How to Get your Life Back on Track with One Powerful Word

“Making the best use of time …” — Eph 5:16a

Procrastination. It is a good thing, and we should all be doing it.

The good news? We are all doing it. Really?

And that is the bad news. We are doing it but do not know it. Thus, we end up doing it all wrong. I have been in the same boat until I read I read Chapter 5 of Eat That Frog.

I took some time “off” during the past week to recalibrate my mind, reassess my plans and reevaluate my priorities. The demands and responsibilities at work seem to be increasing every day. I find that I am no longer able to stick to my commitment of 08:00 AM to 07:00 PM workday. Even working on weekends does not seem enough. I almost told myself that there is no other way. Due to this creeping mentality, I have been cheating myself of the things that make me happy outside work.

I am way off the track on my book, my premium WordPress website is untouched and I have managed only 30 KMs of cycling in almost three weeks. Still, I enrolled in a 31 Day Writing Challenge which will run in May. I have enrolled in a 30-day online course on building a self-development blog site which I will also do in May. The list goes on.

At this point, I am guessing that you think I am trying to do too much on the side while fulfilling my official responsibilities of providing financial leadership to the company for which I work. Well, I tend to agree with you. I need to get my life back on track. I have put too much on my plate, and there will never be enough time to do everything that I want to do. None of us will ever have enough time to do all that we need to do if we are ambitious enough.

Completing my book is on the back burner. My exercise routine has taken a dip. That is procrastination. The problem is that I am doing it unconsciously. That is wrong.

“Everyone procrastinates. The difference between the high performers and low performers is largely determined by what they choose to procrastinate on.” — Brian Tracy

Procrastination is simply putting off something for later or not doing it at all. In my case, I have been procrastinating in writing my book and getting my daily dose of exercise. The choice to do a task, an activity or a project means deferring or not doing some other task, activity or project.

With so much to do, procrastination is inevitable. Therefore, we should seek to do it well instead of acting in denial of it. Welcome to Brian Tracy’s world of “creative procrastination”.

“Creative procrastination is the act of thoughtfully and deliberately deciding upon the exact things you are not going to do right now, if ever.”

To succeed in doing all that we must do in the seemingly little time that we have will require us to manage our time efficiently and effectively and intelligently prioritise what we need to accomplish. Prioritisation and effective time management are the sure ways to get our time and life under control; to get our life back. Doing all that takes one word, a word to which Warren Buffet credits his success, even if not entirely. Here is the word, according to Warren Buffet.

“Simple. I just say NO to everything that is not absolutely vital to me at the moment.”

No, is a word that does not come to a right-brained person like me. I do not hesitate in being a first mover on new tech. I am quick to drop a project for something new; I accept tasks and responsibilities without giving proper thought to it. No wonder my plate is always full. But I had seen the benefit of using this one word when I decided to start writing. To be able to take the writing lessons and to set aside time in the evenings to practice my writing amidst all the other things that were vying for my time meant I needed to say no.

I said no to television. I deliberately went without satellite TV subscription for a year. It was not easy in the beginning, but I adjusted after a couple of weeks. After a year of no TV, now I am accustomed to coming home and ignoring the TV. I would rather listen to a book on audible, watch a talk on YouTube or better still, simply get some sleep.

I said no to social media. I deleted my Facebook account until the first draft of my memoir was completed about six months later. I had no Twitter or Instagram account. I still do not have a Twitter account.

I said no to social night outings with my friends on weekends. Exercising was a higher value activity. I would sleep early on Friday nights because I was committed to group cycling on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

I said no to more work and learnt to delegate a bit more at the office. I had the support of my then boss (now my mentor) on this one. We both identified delegation was a key development area for me. I thank him for that. Up to this point in my career, I was afraid of delegating. I was afraid that my subordinates would see it as a sign of weakness, that I cannot do the job myself.

Saying no gave me control over my time; time to focus on my writing, to exercise and lose weight. That is creative procrastination; I consciously and deliberately said no to the small things and tasks that do not bring value to my life, work or business.

After my recent review of the state of play in my work, business and life in general, I know it is time for me to back to that one word — NO. While Warren Buffet says it is simple, I know first hand that it is anything but easy. Saying no will involve denying myself of certain pleasures; it will mean not taking the easy way out; it will involve sacrifice. There is no easy or simple road to success. But the ability to say no is a sign of maturity as explained by Elizabeth Gilbert.

“You sort of get to a point in your life where you think I have to learn how to say no to the things that I don’t want to do. And that is a big mature moment …”

But the bigger mature moment is when you learn to say no to things you do want to do because you know that you just don’t have time or you don’t have the energy …”

Sometimes you have to turn down even the wonderful things in order to take care of your health or to take care of what you truly, truly, truly care about” — Elizabeth Gilbert

My usual way of working is to start with the small, easy low-hanging fruits to give me a sense of accomplishment and build momentum towards the bigger difficult tasks. Practising creative procrastination will be a paradigm shift for me. That is my first test of saying no. I will have to start saying no to starting my day with the small tasks.

I am ready to put the powerful one word to practice. Are you?

I will be thoughtful; I will be deliberate in planning and executing only on those big, high-value activities.

“You can get your time and life under control only to the degree to which you discontinue lower-value activities.”

Plan on paper daily. Focus on the big stuff and use your one word on the small stuff.