GETTING RID OF PROCRASTINATION
Q: I call myself a procrastinator because I seldom get things done in a timely manner. Somehow I enjoy dragging my feet or finding one thousand excuses for not doing a task. Even if I succeed in finishing it, I’m just “seconds” before the deadline. On the other hand, I also call myself a responsible person because I am hard-working and not afraid to take up more responsibilities. So you see, there are two extreme sides of me that perplex me to a great extent. Can you shed some light on this?
A: There could be an inner psychological or emotional link to this. It could simply be fears that emerge when the going is tough for you or fears that your work may not be well accepted by others. Yet another possibility could be your “complicated” attitude concerning time. Spend some quiet time where you objectively and honestly search yourself to find out.
Notwithstanding the above, there are some measures to get rid of this. One is to ask yourself who suffers because of this habit and the cost to you if this habit persists. Another measure is to make the task more “attractive” by breaking a big task into a series of smaller, simpler tasks and tackling each of them until the entire task is complete. Lastly, don’t take things too seriously because it is better to just finish a task rather than continuously look for better ways to accomplish it, which causes unnecessary delays.
POWERFUL QUESTIONS
• What is the biggest reason you procrastinate?
• Why do you fall for this reason?
• How is this affecting you and others?
• What will be the one commitment you want to make to overcome this?
MAKING THE RIGHT PARADIGM SHIFT
Q: We have run out of ideas on how to make our organisation more cost-effective. Even our R&D department is of not much help. What is most frustrating now is that we end up spending more money to find better ways than the savings we got. One best example is the automated customer service system, which actually costs more than the old manual one. Something is really wrong. Can we have your views on this?
A: The trouble is, many people adopt an overly simplistic or black-and-white way of doing things instead of taking a totally new perspective. It is like saying, if it does not work, get a new one. When we take this route, we merely replace old ideas with new ones even when they do not work. Eventually, we get stuck in a rut, like what your organisation is experiencing now. So, be practical and flexible in accepting totally new paradigms, which can be simpler, cheaper, and easier to implement.
Break away from your usual modes of thinking to find new and exciting possibilities. Most of the time, we try to deal with the symptoms rather than the source of the problem. Take the case of your automated system. The answer may not lie in getting it but in teaching your customers how to use the current one. When they become self-sufficient, you may not need any replacements like the expensive automated system you had bought. Creativity and innovation do not need to be expensive; often, it just requires a little tweaking here and there.
POWERFUL QUESTIONS
• What’s preventing you from thinking more creatively?
• What new lines of thinking will improve the situation?
• What needs to be overcome for this to happen?
• What will you need to change now?
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