brigidsblog.com

Archive for the ‘General’ Category

- Do you make excuses when you miss deadlines?
- Do you tend to look for excuses to explain why you didn’t do something, rather than take action to finish the job?
- Is there a good reason why you didn’t finish the job?
- How important is finishing the job?
- Have you written down a plan for finishing it as soon as possible?

Stop blaming failures on the circumstances around you. The next time you hear yourself making excuses, it may help to remember what the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said about the predicaments procrastinators get themselves into: “It takes less time to do a thing right than explain why you did it wrong.”

Take this quiz to find out if you-or any students in your family-need to get serious about overcoming procrastination:  

- Do you put off assignments until the last possible hour because you like to think of yourself as the type of person who works best under pressure?

- Do you write down your priorities before you start projects? Do many things seem unimportant when you look at them in the light of these priorities?

- Do you ask yourself which of several tasks is the most important one before you rush into an assignment?

To be successful in the battle against procrastination, you must establish priorities and stick to them. Successful people have learned that they must do the hard jobs whether they’re in the mood or not. 

Take this quiz to find out if you need to get more serious about procrastination:

- Do you set priorities?

- Do you get the hard jobs done whether you’re in the mood or not?
 
- Do you spend most of your time working on tasks that you need to finish this week?

- Do you spend time each day working on your long-term goals?

- Do you have a system for measuring your progress?
 
- Do you have a filing system for each of your long-range projects?

I believe that procrastination is the No. 1 cause of stress in our society today. Throughout history, great thinkers have noted the connection between the failure to take action and the feeling of anxiety. The American philosopher William James once said, “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging of an uncompleted task.”

If you have the habit of putting off tasks you fear-if you tend to avoid situations and events that terrify you-your fears have grown out of proportion. Every time you decide not to do something because you’re afraid of failing, your self-confidence takes another hit. There is only one way to overcome fear-you have to force yourself to do the thing you fear. When you face your fear and do it anyway, your confidence gets a big boost. Soon you will laugh at the imaginary fears that have kept you from becoming all that you can be. And you can do something about it today. 

Benjamin Franklin, who knew how to conquer procrastination as well as anyone, said that “by failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” How do you plan your work? And if you don’t plan, how do you know if you’re reaching your goals? It’s time to find out.

Make a list of everything you’ve been putting off at work. Not just the big things, but all the little things, too. Make another list of everything you’ve been putting off at home-large tasks and small ones. If you can’t think of anything right away, walk around the house. Walk through the yard. It won’t be hard to fill a page with projects that have been talked about, but not carried out.

Make another list of things you’ve neglected to do in the area of your personal relationships. That includes letters, emails, phone calls, visits, family trips, and vacations. Then make a list of all the things you’ve put off doing for yourself-a class you want to take, an exercise program you know you should start, or a bad habit you know you should eliminate.

I’ve been planning to write a novel for the last twenty years. I keep putting it off. Best-selling author John Grisham wrote his first novel while working full-time as an attorney; he was as busy as the rest of us, but he found a way to accomplish his dream. How did he do it? He beat procrastination by forcing himself to get up earlier every morning so he could work on his book before he went to work.

Take this quiz to find out if you need to put an end to procrastination:  

- Do you write down your priorities? Do some things seem less urgent when you look at them in the light of your priorities?

- Do you ask yourself which of several tasks is the most important one before you decide what task to tackle next?

If you are having a hard time thinking about a good gift item you could give out for any occasion, try logging in to www.nauticalhome.com and see many gift ideas that could be perfect for all occasion. Mini sculptures are the ‘in’ thing nowadays and are making up for elegant tokens. Miniature or model ships and nautical gifts would surely make the day of the gift’s recipient.

Nautical Home offers the best ever model ships and nautical gifts that can possibly be sold in the market. There is no other shop that could come out with finer versions of the products. Judging from the online brochure, you would see that these gift products are certainly superb.

Kids and even adults will surely fall in love with the model ships and nautical gifts. They are simply amazing and really look like mini, but real versions of the real objects. You could also use such objects for different purposes—as table tops, or simply as an elegant office or home décor.

What is more convenient about Nautical Home is that like any other online shops, products can be delivered right to your own doorstep. With prices ranging from $195 to $500, you could surely find the gift that could suit your budget.

People get stuck in a lifestyle of procrastination because they believe their own excuses for not taking action. Procrastination is the main reason that people fail to live richer and more fulfilling lives. If you’re stuck in a rut of continual procrastination, make up your mind to stop making excuses.

If you’ve been making excuses for putting things off, here’s how to take charge of your life. First, think about all the things you’ve been postponing-at work, at home, in your personal relationships, or for your personal development. Make a list.

Have you discovered your purpose in life? Do you have long-term goals? Finding and focusing on your long-term goals is a powerful cure for procrastination. A vision is simply a statement of what you want to achieve in life, and how you plan to achieve it. Without a vision, it’s easy to fall into a lifestyle of procrastination. And without a clear statement of your vision, you’re more likely to give up on projects in the face of difficulties.

If you haven’t written your vision, you need to make this your No. 1 priority. Your goals and your attention will shift from one project to the next, year after year, if you don’t have a vision to guide you. 

Many people believe they cannot change. “I yam what I yam,” the cartoon character Popeye habitually explains. Before any change can happen in your life, you have to believe that a transformation is possible. There comes a time when we must say: “I am willing to change.”

Beware of mental locks. In A Whack on the Side of the Head, Roger von Oech offers a list of what he calls “mental locks.” To break free of a life of procrastination and mediocrity, we must guard our minds against thoughts that destroy our expectations of success. This quiz will help you identify areas where you can take concrete action to change your attitude. Answer “yes” if you have ever thought or said the following: