Up to twenty percent of us are chronic procrastinators. Why do we delay, defer, postpone or schedule? Who knows? Who cares? If you are ready here are a few ways to help you get through the sometimes deadly habit of procrastination.
Admit you have a problem
Take a look at your work habits and determine why you are putting off doing some particular tasks. You might find that you are not deliberately avoiding you maybe don’t have the time to get it done. If that’s the case then you don’t have a procrastination problem you actually have a time management problem. That’s good news because it’s easy to fix by setting priorities and sticking with them.
Set priorities and stick with them
Start your day off with a “to do” list that prioritizes your most important tasks. Watch for some tell-tale signs of procrastination. These might include leaving something until the last minutes of the day when you run out of time to complete it. Or starting in on a job and then getting up for a cup of coffee or checking your e-mails before you get it done. Stay focused on the job at hand and don’t give in to distractions that can take you in another direction.
Deal with your time management problem
Get yourself a good time management book and start following some of the techniques they suggest. You may never be perfect at time management but you will be better and that will certainly help you deal with your procrastination.
Eat the elephant in small bites
Take large or particularly difficult tasks and break them down into smaller and more manageable pieces. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. This will get you moving and as you complete the smaller pieces you will feel good that you are accomplishing something and eventually you can cross that job off your list.
You may be perfect, but… Let it go
It’s also okay to give yourself permission to do the best job you can rather than always striving for perfection in everything you do at work. Sometimes perfectionism leads to procrastination and we put so much stress on ourselves that we can just give up on the job completely or leave it until another day. It’s okay to be human, make some mistakes and complete a task that is very good, even if it’s just shy of being perfect.
Put down the stick
Stop beating yourself up about making mistakes or your procrastination habit and don’t let others do it either. The last thing you need when trying to get over a difficult habit or pattern is negativity, from internal or external sources. Learn a little tenderness with yourself as you are growing out of both your perfectionism and procrastination.
Change your Thinking and Change your mind
Most procrastination is about our thinking. We put up mental blocks that get in the way of getting things done. Sometimes our thinking gets us so worked up that we start avoiding tasks that just have to get completed. The secret to avoiding procrastination is to change our mindset and reset our brains so that we can actually accomplish what we set out to do. Change your mind and your thinking and your body will follow.
A recent poll by Harris Decima for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce found that 44 per cent of Canadians surveyed said that they are not financially ready for retirement. Even among those getting closer to what we consider a normal retirement, those aged 55 to 64, 31 per cent said they could not afford to retire. The question that this raises is when are people (including me) every going to be able to retire? Freedom 75, 85?
The answer to this problem is to start saving for retirement earlier. Duh!! But that is way too simplistic. When you are young you have to first pay off your student loans and then start saving for a house and by the time you have a down payment you likely have a partner and are ready to start a family. And good luck to anyone who has a new home and young children. Both go through money like… I won’t make the diaper joke here.
Maybe, just maybe when you are in your early 50’s your children are starting to move out and go to school on their own. You feel sorry for them so you try and help out with their tuition and school fees. You feel even sorrier for them when they can’t find a job and end up back living with you along with their new spouse and baby. Then of course you feel sorriest of all for yourself when you can’t retire because you have no company pension plan, $50,000 in an RRSP, and $485.25 in the new Tax Free Savings Account that you set up last year. That’s a fair distance from the $750,000 to $1 million that the “experts” tell you that you will need for retirement.
So you might as well face it, your dreams of playing golf every day and lying on the beach every February are not going to happen. Better re-think that strategy of telling your snotty young supervisor where to go. And unless you want to settle for that job with the blue apron greeting people you better think about going back to school as well. Because you are going to need new skills to compete with your son who will have probably three degrees on you.
So enjoy the sunshine of your life. It’s not like your retirement has been stolen from you. It’s just been postponed. Indefinitely. It will come. We’re just not sure when.
This article was originally posted on my blog at www.jobs.ca
I’m not usually a big fan of lists, of any kinds. Especially lists prepared by anyone but the Guinness Book of Records people, and even some of those are pretty iffy. Like for example the most t-shirts worn at one time. Record: 121 held by David Alexander from the United States.
