The war against procrastination is an ongoing one for many people. Because of procrastination, your workday can end up becoming hours lost to drifting thoughts, distractions and diversions. Your days task is incomplete. Suddenly you realise that an entire day has been wasted and you have to set out another day to do the same work.

Procrastination divides your attention and prevents concentration.

Why We Procrastination

In general we procrastinate because of one or more of the following reasons:

• The need to avoid anxiety
• The inability to control our impulses to engage in enjoyable activities
• The need to avoid a stressful task or assignment
• The inability to maintain focus
• The need to avoid failure or success

Thankfully, there are a number of effective ways to combat procrastination. Here are 7 useful methods to defeat procrastination:

#1. Eliminate Distractions

By taking away the availability of objects or activities that might distract you and stop you from focusing on the task at hand, you will become more productive and reduce procrastination. In fact, it has been shown that people can only reach peak productivity by focusing on one activity at a time.

Distractions not only cause you to procrastinate while being distracted, but it also means that you have to re-focus on the task every time you are distracted.

In order to defeat procrastination, set aside some time when you will only concentrate on the one activity that needs to be done. Put away any object that might distract you from what you need to get done.

#2. Reward Yourself

Rewarding yourself for sustained productivity is a great way to combat procrastination. By setting yourself a goal and choosing a reward  that will keep you motivated, you are more likely to stay focused with the reward at the back of your mind.

While many employees may have set rewards, it is more difficult for leaders as you may have to come up with novel ways of rewarding yourself. So next time that you have a task you need to complete, set yourself a suitable but enticing reward for not procrastinating and work towards attaining your goal with that reward in mind.

#3. Separate Work and Play Areas

By separating the areas where you work from those that you engage in other activities, you can cut down on the amount of procrastination that you do. Instead of working in a number of different places, ensure that you have a dedicated office or area where you work. All other activities such as watching television and socialising on social media should be avoided from your dedicated work area. By doing this, you automatically switch to “work mode” whenever you enter your work area. This also gives you a place to go whenever you need to be productive.

#4. Have a Productivity Buddy

Having others encourage you to stay productive will go a long way in beating procrastination. This type of positive peer pressure will keep you more focused. This is because someone is watching and monitoring your progress. Your productivity buddy becomes a valuable resource to support and encourage you to increase your productivity and avoid procrastination.

#5. Set a schedule/to do list

Making a schedule of activities that need to be done may prove to be effective in beating procrastination. The University of Oregon recommends scheduling tasks such as creating a list of activities to be completed and planning a realistic weekly schedule.

Many people who procrastinate do so because they underestimate the amount of time that they have to complete tasks or underestimate how much time each task should take. By scheduling your tasks, you can better estimate exactly how much you need to get done daily and also ensure that you don’t spend too much or too little time on each task.

#6. Prioritize

Organising your tasks by priority will ensure that you reach maximum productivity. Even if you spend your entire day working, you would not reach peak productivity if you saved the most important tasks for last, leading you to rush the work and commit errors. By prioritising and separating tasks according to their urgency, you can ensure that you reach peak productivity and dedicate more time to the most important and urgent tasks.

#7. Just do it

By starting on tasks as quickly as possible, you can limit the amount of procrastination you are subject to. According to the University of California, people are less likely to procrastinate on tasks that they have already started, because of their inherent drive to finish tasks that are already underway.  Instead of waiting to start that project or paper, clear your desk and begin working on it now.

Even though procrastination may feel good while you’re doing it, it can lead to stress, headache, and broken deadlines. By following these 7 ways to combat procrastination, you too can beat procrastination and chart a highly productive course for your life and business.

Why not leave a comment and tell me about your experience at combatting procrastination.

Your ability to manage your stress levels will distinguish you as a well-adapted and balanced leader.

Stress can be good for you and I. This is because stress can encourage change. And change can lead to improved performance on and off the job.

There are however a few not so good things about stress. Here are a few I can think of.

Effects of Stress on You

• Stress can take a negative toll on health and well being
• Stress can lead to suppression of the immune system
• Stress can make the body susceptible to a number of infectious diseases
• Stress has been linked to other diseases such as hives, ulcers and heart diseases
• Stress can induce emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression

7 Ways to Effectively Manage Stress

It is almost impossible to completely eliminate stress. However, there are a number of ways you can reduce the amount of stress you have and train yourself to cope with stress.Taking some of these measures will reduce the physical and emotional health tolls of stress.

Here are 7 ways to effectively manage stress:

#1. Recognise the Signals of Oncoming Stress

One of the ways to best cope with stress is to recognise the signals that you are becoming too stressed. You need to know what activities and events trigger raised stress levels in your life. This will help you come up with strategies to reduce the amount of stress you are facing. It can also be an opportunity to weigh the benefits of some activities or completely eliminate activities that are particularly stressful.

#2. Build a Support System

By building a support system of co-workers, friends and family, you are better able to manage stress. Support systems are useful because others can help or assist you with emotional support during stressful events or activities. They can also suggest strategies for helping you cope with stress.

#3. Proper Planning and Organising

Proper planning and organising of your daily tasks is essential to good stress management. A study by noted psychologist Robert Epstein identified planning as the best technique for managing stress. Many people become stressed due to time pressures, where they leave important activities for the last minute then feel rushed and stressed to finish them within a short period of time. By planning, organising, and setting a schedule, you manage your time better and allow enough time to complete important activities without having to rush.  As a result, you have more time to relax and are not constantly be under pressure to finish a task.

#4. Exercise

Exercise is critical to building your body’s ability to manage stress. According to the Mayo Clinic, exercise reduces stress and anxiety, improves your ability to sleep and boosts your immune system’s defences. Even though many leaders may not believe that they have the time to exercise, just a few minutes 2-3 days per week will have a major effect on your body’s ability to manage stress.

