A Templeton Finn Coaching Article:

TIME MANAGEMENT - THE MOST DANGEROUS HABIT OF ALL!

Why do certain things just never seem to get done?

There are these nasty things that lurk on white boards and "to do" lists and somehow don't ever get done. We glance at them every so often and something inside us says "Ughh, not now".

They can be anything from "book the cat into a cattery for our holiday in Cambodia" to "revolutionise the firm's marketing strategy".

Why does our brain shy away from these things?

The reason we don't do these things is - we haven't worked out the first action.

For sorting out the cat's holidays, our brain does a quick (unconscious) analysis along the lines of:

"What do I need to do? Find a really nice cattery. How? I don't know. Oh, stuff it, I'll do it later".

A better way...

Every step of the way through the process, your brain is just dying to say: "Ughh, do it some other time"

Instead, it needs to be followed through to get to a first step. So, to carry on from above:

"How do I find a cattery that can be trusted with my beloved Fluffy?

Well I know Beryl let her prize winning Siamese stay at a cattery recently. I could ask her.

How will I do that?

Oh no, today's Tuesday and she doesn't work Tuesdays.

But I see her every week at the IT meeting. I could ask her then.

But I'll forget!

I suppose I could make a note on the minutes of last week's IT meeting? I always take them to the next meeting...

OK, I'll do that."

Every step of the way through the above process, your brain is just dying to say: "Ughh, do it some other time". But if you follow it through, you end up with a real, live action make a note on some minutes to ask Beryl where she took the Siamese. Now the task is possible, and something productive is being achieved at the IT meeting.

The reason we don't normally do this until the day before we set off for Cambodia is that it's not natural to us, it involves some thinking and it's hard work.

We avoid the effort involved in defining the first action

This applies to masses of important but not urgent jobs that never get done until something goes so horribly wrong we can no longer avoid the above thinking process. They don't get done because we don't know what to do. And the process of deciding to ignore them is not even conscious. Our brains dismiss these tasks without even consulting us first.

So, for everything that enters your life, from "get new curtains for the bedroom" (yes, it took me five years to accomplish this mammoth task, even though the old ones made a horrible clacking noise and annoyed me every single night) to "contribute to world peace" you need to define a first step which is a real action like phone or email someone (not "consider" or "evaluate" something).

Get into the habit of defining the first action

If you make a habit of defining first actions for things as soon as they appear in your life, they'll get done before they scream at you. It also breaks big, hairy, daunting tasks down into smaller chunks so they feel manageable.

Finally, if you know what you're really taking on by accepting a task into your life, you'll find it easier to put it in the bin instead!

For good information on time management see David Allen's books. For reasons why it can be so hard, see Time Management - Why is it so hard?

If you really don't want to do those things you think you should, use our Coaching E-Book to find out more about your values or contact us for a coaching session.