Comments on: Stress and Procrastination http://www.keenerliving.com/stress-and-procrastination A retired professional talks about life, technology, learning Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:32:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bruce Keener http://www.keenerliving.com/stress-and-procrastination#comment-29760 Bruce Keener Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:36:14 +0000 http://www.keenerliving.com/?p=1317#comment-29760 John and Norbert, Thanks for sharing your practices and philosophies. Very sensible and very effective at getting stuff done. John and Norbert,
Thanks for sharing your practices and philosophies. Very sensible and very effective at getting stuff done.

]]> By: Norbert http://www.keenerliving.com/stress-and-procrastination#comment-29759 Norbert Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:43:29 +0000 http://www.keenerliving.com/?p=1317#comment-29759 David Allen suggests that you not try to fight procrastination. Instead, he proposes a system where you define tasks in advance to procrastinate with (based on your goals and purpose). If you have a wide range of things to do defined(!) in a list, you will almost always find something you feel like doing. You may not be doing the most important thing but still, you're progressing with your life. As I am a big fan of the "fail more" and "ready/fire/aim" approaches, this totally resonates with me. Instead of forcing myself to complete 10 things I "need" to finish, I do 90 other things which I feel like doing. Once I get moving it is almost effortless to do what I didn't want to do in the first place. Additionally, I move forward in lots of other areas in my life which results in a bunch of new ideas, connections etc which leads to things I couldn't even imagine before, if I had focused only on the 10 things. I would also feel bad forcing myself to do what I didn't wanted to do. David Allen also says that stress comes from unkept agreements with yourself. Interesting thought. In my experience it is true. David Allen suggests that you not try to fight procrastination. Instead, he proposes a system where you define tasks in advance to procrastinate with (based on your goals and purpose). If you have a wide range of things to do defined(!) in a list, you will almost always find something you feel like doing. You may not be doing the most important thing but still, you’re progressing with your life. As I am a big fan of the “fail more” and “ready/fire/aim” approaches, this totally resonates with me. Instead of forcing myself to complete 10 things I “need” to finish, I do 90 other things which I feel like doing. Once I get moving it is almost effortless to do what I didn’t want to do in the first place. Additionally, I move forward in lots of other areas in my life which results in a bunch of new ideas, connections etc which leads to things I couldn’t even imagine before, if I had focused only on the 10 things. I would also feel bad forcing myself to do what I didn’t wanted to do.

David Allen also says that stress comes from unkept agreements with yourself. Interesting thought. In my experience it is true.

]]> By: John S http://www.keenerliving.com/stress-and-procrastination#comment-29752 John S Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:57:50 +0000 http://www.keenerliving.com/?p=1317#comment-29752 If procrastination is thinking about one thing while doing something else, the problem is how to bring thought and action together. I used to focus on trying to do more of what I thought I should be doing. That just left me stressed and not very productive. More recently, I've been ruthlessly purging my to-do list. That way I can focus on what I am doing instead of dreaming up more things that I never seem to get around to. If procrastination is thinking about one thing while doing something else, the problem is how to bring thought and action together. I used to focus on trying to do more of what I thought I should be doing. That just left me stressed and not very productive. More recently, I’ve been ruthlessly purging my to-do list. That way I can focus on what I am doing instead of dreaming up more things that I never seem to get around to.

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