PP: Planning Prevents Procrastination (And Stress)
There have been many times where I have absolutely dreaded doing something I needed to do. Many years ago, it was homework. Now, it's some of my work. In the end, it's still the same: you wait too long to get started because you can't wrap your mind around how you are going to get it all done. Once you start doing it though, you realize it's not that big a deal and you should have started long ago so that you wouldn't be rushing.
It's not about laziness, and that's not just me being stubborn and denying I'm lazy. The real reason is planning. If I said you need to build a house and get it done within 2 years, you probably wouldn't get a hammer out today and get to it. 2 years, you'd say. I have *plenty* of time. Before you know it, a year has passed and all you've done is thought about working on the house a half dozen times. Now you're panicking (as you should be).
If instead I gave you a very long yet very thorough list of steps to take to make the house (including a list of everything to buy, whom to call and when, and each step took anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours) you probably *would* start right away and not feel so stressed out.
The difference, of course, is knowing what to do and breaking it down to bite-sized pieces.
The only reason I bring this up is to remind myself that nothing is too big to handle. No matter what it is, if I step back and really plan things through, it becomes much easier to accomplish. A great side-effect of this is that you discover things that you need to clarify and discuss much earlier on in the process.
The planning part is fairly self-explanatory, but there is one important thing to remember: don't expect to be able to plan every single item from the beginning. It's just not possible to think of everything little step months in advanced. Be as detailed as possible, but revisit every your plan every so often and add more details. There's nothing wrong with going back and adding so much detail that you end up doubling your initial list. That's not a step back. If anything, it makes moving forward even easier because things are now even more clear.
(I didn't even reread what I wrote, so not all of this is going to make sense)
It's not about laziness, and that's not just me being stubborn and denying I'm lazy. The real reason is planning. If I said you need to build a house and get it done within 2 years, you probably wouldn't get a hammer out today and get to it. 2 years, you'd say. I have *plenty* of time. Before you know it, a year has passed and all you've done is thought about working on the house a half dozen times. Now you're panicking (as you should be).
If instead I gave you a very long yet very thorough list of steps to take to make the house (including a list of everything to buy, whom to call and when, and each step took anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours) you probably *would* start right away and not feel so stressed out.
The difference, of course, is knowing what to do and breaking it down to bite-sized pieces.
The only reason I bring this up is to remind myself that nothing is too big to handle. No matter what it is, if I step back and really plan things through, it becomes much easier to accomplish. A great side-effect of this is that you discover things that you need to clarify and discuss much earlier on in the process.
The planning part is fairly self-explanatory, but there is one important thing to remember: don't expect to be able to plan every single item from the beginning. It's just not possible to think of everything little step months in advanced. Be as detailed as possible, but revisit every your plan every so often and add more details. There's nothing wrong with going back and adding so much detail that you end up doubling your initial list. That's not a step back. If anything, it makes moving forward even easier because things are now even more clear.
(I didn't even reread what I wrote, so not all of this is going to make sense)
Labels: planning, procrastination, stress
posted by Arthur Chaparyan at 3/10/2008 01:26:00 AM
2 Comments:
If you told me that I needed to build a house, I would look at you, pause, then tell you in a very calm tone that I am not in construction.
Hi Arthur,
What you have said is absolutely true!!
In fact just remembered after going thru your article a statement by Rembrandt 1606 - 1669: “Start with the things that you know
and the things that are unknown
will be revealed to you”.
Your article was inspiring.
Amaii Vijeth
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