How to Get Done What You Don’t Want to Do

There are always going to be a list of things that we decide to do even though we don’t want to. We decide that we will pay our taxes so we don’t get in trouble with the IRS. We decide to follow up on outstanding invoices with our clients/customers so we can get paid. We decide to update the registration on our car so we don’t get a ticket or fine. We make decisions to do things on a regular basis that we would prefer not to be bothered with. Getting them done is another story. Some of these things are not really that difficult to accomplish, they are just not how we would choose to spend our time (or we have some emotional baggage associated with them – but that’s another story.) So we procrastinate.

If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.
~Olin Miller

The longer we procrastinate, the harder the task seems. In fact, procrastination often does make the job more difficult in reality. Putting off paying taxes can lead to interest on back taxes, garnished wages, or the need to explain past tax problems during Senate confirmations. The longer a customer goes without paying, the less likely they are to pay. This could then lead to the need to use collection agencies or law suits to attempt to get paid. You may also need to find short term financing sources to allow you to manage your cash flow. Not registering your car on time in many states eliminates the option of handling it through the mail or on line and requires you to go to the DMV and stand in lines. Not too efficient a use of time. There are some very effective tactics to getting tasks done that you really don’t want to do:

• Delegate – Now a days, there is very little that cannot be delegated. If you don’t have employees to whom you can delegate tasks, there are business professionals – accountants, bookkeepers, computer specialists, copywriters, web site developers, trainers, etc. – that specialize to doing the tasks that others don’t have the inclination or the skill to do. Additionally, VAs, virtual assistants, can support you in completing both your business and personal tasks.

• Automate – Some tasks that we don’t like doing require doing regularly. Use technology to get those things done. Auto-responders, electronic billing, recurring task reminders, and other such tools help minimize the amount of time you need to spend doing the tasks. You do have to make the initial investment of time to set things up though.

• Eliminate – Many of the things we choose to do – not necessarily the examples I used above – could, with minimal pain, just never get done. It never hurts to careful evaluate exactly why you chose to do a certain thing in the first place and weight it against the “cost” of not doing it. Some things just need to be taken off your plate.

• Just do it – When all else fails, just do it. Do it as soon as you can, as quickly as you can, and with the highest level of quality it requires (no need to re-do something you didn’t want to do in the first place because of shoddy work.)

Have a powerful day!