Archivi dei tag: plan

Breaking the Chains of Procrastination: Take Timely Actions

In today’s fast-paced world, procrastination has become a habit for some of us. We delay paying invoices, scheduling dentist appointments, and even taking out the rubbish. However, the consequences of prolonged procrastination can be more serious than we often realize.

Consider the pressing issues of our time. Delaying action on global challenges can lead to irreversible consequences, just like neglecting tasks in our personal lives. Think for instance at our health; ignoring the first signs of illness can result in missed opportunities for effective treatment.

The Latin roots of the word “procrastinate” shed light on its meaning: “pro” means for, and “cras” translates to tomorrow. In essence, procrastination is the act of postponing tasks, often with the misguided belief that they will somehow become less tedious or disappear.

Statistics from the United States reveal that approximately 20% of the population habitually procrastinates, deferring tasks as if expecting them to magically become more manageable. Yet, reality proves otherwise.

Fascinating insights from a study conducted by Chinese researchers indicate that procrastinators exhibit hyperactivity in certain intellectual regions. These regions are part of a network associated with mind wandering. When faced with tasks like scheduling a dentist appointment or paying an invoice, these hyperactive centers divert attention, prompting the procrastinator to contemplate other, more appealing thoughts and concoct excuses to avoid unpleasant tasks.

Conversely, individuals who meticulously plan and complete tasks in advance demonstrate high activity in the brain’s focus-enhancing zone. This area inhibits mind wandering, enabling them to stay concentrated on the task at hand. For those who work diligently according to a schedule, distractions are minimized, ensuring a more focused and productive approach.

So, what can be done to overcome the allure of procrastination? Recognizing that the brain is a muscle with inherent plasticity, it becomes clear that we can actively train and shape it. Developing habits that prioritize focus and planning can help build resilience against the wandering tendencies that lead to procrastination.

In a world filled with distractions and demands, embracing proactive approaches to tasks, training our mental muscles, and tapping into the brain’s plasticity can pave the way for a more efficient, productive, and fulfilling life. After all, in a culture where tomorrow is often the default setting for action, seizing the present moment can be a powerful antidote to the procrastination epidemic.

Would you define yourself as a procrastinator?

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Why Your Brain Will Be Affected if You Procrastinate

To procrastinate is a fashionable word nowadays that you may have heard. We procrastinate for invoices to be paid, for the dentist, to take the trash out to the bin…

Procrastination is the act of delaying or putting off tasks until the last minute, or even past the deadline. 

Waiting too much can have serious consequences. Think of climate change, for instance. Or illnesses. If you don’t try to find out what you have as soon as you notice the first symptoms, it might become too late. The doctor could say: “You would have come at the beginning, it would have been different. We would have been able to deal with it, the chances would have been better… ”

Cras in Latin means tomorrow, pro means for. Therefore, pro-cras means: it is for tomorrow.

Statistics show that in the United States about 20% of the population, postpone the boring tasks to the next day, as if the tasks in question had then the virtue of disappearing or becoming less boring (seriously, isn’t it rather the opposite)?

A study carried out by Chinese researchers shows very interesting results: procrastinators have certain hyperactive intellectual regions, that are a part of a network of mental wandering: when it is time to take an appointment with the dentist, to pay the invoice or to take the trash out to the bin, these centers make the person think at something else. And, let’s say it, to try to find excuses on how unpleasant it would be carrying out these tasks.

Besides, in procrastinators’ brains, another zone is weak. It is the zone that blocks the activity of wandering and that allows one to remain focused.

People who work in advance according to a planning, in order not to be taken by surprise at the time of an examination, or of the fiscal term, have a high activity in this area, so that the wandering zone is blocked.

When the mind gets loose from the planned purpose and begins to wander, the brain gets vulnerable in that area, which is very sensitive to all that is uncomfortable or disagreeable.

What to do?

The brain is a muscle, let’s train it and exploit its plasticity!

Are you a procrastinator? Let me know!

Time Management: the Eisenhower Matrix

London, February 1944. The bombing alarms sound throughout all the city.

In a small room, however, everything is calm, extremely calm. In this room, Dwight Eisenhower is preparing the “OverLord” operation, an operation of capital importance. Eisenhower is an important general in the US military. The decisions he makes will have an unprecedented impact on his life, his career and the whole world. Europe has been suffering from Nazism for too long.

“OverLord” has as its objective the landing of allied troops on the coast of Normandy to free Europe from Hitler’s Nazism. It is a historic moment: it is the largest landing of military troops. The fate of Europe and the whole world are at stake. Eisenhower’s staff are pessimistic. The King of England, George VI, wrote him a letter telling him that the more the project progresses, the more frightening it becomes. His organization does not hold. Eisenhower is in his quiet room in London and the bombs don’t stop falling. It seems that the weight of the whole world is on his shoulders. Work on the final preparations by drinking tea. He has faith in his plan. History will prove him right a few months later. Eisenhower is part of that group of heroes of which little is said, despite being the author of one of the greatest military successes in history. On 6 June 1944 he saved Europe from nazi-fascism.

Eisenhower is at the same time a brilliant strategist, a peerless organizer and a charismatic statesman. His successes are numerous. In 1953 he became the 34th President of the United States. During his tenure, he launched several reform programs, including the modernization of all road infrastructure in his country. We remember him as a man with an infallible organization. A man who is not afraid of challenges, of whatever size they may be. Among the lessons we can learn from Eisenhower, there is the management of time according to the matrix that takes his name, the Eisenhower matrix in fact.

“What is important is rarely urgent and what is urgent is rarely important.”

This phrase was a kind of mantra for Eisenhower. He analysed all his actions according to this principle. Therefore, he has built this matrix, which teaches us to make choices.

It’s very simple. Imagine 4 boxes on a table (in the picture here below they are called quadrants):

  1. one containing urgent and important things;
  2. a second box containing important but not urgent things;
  3. a third box containing urgent but not important things;
  4. a last one containing non-urgent and unimportant things.

I would like to point out that this matrix can help you in both private and professional life.

For all the things we have to do, we need to ask ourselves these two questions:

  1. How urgent is it? When do I absolutely have to do this?
  2. What level of importance does it have? What happens if I don’t do it?

For example, I have a medical appointment that I have been waiting for a long time. It’s urgent? Yes, I booked it a long time ago and so now it’s urgent. It’s important? Yes, because I have to understand the origin of this health problem that has been bothering me for some time.

Therefore, I will put it into the top left “Urgent and Important” box (quadrant I).

In the top right box (quadrant II) I put the activities that are important but not urgent because they are things I can do later. Right now they are not crucial to achieving my goals. For example, I want to promote my business on social media or translate my site into English. They are activities to be planned.

Then, there are some activities that are urgent but not important (quadrant III). For example, replying to an email that does not concern me directly, or attending a meeting that I consider superfluoud that it is important that someone from my team participate. I can delegate this activity.

In the lower right box (quadrant IV) I put everything that is neither urgent nor important. Actually, for everything that is inside this box, I should ask myself: shall I keep it?

According to Eisenhower, such a drastic choice is difficult. However, if after a few weeks, the things inside this box have not been done yet, they must be eliminated.

This matrix is ​​very useful because it forces us to distance ourselves and question ourselves about our situation.

Here are 5 questions that you have to ask yourself:

  1. What really matters to me / to my project?
  2. What do I like about this thing / that project?
  3. Why do I procrastinate on that?
  4. What is blocking my personal development / my project?
  5. What should I stop doing right away so that I don’t waste any more time on that?

What about you? Have you ever used the Eisenhower Matrix?