It’s never too late for procrastination
Add comment March 12th, 2008
Oops, I waited too long and missed it: National Procrastination Week.
Believe it or not, there really is a National Procrastination Week. It is the second full week in March, so this year it started March 3.
I Googled it and found dozens of references. Some of them included a quote from a very famous procrastinator, Mark Twain: “Do not put off until tomorrow what can be put off ’til day-after-tomorrow just as well.”
I was alerted to National Procrastination Week by an e-mailed press release about Bob Kustka, CEO of The Fusion Factor, an HR strategy consulting firm in Massachusetts. When I saw that the e-mail was not from a local source, I saved it to read later, and when I finally got to its contents, I realized I had missed this important week.
Even though the official week itself is over, I figure I probably still could benefit from some of Kustka’s input. Some people procrastinate because they don’t like working on certain tasks, he said. But others just feel overwhelmed by the amount of work on their plates and don’t know where to begin.
Some of the steps Kustka outlined, as part of his trademarked “Right Here Right Now” method:
Decide. When faced with a daily to-do list, first decide the priority of each task.
Designate. When a task can’t be finished quickly, set a time for it later in the day or week, and then write it in a calendar to keep yourself accountable.
Delegate. See who else is carrying a lighter load and use teamwork to help everyone get through the day productively.
