Outsource it, or ignore it untill it goes away?

Most people procrastinate at work because they hate a task or lack the skills to finish it. If you think about all those things you procrastinate about, how many could you delete from your To-Do List right now?

One strategy I learned on a Time Management course many years ago was the 'C' Draw concept. The 'A' Draw was for urgent-important tasks that have to be done now, and the 'B' Draw was for important tasks that had to be done, but not immediately. The 'C' Draw was for everything else, most of which would just go away if ignored. If they became important, someone would remind you and you could put it in your 'B' Draw.

In reality, many 'C' Draw tasks do indeed go away. I often find that if I leave my response to questions by just 10 minutes the person naturally solves the problem themselves, and they learn more in the process - so everyone's a winner!

However, some things just don't go away. You may feel they're unimportant, but they have to be done at some point, and the longer you leave them the worse the task becomes or you miss a deadline or you lose money. Examples of this are researching suppliers, book keeping, personal expenses, time recording and a host of other annoying personal admin tasks. Perhaps outsourcing some of these tasks to a Virtual PA would work out better, with tasks performed thoroughly, faster and more cost-effectively than doing it yourself.

When you stop procrastinating over tasks and concentrate your efforts on the important tasks that you love doing, the feeling of accomplishment and the greater achievement will be far more rewarding.

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