Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

A few months back I came across a question on one of the Q&A websites asking for tips on how to be more productive.

Here are a few of the ideas I shared:

1. Only work on things you love to do and have passion for.

2. When you can’t do this, find a way to mentally connect those tasks to a desired outcome that makes you happy.  Then focus on the outcome instead of the task.

3. Find out what time of day you concentrate best, and schedule your day to optimize that time.

4. If you work on a computer, block the websites that distract you using a browser plugin.

5. Don’t drink coffee everyday as the effect will diminish. Choose no more than 1 or 2 days a week when you really need it to get maximum benefits.

6. Don’t over eat, it will make you sluggish. Eat to live, don’t live to eat. Never eat until you are full.

I know there are some other great ways to boost productivity that I haven’t thought of…Please share your ideas.

Procrastination is the #1 enemy of progress.  Procrastination kills dreams. Procrastination can ruin your life.

Everyone gets the procrastination bug once in a while, some more often than most.

If you’re one of those people who is a consistent procrastinator, to the point where procrastination is ruining your life, then you’re in luck.  I’m going to share with you my secret weapon that has helped me beat procrastination, and I’m sure it will help you too.

The Secret Weapon to Beat Procrastination is the Carrot and Stick Method

It may be my secret weapon, but it’s really quite simple.  I beat procrastination using a carrot and a stick.  The stick comes in the form of a deadline with a painful consequence, the carrot comes in the form of feeling better about life.

The stick works best when an outside party looms over me waiting to inflict the pain of the stick. The carrot works best when it’s something related to a need or very strong desire that makes me happier.

What To Do When Missing The Motivation To Beat Procrastination

The problem is that we face so many situations when the carrot and stick is not big enough to motivate us to beat procrastination.  In these situations you have to learn how to simulate the motivation.

One way to simulate a stick is to find an accountability partner who is willing to kick you hard in the but. Many successful people join mastermind groups for this.

On the other hand, to simulate the carrot, it takes an internal stimulant.  You must become a master of cause and effect and map out the indirect connection between your procrastination and some need or strong desire that will make you happier.  This requires practice, meditation, and tenacity.

Flowcharts to Beat Procrastination

Another method that I’ve used and I am sure will help you comprehend the impact of both the carrot and stick is creating a flowchart.  A flowchart that shows a series of steps you could take, decision boxes, and the carrot and stick outcomes based on different decision options.

The key for me is that I must put it on paper to motivate me.  By putting it on paper I can look at it often and it’s easier to visualize the connections between my decisions and the potential carrot and stick outcomes. These visualizations then turn into mental simulations that evoke the feelings that will result if I get one of the carrots or sticks.

This flowchart method will work even better if you use pictures and photos to represent the carrots and sticks on your flowchart.  Doing this extra step will create the ultimate vision board.

What do you think?

Have you tried using the carrot and stick method to cure procrastination?  Do you have another method that works for you? Drop me a tweet to let me know @chrismance

This is what I was told as a freshman at West Point…

If you’re not early, you’re late.

To this day I hate being late, and don’t like being on time, as I prefer to always be about 5 to 10 minutes early.

Last night, I thought about this quote as a metaphor for a different context: expectations.

If you don’t exceed expectations, you won’t meet expectations.

My Georgia Aquarium Halloween Experience

Yesterday, my wife and I took our children to the Georgia Aquarium for Halloween.   Of course the Georgia Aquarium was nice; the sea creatures were a beautiful spectacle.  But we didn’t necessarily go for the fish.

We went because it was Halloween and we wanted to take our kids to a safe place to enjoy the Halloween festivities. The Georgia Aquarium website marketing made the case for it being the ideal family Halloween experience, and we bought it…hook, line, and sinker…

The Halloween part of the experience was just okay (possibly less than okay). My wife and I both thought that it wasn’t quite festive enough.  In hindsight, based on the cost of entry for the Georgia Aquarium, I would say the experience was disappointing.

We weren’t disappointed because we didn’t get what we expected, we were disappointed because we only got what we expected. They checked all the boxes, that’s it.  A little this, a little that, nothing more.

This type of thinking may apply to items perceived as pricey more than anything else. It may be a bit of a drag to know you can meet your customer’s expectations and still disappoint them. But this feeling is real nonetheless.