Stop Avoiding the Things You Need to Do.

I’ve had a too-busy-so-I’ll-do-anything-to-avoid-getting-stuff-done week.

Here’s what I am going to do about it:

And those steps to stop avoiding behaviour are:

Awareness

Become aware of the behaviours you tend to go to when you are avoiding doing something. These are things that become almost automatic… picking up your phone and switching it on; or reaching for the block of chocolate. If you catch yourself doing it, ask yourself the next question:

Activator

What happened that you are now doing this ‘avoiding’ behaviour? What was the activating event or thought that means you are turning to this thing that you tend to feel guilty for later? If you think about it, how much effort would it take to actually get this thing done? Could you commit to doing it for five minutes?

Alternative

Okay, sometimes we don’t actually want to get that thing done anyway. But why not use this opportunity to do something REALLY USEFUL instead of that old time-waster? You might find that building the momentum actually helps you to get moving on the thing you’re avoiding.

Action

The  biggest lesson here is to take a positive action instead of a negative one. What baby-step can you take to help you move in the right direction? How can you get help for the thing you are avoiding? What reward will you give yourself when you feel like you have been productive today? Maybe write down the alternative so that you can keep a reminder where you need to! (ie – put a sticky note on your phone that says… do you really need to pick me up?!)

I’d love to hear how this changes things for you! Write a comment below and let me know!