[REPOST] Procrastination: More Time or More Focus

[Repost from June 9, 2023]

Certainly there isn’t enough time. You have a family. A job. A career you want to grow in. Friends to keep up with. Or maybe you’re just figuring things out. The more responsibilities you do have, certainly makes things harder. So, you say things like I don’t have time…

You could be saying that in reference to reading a book. Starting or finishing your college courses. It may be a way of procrastinating. Or it could be true. Maybe, you actually don’t have time. Just because there is something you want to do, does not mean that life stops in order for you to do it. The obligations and responsibilities do not stop.

The task does not matter. What matters is the effort you put in. The action to support the idea. The action to support the person you are trying to become. We’ve talked about this before. About the importance of time and doing something every day, regardless of how big or small, in increments, to get you where you want to go. It’s not that you don’t have time, it’s that you waste a lot of it.

James Clear author of the best selling book Atomic Habits, writes:

“Before you throw more time at the problem, throw more focused action at the problem. You don’t need more time, you need fewer distractions.”

It’s not that we don’t have time, we just waste it. It’s not that we don’t have time, its that we have too many distractions. So we want more time, yet, with more time comes more distractions. Bill Gates has a great quote:

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

Most people overestimate what they can do in one hour and underestimate what they can do in one year. It sounds great to push out our efforts, while ignoring it today. It’s not that you won’t write the symphony, it’s that you’ll start tomorrow.

You’d rather do anything else. Spend all your time on Netflix, or Facebook or anything else that is taking you away from the task at hand. Taking you away from the work that needs to be done. More time? No. You need focused time with zero distractions.

Turn off your phone. Do the work when your kids are asleep. Turn off the TV. Silence your notifications. Close the email and messaging apps on your work computer. Put on some headphones and tune out the world so you can focus. You don’t need more time, just focused time. Take a timer and set it for 15 or 30 minutes. Start that timer and work until it rings. Get up, stretch and do it again. You don’t need three hours each day to study. What you do need is one hour of uninterrupted time. That will beat the three hours any day.

Question : What can you do to create focused time to get something done?