15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management pdfdrive com

What pleasure will I get by doing this thing?
What pain will I feel if I don’t do it?
One of my enabling goals is to work out every day. Yoga stretches, resistance
training, and the treadmill. I need to really pile on the pain and pleasure in my
mind to actually do my workouts. Why do I want to work out? Because I want to
look good, I want definition in my abs (come on, what guy doesn’t?), I want high

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energy, and I believe cardiovascular exercise keeps the brain healthy.
What’s the pain I’ll feel if I don’t work out? I visualize looking flabby with a
beer belly (sometimes I don’t need to “visualize” it!). I think about that weird
pain above my knee that I get when I don’t do the pigeon pose in yoga. I think
about feeling like a loser, a couch potato, with no energy. I even think about the
fact that not working out is disrespectful to my girlfriend.
Does this mental routine sound extreme? I definitely go through this pain and
pleasure thought cycle if I’m not feeling motivated, but it’s actually helpful to
just run through it routinely to burn it into my mindset.
Procrastination Buster #3: Accountability Partner
My childhood friend Curt grew up and became a sports psychologist. He tells me
that the number one predictor of whether someone will stick to an exercise
routine or not is whether they are doing it with someone else.
This can be a neighbor who meets you every morning at 6 a.m. for a jog. It
can be a professional trainer whom you pay $50 an hour to come to your house
to kick your butt. It can be your boss who likes to play basketball every day at
lunch. It can be a Weight Watchers club where you weigh in every week. And of
course, it can be a study buddy at school or just a good friend who is going to
check in with you and keep you accountable.
The reason why this is so powerful is that when we procrastinate, we are
merely breaking a promise to ourselves; we feel far worse when we break a
promise to somebody else.
Procrastination Buster #4: Reward and Punishment
Some people I know respond very well to bribes—even though they are the one
in control of the bribe!
One friend told herself she could buy a new pair of expensive shoes, but only
after she paid off her credit cards. Another friend bought an excellent bottle of
wine but wouldn’t drink it until he got down to a certain percentage of body fat.
But in addition to the “carrot,” don’t forget about the stick approach. Human
psychology is such that we actually fear loss more than we want a gain. So
instead of rewarding yourself for goal achievement, you can also punish yourself
for goal failure.
One company, StickK (
http://www.stickk.com/
), has made a website that lets
you set up a “commitment contract.” You pick the goal, the penalty, and a

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charity of your choice will receive your money if you don’t hit the goal. As of
this writing, over $14 million has been put up as stakes against goals.
My friend John recently set up a team weight loss goal with his colleagues in
the office. Liberal in their political views, they each chipped in $100 and have to
donate it to the National Rifle Association if they don’t shed the agreed upon
pounds.
Of course, you don’t need fancy software to execute on this strategy. You can
always just set up a commitment contract with friends. Give them $100, or
whatever amount will “hurt” you, and share your goal. If you don’t follow
through, they can keep the money or give it to a charity.
Procrastination Buster #5: Act As If…
Be. That’s it. Be.
Admittedly, this one is a little deep. It has to do with our identity. We all
work really hard to stay consistent with who we think we are.
Much of the problem behind task avoidance is that we aren’t yet the person
we are trying to become. We can visualize our ideal future state, but sometimes
the present state—sitting here on the couch watching TV—feels a lot better. One
unusual but very effective strategy is to self-talk yourself (out loud or in your
head) as if you already were your ideal self.
I am a healthy eater. I am a jogger. I am the #1 sales rep in my company. I
am a neat person. I am a bestselling author. I am an entrepreneur.
What this self-talk is doing is anchoring your values. If you are already a
jogger, it will feel bad and unnatural not to go out jogging today. If you are a
writer, of course you are going to sit and write at the computer today—it’s what
writers do. If you are a healthy person, of course you’ll get a to-go salad at the
airport instead of a slice of pizza.
Just be who you want to become. It will then feel bad—it will be incongruent
—not to do the task you might be tempted to procrastinate.
Procrastination Buster #6: Settle For Good Enough
Sometimes we find it easy to start things, but we procrastinate finishing them.
One trick to use is to just plan on settling for less than perfect.
Procrastinating that three mile jog? Well, just suit up and go outside and
agree to run around the block once…that will be good enough. And maybe it
will be, or maybe once you’re done with the block you’ll keep going.

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Procrastinating finishing that book you’ve been working on? Well, just agree
to push through it sloppily to complete draft one…you can always come back
later to revise it.
Procrastinating finishing that new product? Just launch it to the marketplace
even if it isn’t perfect, and get it closer to perfection each quarter with a new
release.
Once you start something, once you agree that imperfect is OK, you’ll feel a
stronger motivation to finish it up.
How Does This Apply If You’re A(n)...