Day 166, get on with it for goodness sake

Why do some things not get done.  Not started.  Not looked at.  Why such an amount of prevarication and never getting to the point.  Why the procrastination.

What is it?  Is it fear?  Is it uncertainty?  Is it lack of knowledge and understanding?

It must be one or all of these things, others too.  It really annoys me when others do it.  And I know I do it too.

Recognising that you are putting something off for some reason is the starting point for getting it done.  But there's the question of 'why' that needs to be addressed first.  And once the 'whys' - there may be more than one of them - are identified then start to pick them off.  Gather the information needed to counter the lack of understanding, ask for things to be explained, keep asking until you understand or have enough knowledge that you know where to look to get better informed.  Don't worry about looking foolish, stupid, etc, if that's what someone thinks of you for trying to get better informed then they are the fools.

If it's fear or uncertainty that is the problem then why is that?  My first instinct in the case of having fear or uncertainty about something is that it tends to be back to the lack of understanding.  How do you respond to others in situations where these sort of things come up, can you identify responses you make that seem a little sharp, not fully considered, that tend toward closing the conversation rather than opening it up for discussing ideas?  If you spot those things then if possible deal with it immediately, start to talk it through by saying "I think that because..." and then it might be easier to throw in a "but perhaps in this situation or these circumstances it could be like...", give yourself an opportunity to think around something rather than retreating immediately.

It isn't easy to do this in front of others, particularly where there are strong personalities involved and the conversation may be roller-coastered down another avenue while you've been left on a siding wondering what happened.  Don't get left in the siding.  Balls to that, identify the hold up, address it, do it.


Here's a crap picture of some juggling balls to emphasise the 'balls to that' philosophy.

This will be padded out with another 30,000 words and published as a self-help manual within the next week.