Hi, this is Micha from Go Big Coaching and
today I would like to talk about pre-crastination. I'm sure you all know
pro-crastination, but pre-crastination is a thing too. I know that because I am a
precrastinator and that is not always a great thing either. So if you really have
a hard time meeting your deadlines, getting your stuff done, then it might
sound really tempting to you when someone else, someone like me is always hustling and always handing in stuff before deadlines and doing things
immediately. Sounds tempting, but it definitely has its downsides. So that's
what we are talking about today. Let me give you a typical example: My last
week was super busy and as always I got everything done, I am basically
chained to my to-do list. But I had a feeling that I did not give it my all
and there were some things I could have done better. And that is the thing where
science really is with the people who take more time, I'm not saying with the
procrastinators, but definitely not with the quick-quick-quick precrastinators
either. Science says very clearly if you rush yourself to get through with a
task or project you will probably go with your first idea and the first idea
is usually your most conventional one. If you give project a little more time
and wait for a second or third idea to come chances that those ideas are more
creative are very very high. So point for the procrastinators. You might do the
more creative work. The second example is emails. Emails for me is a really tough
issue to tackle because I cannot resist the moment I hear ping, I'm
already reading the email, I'm probably responding very quickly and I
waste a lot of time this way. I mean I do it immediately but the waste of time
here is that, first of all, I probably answer emails that don't even require an
answer, just because I do it immediately. I don't give myself the time to think
about that, and secondly I might not give the best answer. It happens pretty
often that I send out my quick-quick-quick answer and then an hour later, when
I go back to emails I'm like, "oh well, there's something else," and then I
write to the same person again. This is definitely not efficient. And the
third example where precrastination is really not helpful is that most
precrastinators share my obsession with to-do lists and ticking off items on the
to-do list. That leads to a thing like grabbing for the low-hanging fruit first
in the morning. If I have 10 or 12 things on my to-do list for the day and
3 or 4 can be done relatively quickly, instead of doing them last
because they are relatively simple I do them first because suddenly my to-do
list only has 6 or 8 points instead of 10 or 12. But this can
lead to decision fatigue, so it makes much more sense to start with important
and urgent things, though that might take longer and then go to important or urgent.
Everything that is neither important nor urgent should probably not make it on
your list anyway. In all these cases, precrastinators
don't really do the best job. They are best at meeting deadlines but not
necessarily at being super efficient, what they like to be, or at doing the best
job. So if you are like me, a precrastinator, here are a couple of tips
that you might want to try out to make yourself more efficient and more
creative. First, emails: I have tried out the
system and I'm getting better at it of setting myself times when I check emails.
At the full hour is what what I do right now. I close my emails during the hour and at
the full hour, I open my email account and then I read them and answer some. The
others, when I don't feel like they need an immediate response, I try to leave
alone. The other thing is to-do lists: So what I'm trying to do is only put
things on the list that I really need to do. That's what I just said: not urgent,
not important should not go on your list. And the second thing with to-do list is
try to put items on the list when they actually due. So start with your deadline
and plan backward. Just because a job came in today and you feel like you can
cut out the hour or two to get started on it, if it if it is only due in two
weeks, don't. Try to discipline yourself! I know
it's hard, but that's it's a good try, to learn how to really give oneself a
little more time. If you can't resist starting on the project right away, at
least don't hand it in before the deadline, because this way you still have
a chance maybe to come up with this creative second or third idea, right? And
you don't want to rob yourself of that chance of developing this more creative
idea if you have the time to do so. That's what I've been working on
recently, and I have to say I see the first little effects. It's really good! It
takes a lot of discipline on my part, but it's a helpful thing. So
procrastinators, precrastinators - both sides have advantages and disadvantages.
Maybe one day we can all meet in the middle and be perfectly happy. Wel,l
probably not ... but we can learn from each other, so let's do that!
I hope that was helpful. Please, if you like this video leave me a like, follow
me on Instagram or on YouTube, share with your friends. I hope to hear from you in
the comments too. This is Micha, and I'm here to help you Go Big.
