What do you focus on?

It is known that what we should focus on is found where the things that matter and the things we can control meet. Everything that falls into this space is where we should invest our energy, time and resources.

But here is the thing; there are two preconditions for that to happen:

a. Being aware of what matters to us and 

b. Accepting that we cannot control everything. 

What do you think? How easy is it for you to know what you should focus on? 

Why Procrastination Rocks

"How do you beat procrastination?", a student asked me. 

I don’t!

I have come to terms with my procrastination; I even enjoy it. Last weekend I had a deadline for a project. In just a couple of hours my house was cleaner than ever. The project could wait.

I have fully embraced my procrastination. Ok, the fact that I can finish tasks super fast when I have to, really helps. So it’s simple for me: I procrastinate and when I have no other option, no more time, I sit down, focus intensely and do whatever needs to be done. My focus is so sharp, that I perform better than If I take my time.

Procrastination also allows me more time to reflect on the task. I am a reflector. I need that time. I am not going to make drafts and plans and pre-work on something. I need to process everything in my mind and when I am ready (and out of time), there I go.

Procrastination has occasionally saved me. The delay had brought to surface information that was essential. Or, in other cases, it had provided me with the opportunity to say a “no” that I should have said from the beginning, but I hadn’t.

Thanks to procrastination I am more conscious of the task I am doing and why.

Oh, it can be fun too: I see friends I should have told them “I cannot join you, I have a deadline”, I take long walks in the city and I spend time helping my nieces with their homework, or letting them beat me at board games.  

Procrastination takes the pressure off, when there is something stressful or unpleasant that needs to get done, because after a certain amount of time and many internal dialogues it just doesn’t seem that significant any more, so with lightheartedness it gets done or dumped (the urgent vs important matrix works much better when procrastinating).

Finally, it’s because of procrastination that I can keep the house clean and tidy – how could I find the time to do that otherwise?

I tell you, Brian Tracy was right about Eating that Frog, but sometimes frogs are better eaten with a shorter (or longer) delay. 

PS: in writing this blog post, I didn’t procrastinate at all. The fact that the book I must read still lays untouched next to my keyboard, is purely coincidental. 

On Productivity

Checking today’s stories on Zite, I found quite a few articles on productivity (again). Tips and rules to be more productive, practices and strategies of the most productive people, tons of articles, blog posts, videos, even infographics, all there available for us thanks to the web and the wisdom of others so that we can find the ultimate model to get things done.

Yesterday I was reading through one of these articles where the writer was sharing his daily routine which helps him be so productive. A short article, the kind of articles that a lazy reader like me enjoys, with many information even about the eating habits of a stranger.

It worked! Even if the goal of the writer – guru of productivity was to give me a kind of structure that he has, I got the enlightenment of the actual strategy – and only structure needed for me to be productive:

All my great moments of creativity and productivity, all the periods where I get things done are achieved by this model: I just seat down and do the work!

I put myself in the office, on the road, over the phone, at the keyboard, wherever needed and start doing what needs to be done. 

You want to be more productive? Decide what your goal is, make the list of what needs to be done and start doing. And if you find yourself struggling with a "frog", just follow Brian Tracy's advice and eat that frog!