Conquering Procrastination to Get on Track
A number of weeks ago I was struck by the progress of a client, who had been stuck in her weight loss goal for quite some time. What she began to realize was that a number of areas of her life were disorganized, and this carried over to disorganized eating. She began by cleaning up the clutter in her kitchen and den, followed by her bedroom and then living room. She simplified her work space, eliminating unnecessary paper and books. She removed many items from her cupboards and refrigerator that were likely not ever going to be used. In doing so, she was able to organize her food and meal planning. In essence, by organizing other aspects of her life, she stopped procrastinating in getting herself organized to eat well on a daily basis.
A lot of us procrastinate doing exercise, or put off the time necessary to make a simple lunch or dinner, and it may start with getting other aspects of our lives in order.
So, take these steps:
• Take time to get organized. Examine your workplace. Is it crowded, sloppy, piled high with yesterday's business? Get rid of everything that is extraneous in this area and assign a place for everything.
• Begin the night before. Don't wait until Monday morning to decide what you're going to do for the day or the week. Set aside some time on a Sunday to think about what your exercise goals are for the week and when you are going to fit them in. Think about what you will have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and have snacks ready for the week.
• Prioritize your plan. Divide your objectives and tasks in terms of what is most important, and then second in importance and so on.
• Schedule time by blocks rather than tasks. Have you ever allotted an hour to complete a task and then found that it took two hours, thereby messing up the rest of your day and schedule? To remove this stress, allot a given amount of time to a task and then move on to the next task. This practice ensures that you will make measurable progress on each task without getting bogged down.
• Just do it. Have you ever kept postponing a project because you just didn't want to do it? Many of us spend as much time worrying and rescheduling as actually doing whatever needs to be done! There is a way around this….Simply, DO IT: either on a task or time basis.
Almost everyone I meet feels overwhelmed with the tasks of daily living. We have jobs, family, friends, house and financial obligations. Trying to juggle the physical and emotional demands of living aren't easy. When we add to this our desire to plan meals or plan time to exercise, it may become even more daunting. Usually the first things to falter are the eating and the exercise because we put less importance on them than the others. By trying to keep yourself organized in other areas of your life, (allotting time to make yourself healthy by planning meals and planning exercise blocks), rather than putting them off will reap great dividends in the future. None of this is hard, but it does take planning. Don't put it off. Start now.
You can do it. Keep on trying.
Dr. Doug