Simplicity News March 2004
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In This Issue:
A Productivity Killer - Part One
Stopping Junk Mail
Do You FREECycle?
A Productivity Killer - Part One
Can you guess one of the biggest causes of disorganization and
chaos? It knows no color, no educational level, no income level, and no industry.
It makes you feel good and bad at the same time, and it is a habit so ingrained
in 20% of the population that it seriously affects their work, quality of life and
relationships. People from all walks of life struggle with it and it is one of my
most popular seminar and workshop topics because it is a challenge for so
many people. What is this evil scourge that sucks the productive hours from
your life and causes feelings of stress, guilt, shame and hopelessness?
The answer? It's PROCRASTINATION!
It often seems far easier to put off doing a task than to address it immediately
doesn't it? With so many other tempting options available, it's no wonder that you
procrastinate. Even as you're doing it, you know in that it's not a productive habit.
Yet, you continue to put things off, sometimes chronically and persistently.
The first part of this series on Procrastination, The Productivity Killer, will serve to
get you thinking about the reasons you procrastinate. Today we'll examine
two possible reasons for your habit.
1. Fear of Failure. If you are afraid to fail, you may be procrastinating
so that you won't be able to fail. If you don't try something, you can't fail,
can you? It's safe to put something off if you think you won't do it well. Then you
never have to know what your results would have been.
2. Fear of Success. Change can be intimidating, and success always equals change.
It may mean more responsibility, more control, more travel, more money,
more accountability, or any number of new scenarios. Even if it is intellectually
a positive change, sometimes the mere thought of change itself is unnerving
enough to keep you from moving out of your comfort zone, therefore you put
things off to ensure that you don't succeed, and you can avoid the pain of change.
Search inside yourself to see if either of these reasons could be contributing to
your procrastination habit. Knowing the cause of your challenge is the first step
to fixing it. If you think either of the above reasons is affecting your productivity,
begin changing your self-talk to positive language rather than your old negative
programming.
Say to yourself something inspiring and upbeat, such as, "I deserve to be wildly
successful and I can handle anything that comes as a result of my success!"
If you fear failure, try saying something such as, "Failure is just one result. It doesn't
reflect on my character and I can never succeed unless I risk failing." If neither of these
options resonate with you, try something you create yourself. Anything you say to yourself
to counteract those negative voices in your head will help you to get into ACTION and
stop putting things off for later.
Stay tuned for next month's Part Two of the series on Procrastination,
The Productivity Killer!
Stopping Junk Mail
Tired of junk mail? You can take your name off national mailing lists simply by
opting out at this link: http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist#regform
It's free if you print and mail in the form, or $5 if you register online.
Do You FREEcycle?
Do you have a piece of furniture, some tools or some miscellaneous stuff hanging
around the garage that is perfectly good but you no longer have a use for it? You
almost hate to throw it out, but at the same time you don't want to haul it to the
Goodwill drop box or another donation center. Well, enter a really terrific service
called FREEcycle! It's like recycling but more fun!
FREEcycle is simply an organized group which has branches in various cities
across the country and the world. The purpose of the group is for FREEcycle members
to announce the things they want to give away free, or things they are looking to get free.
You simply go to the web site at http://www.freecycle.org/ and scroll to your city, click to
join your branch, and begin posting your stuff!
FREEcycle now has 253 participating cities and nearly 30,000 individual members
giving and getting free stuff. So the next time you are desperately seeking or seeking to give) a second refrigerator, bicycle parts, an old skateboard, an office chair, or anything else under the sun, you'll know where to go... Just FREEcycle it!
Monica Ricci is an Organizing Specialist, and the founder of Catalyst
Organizing Solutions, an Atlanta based company. She is the immediate
past president of the GA Chapter of the National Association of Professional
Organizers.
To schedule Monica to speak to your conference, convention, team,
department, or association, or for an on-site organizational evaluation,
contact her at 770-569-2642 or at Monica@CatalystOrganizing.com
Catalyst offers on-site productivity consulting, distance coaching,
speaking and writing, as well as expert guest appearances on radio
and television.
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