break and now I have these available for blog posts (see images in this post) and for creating videos via Animoto.

I was also able to identify ways that I could add more content to my personal productivity membership site:

  • Re-purpose articles I have written for Ezinearticles.com
  • Create a series on MP3’s on productivity and energy levels
  • Expand productivity tips from some of my Squidoo lenses
  • Develop a series of promotional videos for the membership site.

By taking a two day rest at Montville, I am now able to resume my blogging with improved productivity through an increase in energy, resources and ideas.

Google+: Why Small Business Must Get Involved with Google Plus

Google Plus Functions

Google Plus Functions

Google Plus is Google’s new social network launched in June 2011.  Google+ will be an integral element in small business marketing into the future.  It will not only enable you to build your personal profile but also build your business brand online.   Google Plus membership has already reached 62 Million and is growing at the rate of 625, 000 new users per day.

Why bother with Google Plus?

Google views Google Plus as extending its capability (and value) beyond its traditional search engine focus to social networking.  However, these two major arenas of Google’s activity should not be seen as separate.  Google has already made it clear by its own words and actions that the Google + social network will feed search engine results.  It has also shown the intention to rapidly integrate other Google applications into Google Plus, its new social network.

Google has already integrated Google+ into its toolbar as shown in the images below:

Google+ in toolbar

 

This icon. ‘+Ron’ , provides a direct link to my Google+ account.  In the following toolbar image, you can see how Google integrates ‘notifications’, ‘sharing’,  ‘profile” (thumbnail photo) and ‘settings/help’  icons for ease of access:

Google Plus in toolbar

As we progress through my blog posts about Google Plus, you will see that Google is deadly serious about this new social network – it is not just a new ‘plaything’.  Wherever you go on Google, including the search results, you will see increasing integration of Google+.   Google played around with its early social network, Google Buzz, but has since canned it to build Google Plus – all the time using Buzz as a learning laboratory.   If you have any doubts about Google’s long-term commitment to Google Plus, just check out Google’s own announcements re its ongoing Google + updates.

Integrating Google Plus into your small business marketing will no longer be a nice option (initially, Google+ was invitation-only), it will be an essential element.  Otherwise, you will see your online marketing progressively vanish into the background as Google takes over the foreground with its Google Plus social network.

As mentioned in my earlier post on the major changes for small business marketing in 2011, Google+ is one of Google’s strategies designed to wrest back the Number One web traffic position from Facebook.  The similarities between Facebook and Google Plus will hit you immediately, so this new social network represents head-on competition with Facebook.   As a small business owner, you can stand on the sidelines and watch the battle or you can engage with both these giant networks and ensure that you have a sound footing online – this is where the action is and where the people (your customers) are.

What is significant about Google Plus?

Google Plus has already been lauded for its ease of use and flexible privacy settings (addressing one of the key problem areas of Facebook).  As Google+ is in its early stages, it is also possible to get access to people you would not normally be able to link to.

So here is a list of key things you can do (explained in detail in later posts):

  • create a comprehensive personal profile
  • build ‘circles’ (add people to different circles/groupings and control the access and distribution of your information via your circles)
  • share photos and videos
  • develop your ‘stream’ (similar to Facebook’s ‘News Feed’ – integrating ‘status updates’ and content such as photos or videos)
  • private message other people in your circles
  • create a hangout (an evolving facility to engage others in live conversation via video and text chat – considered by many to be the real technological breakthrough for Google Plus)
  • create ‘sparks’ – recommendations
  • build business pages (sound familiar?).

Some commentators are suggesting that with these features and the growing integration with Google’s own applications, Google Plus represents a combination of Facebook, Twitter and Flickr rolled up into one state-of-the art social network.

How to Join Google Plus

You can join Google+ via a link on the blog/website of a Google+ member.  You will see the image displayed at the top of this post and the sign-up box as shown in the following screenshot:

how to create a Google Plus account

 

Alternatively, you can go directly to Google Plus and click on the following image and this will take you to the signup page indicated in the above image:

Google Plus sign up box

 

Note: You will need a Google account to join Google Plus (with either sign-up option).

With each advancing day as we move into 2012, Google Plus will become more critical to small business marketing and this will be progressively explained in succeeding blog posts (which symbolically will take us into the New Year).