Procrastination

In general in life I am very self-motivated, which is essential when you are self-employed.  However this is the time of year of my annual bout of procrastination kicks in.  Each year I promise myself its going to be different, I will fill out my tax form early and every year, like ground hog day, I leave it as late as possible.  So this year I decided to research options for helping me tackle my procrastination around doing my accounts and filling out my tax form.

I read the reason most people procrastinate is that they consider the task unpleasant or boring or they associate unpleasant feelings with the task.  To me this is blatantly obvious as no on every puts of anything they enjoy.  For me tax forms manage to be both unpleasant and boring.  So I decided that this year I would try a new approach to tackle my procrastination.

Firstly I decided to focus on the end goal.  As filling out a tax form leaves me cold, I decided that focusing on the fine for not doing it on time would motivate me, after all my money is on line.  As in life I tend to prefer more positive options, I decided to pencil in a treat for myself when I finished, so I am going to arrange a girlie lunch for a specific date so I have something positive to look forward to.

In the past I have dedicate one sold lump of time to doing my accounts and tax form and plodded through it.  This year I decide that I would split it down into little chunks as this should help me do it with a smile on her face.

In addition some experts recommend roping a friend so that you have a buddy to help motivate you and also making a public commitment to completing something helps motivate you.  So this is my public commitment.

So now its just a case of taking the first step and staring.

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