Most lists when it comes to jobs or careers are usually so innocuous that they are meaningless or so subjective that they’re useless. In reality they are usually drummed up because someone has to write a column to fill in between a block of advertising. I can them sandwich lists. Not much meat and very easy on the facts.
Having said all that I am not completely opposed to lists. I make one for Santa every year (And every year I am disappointed). But sometimes they can be fun and at the very least can get a rise out of people, or at least prove they aren’t really sleeping. They’re just thinking with their eyes closed.
So let’s take a look at one of these lists. The most stressful jobs in Canada, according to MSN. Their list includes: Pilots, Taxi Drivers, Firefighters, Corporate Executives, Political Aides, and Real Estate Agents. As usual it’s pretty easy to agree with the inclusion of these jobs on a most stressed list.
The debate comes about why some others did not make it. Why for example are Air Traffic Controllers not here? I know the pilot is important but aren’t most flights on auto-pilot now? And what about Police Officers? Are they not on the list because they have guns? And I might agree with Taxi Drivers being here but how much difficulties and stress do they cause for themselves and everyone else? Have you seen how these guys drive?
Two no-brainers are Political Aides (Even when they’re right, they’re wrong if their boss needs a scapegoat to take the fall) and Real Estate Agents. Have you seen how picky people are on those House Hunter International programs? Pleeeze!!
At the risk of peeving off my big wig corporate bosses who pay my bills, I question the legitimacy of putting Corporate Executives on this list. I would put their secretaries and assistants on the list in a flash, but what are these people stressed out about? Not enough cream cheese on their bagels that are delivered every morning? Too many people to fire this week. Sorry, boss I’ll stop there.
So what’s my point? The point of lists is to spark a discussion and take people’s minds off the really stressful things that are happening in the workplace. Did it work? Drop me a line and let me know.
This post originally appeared on my blog at www.jobs.ca
One of the discussions most often heard when two or more managers get together is how to get their staff motivated, or how to get them to do what we want, faster and more efficiently. If you are having these discussions then the fact is that you have probably lost the attention of your employees. The real question is how do you get them back?
The answer lies in employee engagement and the good news is that it is never too late to make a good impression on your employees when it comes to communications. The real secret to employee engagement is in using your ears and their I’s. You need to use your ears because except for a brief period at the beginning of their career when they need information and direction, managers and supervisors should be listening to their employees. If you listen consistently and closely you will hear not only employee complaints which need to be addressed, but suggestions for improvements and ideas for innovation.
This listening can be done both formally and informally. Formally through things like suggestion boxes, regular staff meetings and an annual employee survey that lets you monitor your progress. But informally as well because you want to know very quickly when something is not working or a new product won’t sell, as long as you are paying attention.
In addition to listening employers also need to use their I’s, Information and Involvement. Information because employees crave information about their job, their company, and their future. Involvement because they want to feel part of something bigger at work, that their contribution makes a difference to the success or failure of the enterprise.
Employees see information as power and successful organizations and companies have learned that the more information employees have the better they will adapt to new situations, good or bad. If people do not have information they will just make it up so it’s better to put your information out there first before the water cooler chatter and misinformation begins. You also need a feedback system that allows employees to comment on the news. This is a bit of a risk because once you ask for feedback you might have to actually do something about any concerns that are raised. But that is still preferable to hearing about employee discontent weeks or months later. And the best result from sharing information is that your employees will trust that you will tell them the truth. Nothing inspires loyalty like honesty.
This leads into involvement, the second most important I. Information is great but if employees are not involved in decisions that directly affect them they will quickly tune out or change the motivation channel to ignore. This does not mean that you have to consult with employees on everyday decisions. That is and will always be a management right and responsibility. But don’t you want to hear what your employees, “the experts”, think about the new product line, or closing every second Saturday? It just makes sense to let them have a say. It helps them feel more comfortable and you to make better decisions. A side benefit to this approach is that involving employees in key changes or decisions shows them respect and leads to them respecting you in return.
