INSPIRATIONAL TALKS!

Are You a S.A.N.E. Procrastinator?

Sometimes people put off starting or completing tasks because they are constantly drawn to new activities. One example is a type of "Super Attention" procrastinator which, although it seems to vary from person to person, many people recognize in themselves the minute they hear about it.

Here's how Michelle, president of a successful business, describes it. "Since I was a kid, I've had this weird souped-up attention. It would snap into gear and I would zero in on something that interested me, become very enthusiastic about it, and not think of or hear or notice anything else.

If a teacher caught my attention, I couldn't tear myself away. If I'm reading a terrific book, nothing else in the world exists. But then, something else would grab me and take over my full, undivided, super attention and I'd forget about the first thing. The result was procrastination."

Super Attention can take control of your life. Your Natural Enthusiasm results in too many projects going at once (none finished) because halfway through one amazingly interesting idea, another comes along that is even more interesting."

Your calendar is packed with dates, meetings, get-togethers, parties and classes you are so enthusiastic about that you need a nap. The result is a life of excitement, exhilaration... and exhaustion.

You're usually reading more than one book at a time. You may have the TV and radio going while you work. In conversations, you tend to jump quickly from one topic to another, never finishing any of them. I call this behavior pattern Super Attention & Natural Enthusiasm. (S.A.N.E.)

Four Signs that You're a S.A.N.E. Procrastinator:

3. Your interest in activities is fleeting. For example, you're excited about planting vegetables in your garden, then by harvest time, the thrill is gone so you leave everything to rot on the vine. Or you have many unfinished craft and hobby projects around the house (also, sports equipment and musical instruments which are never used).

4. Your desk or dining room table is covered with clutter but you know exactly how to find everything in all the stacks, piles and boxes.

Ironically, many overachievers seem to display signs of having Super Attention and Natural Enthusiasm, and because their attention bounces from one thing to another, they leave lots of projects and plans unfinished.

If you relate to this, you don't have to stifle your curiosity or enthusiasm for new things in order to complete the project you've started. But you DO have to select one project and complete it.

For example, set a timer to focus your efforts on the present task. Or when you think of a new project or idea while you're working on something else, let starting the new project be your reward for completing the present one.

Using these and other anticrastination strategies in The Procrastinator' s Handbook, you'll learn to stick with a task or to keep track of -- and return to - projects instead of abandoning them when something else captures your attention.