#5. Daily breaks

It is important to take breaks during the day to relieve stress. By giving yourself time to get away from stress, your body can return to its de-stressed condition. You refresh yourself mentally and put yourself in a better position to tackle stressful events and activities. While leaders may be tempted to commit to a non-stop work schedule, these breaks often prove to be a great boost to productivity in addition to relieving stress.

#6. Confront Stress Head on

By confronting unavoidable stressful events instead of trying to avoid them, you limit the time that they can take a toll on your body and mind. In addition to limiting this, confronting stressful activities also allows you to lessen their effect on you as your body is not affected as negatively. Feel the fear and do it. Take on the stressful task, complete it and then move on.

#7. Rest and Relaxation

Getting enough rest and relaxation is critical in properly managing stress levels. By getting enough sleep and taking enough time away from work, you allow your body to recover from stressful environments. You also reduce the negative physical and emotional effects of stress on your life.

Stress is Unavoidable

Even though stress is an unavoidable part of our daily routine, it doesn’t have to take a major toll on your mental and physical health. By following the above tips, you can achieve a successful work/life balance and achieve successful stress management.

Why not leave a comment and tell me how you manage stress.

Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better. ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

There is no universal agreement to the meaning of excellence. This is because excellence is a journey that will yield different results at different stages. Excellence is simply putting in your best effort to get your best result with what you have.

Excellence is an attitude. An approach to life and work. The net result is that you will stand out of the crowd.

If excellence gets you distinguished amongst the competition, then adopting an attitude of excellence can only be a good thing. In your career, an attitude of excellence will result in advancement. In your business, an attitude to excellence will result in more satisfied customers and more growth and profit.

Excellence and Money

Many argue that there is a cost element to excellence and that the more resources you have, the better you are at delivering an excellent customer experience. Indeed excellence may mean you putting extra staff to work to deliver greater value to your customers or you spending extra time at work to pay greater attention to details. So it will cost you money and time.

There are only two ways to create and sustain superior performance over over the long haul. First, take exceptional care of your customers via superior services and superior quality. Second, constantly innovate ~ Tom Peters

To put the price of excellence in context, think of what it will cost you not to have excellence? Yes inferior services, inferior quality and stagnation. All these can be summed up in one word. Mediocrity; described by my friend Steve as the best of the worst and the worst of the best.

Excellence is not a function of money or experience. Where you have travelled the road, acquired money and experience, your excellent attitude to what you do will significantly enhance your results. Your continued devotion to achieving excellence will produce a superior performance.

7 Keys to Excellence

Let me help you out with my top seven keys to excellence in any area.

#1: 99.9% Is Not Enough

Dan Gables the 1972 Olympic Games Wrestling Gold medalist best known for his tenure as University of Iowa head coach who won 16 national championships puts it this way, “I am a believer in starting with high standards and raising them. We make progress only when we push ourselves to the highest level”. People will not remember the nine hundred and ninety nine times you got their product or services delivered right. Its that one bad customer experience that gets spread over social media. You cannot stop unit you have perfected the art of getting it right all the time.

#2: Go The Extra Mile

This is to exceed expectations. This is to over deliver on what is expected. My friend Marc describes it like this, “ You need to find out what best looks like in your job and then exceed it”. Excellence is an attitude that says I will exceed the expectations of my customers, my employees and my shareholders.

#3: Evaluate And Learn

Feedback is said to be the food of champions. The only way to learn, grow and get better is to have your performance evaluated. You learn from and improve on the evaluation received. Many years ago, American Automobile Manufacturers would slow down the speed of the assembly line to avoid breakdowns. In contrast, Japanese car manufactures would put the line to its paces until it reached break point and the assembly line was stopped. The Japanese would then intensively study the source of breakdown and put in place preventive measures.  While one manufacture avoided mistakes by slowing down and introducing slack, the other sought breakdowns by pushing boundaries, taking corrective action and then pushing boundaries again. Needless to say, both had different results.

#4: Give Attention To Detail

Excellence is found in the little things. The smile on the face of the customer attendant when welcoming customers, the cleanliness of the display counter and the orderly arrangement of flowers at the reception desk. Excellence is found in the clutter free work environment, properly planned and spaced out appointment schedules and the starting and finishing of meetings on time. The little things add up to make a big thing.

#5: Continuous Innovation

You have to be challenge the mindset that wants to rest on its laurels. You need to have an experimenting mentality that says if its not broken, break it up and then put it together to make it better, faster and deliver more value to customers. If you leave it unbroken, then you can be sure that your competitor will come out with a superior product and take your once satisfied customers away from you.

#6: Suppress Your Ego

Get it done by someone else who can do it better than you. Excellence is found in you knowing your limitations. Excellence is found in you finding your niche and then putting in the effort to be the best available in your field. There is generalised knowledge, there is specialised knowledge and there is the organisation and application of knowledge. All you need to know is that which gives you an edge over your competition.

#7: Take Responsibility For Results

It doesn’t matter how much you delegate or empower others, as the leader, the buck stops at your desk. It is your responsibility to get the right results through the collective effort of your team. Don’t delegate and walk away.  Agree on the means and frequency of reporting back. Agree on the parameters to be reported and agree on the targets to be reached. In your personal life, be proactive. You have the ability to influence the outcome of your life  by your actions or inactions.

The Journey

Excellence is a journey. It is not a destination that you are heading for. Take whatever keys is applicable to you and use it daily to unleash the power of excellence in your life and business. The cost of mediocrity is too high a price to pay.

Purpose today to develop an excellent attitude to everything that you do and you will be rewarded with success in life.

And if you have any other helpful keys to excellence, why not leave a comment below.