A study by HR giant Towers Perrin a few years ago involving 90,000 workers worldwide found that what they called a significant “Engagement Gap” in the global workforce. Around the world employees felt that many senior managers were not doing enough to keep them informed or involved and this was undermining their motivation at work. The study also found however that companies with the highest levels of employee engagement achieved better financial results and are more successful in retaining their most valued employees than companies with lower levels of engagement. So the message is clear. Engage your employees by using your ears and their I’s.
Mike Martin is a Ottawa-based freelance writer and workplace wellness consultant specializing in workplace and communication issues. He blogs at mike54martin.com
This article first apeared in the Ottawa Business Journal.
Can we talk? Privately. Over here, out of range of the closed circuit camera and certainly not by cell phone. By e-mail, forget it. Big Brother and Big Sister are watching us closer than photo radar on the highway. Every bit that you are sending by BlackBerry or byte that you are receiving on your I-phone is being recorded for posterity and beyond. There’s a better chance of radioactive waste being returned to pure ground water than there is of your private and privileged information being kept private or privileged.
Let’s face it when the cable company asks you for your social insurance number they are just doing that out of courtesy. They already have it. And when the bank asks you to fill out forms for that car loan, they don’t need the information from you. They just want to know if you’re lying.
Everyday at work we send hundreds of documents, comments, recipes from Aunt Ellie, and not entirely politically correct jokes that our sister who works in a correctional institute has just gotten from the guards who got them from. You know where they got them. And we pretend to each other that nobody know what is going on behind the beige five foot high dividers that separate us from our partners in crime.
So all this talk about privacy at work and people getting up on their high horses about invasions and other such nonsense has me more than a little confused. Yes there are court cases being presented all over the country about the proper ways in which an employer can monitor the electronic practices of their employees. And yes there will be precedents set and guidelines developed and sent out. But all of that has little bearing on the real world, unless you happen to be a lawyer for anyone involved in these cases.
The facts are these. If you work for an employer and you use their equipment, services, connections or network you are already being monitored, legally. They have the right to determine access and to determine the rules of engagement. You can argue, after the fact, that you weren’t informed, that you didn’t know, that you would have been more careful…. Stop it, right now.
You are being monitored. As you read this. If you don’t like it…. Switch it off. That is your only option. Once you turn your computer or smart phone on your boss will be there. Think of it as a party line. And they own the party.
This article first appeared on my blog at www.jobs.ca
A recent study by human resources consultant firm Mercer found that there has been a shift in thinking by Canadian employees. A few years ago most of the surveys of workers found that while money was important, they valued other things like respect from their supervisor and work-life balance much more.
Today that has changed and Mercer reports that employees are more focused on pay and less on whether their job is rewarding. In fact almost half of the survey participants said they were not satisfied with their base pay and almost as many did not feel they are being paid fairly, given their performance and contribution to the organization.
Some of the people at Mercer think that this is because of the economic downswing in recent years and if employees are worried about cutbacks or layoffs, they’d rather have the money upfront. And there is certainly less loyalty to companies today. But why wouldn’t there be? The days of working for one organization for your entire working life are long gone and so there’s less attachment to individual companies when you are going to work for a string of them over forty years or so.
But the shift in thinking that Mercer is finding may in fact be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changes that are happening in Canadian workplaces today, some of which are driven by economics but most are really about the new generations of workers inhabiting the cubicles inCanada. Depending on their cohort and their experience to date in the workplace, they bring differing values and expectations to their jobs with them.
Generation X and Generation Y employees are the major identifying clusters that we find in the emerging workplaces of today and both will prove challenging to employers who try and deal with them the same as their parents. Generation X workers as the children of Boomers are in a bit of rebellion against their parent’s work ethic but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to get paid the same.
And Generation Y or the Millennials may be the new kids on the block but soon they will make up about forty percent of the workforce. One of their prime characteristics besides being addicted to Facebook is that they just love money and material things.
If you’re an employer my suggestion is to crank up that printing press in the back room. Your new employees may want a lot of other things but if you want to keep them happy then get ready to show all these newbies the colour of your money.
