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Procrastination Meets Meaningful Down Time

Guest post by: Elizabeth Mullen

Article Overview: Have you ever noticed that there are some times in life when you love to take action and can't wait to jump into things, while other times you have dragged, delayed and procrastinated the simplest items on your to do list?

Procrastination Meets Meaningful Down Time

Have you ever noticed that there are some times in life when you love to take action and can't wait to jump into things, while other times you have dragged, delayed and procrastinated the simplest items on your to do list?

Would you like to know how to accentuate the former and how to supercharge the latter? If you answered yes, then be prepared for your assessment of these natural cycles of life to be completely turned around.

See, in order for you to maximize your productivity ALL the time, you must recognize something that is not often understood in modern cultures: that the source of your productivity is taking place on your quieter days. That is, what you are receiving mentally, emotionally and spiritually those days when you don't so much want to "do anything" is the key to your energy and motivation all the other, more obviously productive days.

I'll say it again even more simply. What you allow yourself to receive during your "unproductive" time determines the level at which you will operate when you do take action.

So how does one apply this to real life? After all, most of us need to get things done on a regular basis. Quite right. And here is the specific application. On those seeming "low motivation" days ask yourself these three questions, and allow yourself to peruse over the answers:

1. How is what I've been doing related to the big picture of my life?
2. What is it that I need to know about myself in order to stay in harmony with my personal "big picture"?
3. After I've recharged my personal energy, what 3 items must I target to stay on track most effectively?

Finally, you must be willing to allow yourself the luxury of down time, even if you have a mountain of projects to complete. The reason you must do this, is because your body, emotions, spirit and soul have mandated a reassessment, even if your brain screams out in anxiety. This does not mean not to do anything, but it does means not to do anything that is not absolutely necessary.

And if you can in fact, completely relax into your natural cycle of down time, then you have an amazing opportunity to take your goal and insights to the next level. Just by daydreaming what it is that would really juice you this day, and who you need to become to live that way...

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Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - We've also expanded the list for Contest and All-Time Leaders. It's great to now see David and Yinka on the All Time list and recognize the contributions they've made to the forums!
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - My biggest challenge is focusing. There are so many things I want to do and ideas that I have. I can never decide what to do next and when I do decide it's hard to focus on it and get it done. Procrastination is the resulting outcome.
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Books that should be written - [quote:1m0dcpd7]"The Idiots Guide To Sticking With One Thing At A Time and Not Doing Something New All The Time" [/quote:1m0dcpd7] I myself am a 'constructive' procrastinator... I don't know if I'm alone in this. I have about six or seven projects I'm working on at any given time. I get one project almost done... then my interest is piqued by another project and I work on that... I get burnt out and move to another...I know I do this so I have it arranged such that once I get bored or burnt out with one project, I can step right back into project 1 - or 2 or 3, and get that a little bit more done before moving on to something else. As long as you're organized and know where all your reference material/idea sheets are when you're ready to get back to work on each project, it should be fine. I also find that by stepping away from a project - I still work on it in the recesses of my mind so that when I go back to it - it's with some good ideas that I wouldn't have had if I'd continued on with it originally. Maybe I should write a book on how to Procrastinate Constructively... I've actually thought about doing that...because most people procrastinate, don't they...and very few are ever able to stop.
Re: Half of 2011 is gone - It's flying by so quickly! Still have plenty to do that I wanted to have done by now. Time to really step it up!


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