Getting around to it

BY ROBYN PEARCE

Procrastination is easier to get past when you start with the end in mind.

Something bogging you down? Imagine yourself at the other side of the event - successful, outcomes achieved, and feeling great. This is part of a strategy called "future pacing".

It comes from the behavioural science of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), and helps prepare your mind for the successful outcome you want. Our minds are quite easy to train when we understand how they work.

Here's an example. Suppose you have to attend a business function. The standing-around, chatting-to- people stuff is not your cup of tea; you'd rather be at home with a good book.

However, it's a new-product launch for your department, and not attending would definitely be a career-limiting move. How can you turn a potentially uncomfortable situation into one you feel OK about?

You've got choices. One is to say, "This will be awful, I don't want to be there, and no-one will want to talk to me."

How will you come across to others as you talk to them? I suspect there won't be a lot of energy, enthusiasm, warmth and excitement in your voice, your posture or your body language. You've already talked yourself into a glum.

The other choice is to spend time rehearsing a better outcome.

* Imagine yourself after the event.

* See yourself leaving the room happy, talking animatedly to someone you've just met. Note the feelings of well-being, the glow of pleasure as you realise you've had a really interesting conversation with them.

As you think about it, hold those feelings, sounds, pictures. Build them into a strong mental video.

Then, mentally walk yourself backwards through all stages of the event, back to when you walked into the room at the start of the evening with positive anticipation.

Using this simple process gives your neurology a cellular memory of success.

The fascinating thing is that the subconscious can't tell the difference between past, present and future. So, if you mentally rehearse a future success, when time catches up with the practice it feels comfortable and your actions will naturally follow the practice line.

This technique can be applied in any area of life, so why not try it with the next activity you're tempted to procrastinate on. See yourself smiling as you put away piles of paper, do your planning, get started on those big projects - whatever it is that you're currently allowing to run your life.

Enjoy and celebrate every small milestone of success. This is a key tool for overcoming procrastination.

It constantly surprises me how few people really acknowledge their wins and successes.

Many people are so busy looking forward, striving to reach their goals, that if you ask them what they've achieved they'll tell you what they have yet to do.

Two things are happening here. First, they're future focused, and often don't think they're good enough yet. Now don't get me wrong - of course there's a place for that. It's an integral part of goal-setting and achievement. However, every aspect of life has its light and dark side. If we spend all our time looking to the future, we miss the beauty and accomplishments of the now. And one of the things that often happens is that our subconscious gets rebellious.

Support your subconscious by giving it success steps to anchor to. You'll find the next step easier. If all you do is beat yourself up for not succeeding, eventually you find yourself thinking: "This is all too hard" - and you give up.

What about the last conversation you had with someone about their exercise or eating habits?

Most folk will tell you they're not good enough (whatever that means for them). They'll tell you about how they slipped up, how they need to lose more weight.

Some years ago I worked for a woman named Mary. She came up with two clever ways to beat her procrastination about exercise. First, she decided to use a little bit of our time together for exercise. My arrival became the trigger to go for a walk - it wasn't unproductive time: we did a vast amount of planning and strategising as we pounded the local footpaths.

The other thing she did was draw up a "1 to 31" chart to reinforce the behaviour by setting some rewards.

How to create a 1 to 31 chart

Take a piece of lined paper. Turn it on its side. Leave a column on the left large enough to write your task or tasks, and to the right of that draw 31 narrow columns for each day of the month.

Number these columns - this is where you'll put the ticks as you achieve your daily targets.

Not only do you write down your activity, but at the same time, decide how often you can realistically fit it into your month, and - very importantly - write down what reward you'll have when you achieve your targets.

I still remember, a month later, the deliciousness of sitting in a suburban picture theatre with Mary at 2pm on a working day, eating icecream. We felt like schoolgirls dodging school, and it was fun.

* Robyn Pearce travels the world talking about time management. The above is an extract from the recently updated edition of her bestselling book, About Time - 120 tips for those with no time, published by Maruki Books.

- © Fairfax NZ News