This article originally appeared on my blog at www.jobs.ca
Almost all of us have had to deal with a difficult boss or supervisor at one time or another in our career. Most of us have fortunately survived to talk, and sometimes laugh about it, but if you are in the middle of a difficult boss situation then it’s probably not very humourous right now.
If you are in that situation then it’s important to remember a couple of things. First of all you always have choices, even in difficult situations. Secondly, you don’t have to deal with a difficult employer completely on your own. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, you don’t have to tolerate abuse; physical, mental, or emotional abuse. Ever.
You may think that you have no choice but to accept difficult behaviour from your supervisor but in my experience that would apply to less than ten percent of all the situations that I have observed. And those would be cases where a person may be working in an isolated location or on a contractual basis and in both cases it would be impractical if not impossible to break the arrangement. In almost every other example I can think of, there is always at least one choice and that is to leave. That may be a last option for many different reasons but it is and will always be an option if the situation is intolerable.
There are also almost always other resources for an individual to tap into at or around the workplace. These include your co-workers, human resource professionals or employee assistance, union or association representatives. Outside of the workplace are friends and families and tons of community and professional resources that you can access for help and support. It has been my experience that once somebody reaches out or asks for help, that help is usually on its way.
Finally, a few words on abuse and bullying, the scourge of the modern workplace. When that abuse or bullying comes from an immediate supervisor or boss it is often difficult for an employee to know how to handle it. Often there is an initial period of shock until they understand exactly what is happening. Books and more books have been written on how to deal with bullies and abuse but the simplest and most effective advice I have ever heard is to tell them to stop and if they don’t then report them. You don’t ever have to put up with it. Ever.
This post first appeared on my blog at www.jobs.ca
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,600 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 43 trips to carry that many people.
Please be advised that an article that appeared under Articles for Employers entititled Conflict Management: Pitfalls to Avoid contains material that has been copywrited. It has been removed. It was first published at http://www.leadership-and-motivation-training.com/strategies-for-managing-change.html on 5 January 2010.
I apologize for this error.
Mike Martin
Our parents often passed along a very important message: If a job is worth doing then it’s worth doing well. Sometimes we just go through the motions at work or at home and carry out some of our minor tasks and chores without really paying attention. Then we discover later that the bath overflowed because we were busy doing something else, or putting a file in the wrong place meant hours of more work for ourselves and others. Just doing enough to get by will never turn out well in the long run and there are very real dangers to not doing our best.
Somehow as a society we have accepted mediocrity as the standard. It shows up in every aspect of our lives from convenience store clerks who are just going through the motions to large corporations who are unwilling to provide decent service to their millions of customers. We see it everyday in our schools and other institutions. Students who are bright enough to do better are not encouraged to do their best, but rewarded for just getting by.
But we are all paying a price for this mindless acceptance of mediocrity within our modern society. The potential greatness of our young people is being ignored or underdeveloped and being complacent or silent about this epidemic of average is hurting our collective productivity and undermining those among us who are daring to take the risks required in order to reach for greatness.
We cannot blame our young people for falling into the mediocrity trap. It is a lesson that they have learned from us and only we as their adult models can shift their thinking and behavior. It really does start with us. If we are going to move back from the brink of mediocrity we have to think, talk and act differently.
The thinking is actually the easy part. None of us can have watched the deterioration of standards without thinking that many of those situations could have been handled differently and better. But unless we speak out against it then no one will know what we think and the situation will continue. That applies to the service we receive from the telephone company to the actions and attitudes of our children and students.
The action part is a little harder. The best action we can take to avoid mediocrity is to set higher standards for ourselves and work every day to achieve them. That might mean little things like paying attention to the small details at work to ensuring that we come to work with an attitude to always do our best. It also means encouraging others at home and within the workplace to follow our lead. It may make you and some others uncomfortable for a little while but not accepting second best will certainly pay off for you and them in the long run.
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and consultant specializing in workplace wellness and conflict resolution. He is the author of “Change the Things You Can” (Dealing with Difficult People). For more information about Mike please visit:
www.changethethingsyoucan.wordpress.com
