What if you could break through circular planning and actually move towards successful completion of your project? 3 questions and 3 tips will get you mobilized.

Time Management Tips to Replace Circular Planning with Successfully Completed Projects

Coach Paula Eder, Ph.D., The Time Finder Expert, has 35 years of success helping individuals and small businesses align time choices w/values.

For your free Finding Time Boundary Template and fresh ideas for making strong time choices, visit our blog at http://thetimefinder.com

Time management tips require your flexibility and initiative to be effectively carried out. Even if you experience success through the planning stage, you may still procrastinate when it comes to transforming plans into actions. Like it or not, fully ready or not, sometimes you do need to “just do it”, to reap the rewards of all your good planning.

How often do you deprive yourself of valuable opportunities, simply because it’s easier to put off what you need to do? You’re hardly alone – countless projects are stranded on the planning board. But yours needn’t be!

If you procrastinate with fear-based ‘circular planning’, taking even the smallest first action step may mobilize you.

It is for you to determine if this is a genuine problem for you. Here are 3 indicators that would suggest that you procrastinate through circular planning:

1) You plan the same activity several times over, out of fear of making a mistake.

2) You substitute planning for the risk of taking the first step.

3) You find it difficult to stop planning, and this interferes with other activities.

Break out of this destructive deadlock in 3 steps:

1) Tune into your rhythms.

Catch your tendency to procrastinate through circular planning as quickly as possible. The sooner you break this pattern, the more swiftly you can replace it with something truly productive. Without a hint of judgment, simply identify what you are doing and ‘escort’ your thoughts to more useful topics.

It can also be extremely helpful to give a voice to any subterranean fears. Sometimes a double-chair dialogue is useful. Ask yourself what mistakes you are concerned about, and who, if anyone, you feel you need to please.

2) Examine whether you can lower your expectations for your first step.

First steps can be overburdened with symbolism, making them seem riskier than they need to be. Calmly review how you will pick yourself up if you stumble, and affirm that learning as you go is a productive use of your time, too.

3) Take the next step, breaking it down if necessary into sub-steps.

Notice how initial anxiety often gives way to satisfaction once you move beyond planning and immerse yourself in your new activity.

Any time a step feels overwhelming, break it down into smaller steps. Then commit to that one activity at your next sitting. By refusing to take no for an answer, you empower your determination, not your resistance.

Powerful planning gains much of its strength from versatility. Make the time choice that is most practical, instead of clinging to a one-size-fits-all solution. The more directly you resolve concerns about translating plans into action, the more effective your planning will become. And the more you will enjoy productivity with less procrastination and more effective use of time.

What is your next step to develop your effectiveness and find quality time?

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