The Behaviour Effect

Procrastinators are made not born. You need to first identify some of your causes of procrastination so you can begin to understand how to overcome it.

Procrastinators can change their behaviour—but doing so consumes a lot of psychic energy.

Knowing why procrastination happens can help us overcome it.

For example, procrastination comes when we think a lot about what we need to do and how difficult is, we start thinking of multiple other thinks we can do or have to do before starting the work. Focusing on a limited number of activities at once can improve your completion success rate.

Therefore, just focus on accomplishing your goals.  Anytime you think of something else you should ask yourself “Is this going to help me accomplish my goal now?”  If not then don’t get sidetracked with that thing and continue with your work.  Seems simple, but focus takes practice and this takes proper engaged focus.

Playing to what we know about human beings may aid our avoidance of procrastination.

As human beings we will always do much more to avoid pain than we will do to gain pleasure.  So, how can we make the procrastination more painful than the task?  If we can focus on the negative consequences of not doing a task then the potential pain may actually motivate us to complete the task.

If being more knowledgeable about the origin of your procrastination, increased self-awareness and focusing on limited goals doesn’t work…then you need some more hints on how to tackle procrastination?

1. Make a list of everything you have to do.

2. Write a statement of intention.

3. Set realistic goals.

4. Break it down into specific tasks.

5. Make your task meaningful.

6. Promise yourself a reward.

7. Eliminate tasks you never plan to do. Be honest!

8. Estimate the amount of time you think it will take you to complete a task. Then increase the amount by 100%.

Once you complete one task, keep that as motivation going. Before you know it, you will have overcome the challenge of procrastination!

I had a really interesting conversation with a man who is in the building trade the other evening.  First of all he reckoned that his line of wouldn’t benefit from my type of skills.  After he told me this story, he agreed that people are people no matter what industry they work in and that we actually think the same way.

He said that the way he manages his staff is based on his observations of two foremen that he worked with when he was learning his trade.  His story was so simple yet so insightful…that I thought I would tell it again here…and let you decide which foreman you want to be…

Foreman A was always shouting at his staff, never provided any encouragement and never recognised the hard work being done by his staff.

As a result the man I was speaking to told me that he would never go out of his way for that foreman.  That he would have left him standing alone rather than help him out.  He didn’t like him.

Foreman B regularly praised his staff.  He took time to explain tasks when necessary and provided opportunities to learn new skills.  He spent time with his staff, working along-side them.

As a result, I was told that ‘backs would be broke’ making sure you did a good job for Foreman B.  That he ‘wanted’ to do a good job and would put himself out just to do a good job.  He liked him.

The guy I was talking to said he decided to be Foreman B, because that’s the type of person he wanted to be and thats’ the type of workforce he wanted to have.  He told me that the difference it has made to his business is huge.

Seems common sense?  Pretty obvious story eh?  What results do you want?  Are you being the type of Foreman that will glean those results?

What is employee well-being?  What does it actually means for organisations?

We are all aware of how current economic conditions have affected our workplaces.  We also realise that as a result of our changing surroundings…employees and management are behaving differently.  Feeling good about the work we complete has a massive impact on quality and performance.  We know this due to the research that has been completed but more significantly we know this from personal experience.  Ever been unhappy in a role?  Ever felt not appreciated by your peers or manager?  What effect did your emotions have on your work?  Did you give it your best all the time?  I think you get the idea!

So, how in practical times can we use this experience to ensure our own employees do not feel like this and enjoy a healthy environment?  Peter Warr, in his book ‘Psychology at Work’ outlines 9 main groups to examine.

1.  Opportunity for personal control

Do employees have autonomy?  This does not have to be total but could be a small amount for a particular work activity.  How much discretion have employees?  What role do they have in decision making?

2.  Opportunity for skills use

Are employees skills actually being used?  Are they valued for the skills they have?

3.  Externally generated goals

Do employees understand the demands of the job, the task?  Are there measures in place for workloads? What responsibility do they have?  Have targets been set?

4.  Variety

Is there a possible means of varying role?  How repetitive are the tasks completed?  Is there variety of location?

5.  Environmental clarity

Have the consequences of certain behaviours been provided?  Is there job security?  Is there information about the required behaviours and their role within the organisation or team?

6.  Availability of money

Have you benchmarked pay?  What competition is there?  What level of income does pay place employees on?

7.  Physical Security

Have you Health and Safety procedures in place?  Is there good working conditions?  What temperature is the office?  How much noise is present?  Do employees have adequate equipment?

8.  Opportunity for interpersonal contact

How much interaction do employees have each day?  Is there adequate provision for privacy if required?  Do employees have good relationships?  Is there social support?  Good communications?

9.  Valued social position

What status do employees have?  How much emphasis is placed on job importance?  Are the jobs that employees do meaningful?  Do employee have self-respect?

When talking about employee well-being it is important to distinguish between job-related feelings and non-job but there is so much that managers can take into consideration in order to ensure employee satisfaction and well-being.  The associations between employee well-being and performance are incredibly significant.  Enthusiasm, alertness, attention, interest, determination and inspiration are all impacted.  We simply cannot ignore them, we must take note and apply this knowledge to the environment we create for our employees.

Ever been distracted?  What was it that distracted you?  What was the consequence?

It is one of the easiest things in the world to become distracted.  To not pay full attention to what we are doing at any one point in time.  We have other things on our mind.  Something catches the corner of our eye.  We are preoccupied with our preconceived beliefs.  We are not paying full attention because we don’t value the act/action in our schema. This ‘noise’ can have an impact on our behaviour and ultimately our success.

Harry Houdini was a talented escape artist.  A performer who was very concerned with putting on a show for his audience.  It might surprise you to learn that not only was he a magician and escape artist…he was also the first person to fly an aeroplane in Australia, to create a new diving suit, to start a movie company…and he was the man that was so impressed by how az certain Joseph Keaton managed to fall downstairs that he called him ‘Buster’.

You would think that a man with these talents wouldn’t let his guard drop.  His concentration must be complete.  Yet when he suffered from stomach pains, he refused to go to the doctor.  Distracted by  not wanting to let his audience down, keen to continue with his performances.  Then, in his dressing room, a student punched him in the stomach. Houdini had long prfessed his abiltiy to withstand blows but he was not prepared for this one.  He didn’t have time to tense his muscles.  A week later, he collapsed on stage.  Six days later he died from peritonitis, caused by appendicitis and the stomach punch.

The ‘noise’ that distracted Houdini comprised of the desire not to disappoint his audience, his fear of losing his popularity, his keeness not to return to the poor situation of his childhood, his drive, his ambition…his male thoguht processes that told him to ignore the stomach pains, to not go to the doctor…and of course, not paying attention to the student who decided to test the magician’s claim.

What ‘noise’ distracts us from giving complete attention to our actions? How does the ‘noise’ that distracts us impact our behaviour and ultimately our success?

Expanding your network of contacts is generally agreed to be the best way of increasing visibility, meeting business people in increasing trust and confidence in your capabilities.  But for some, being thrown into a roomful of strangers is a scary proposition.

There are a variety of different networking groups, those who base their strategy on referrals, those which are more social,  those that enable one-to-one appointments and the social media sites.  It’s necessary to assess what your needs are and decide what format best suits you.  But how do you get past the initial fear of introducing yourself to new people and describing your business?

In basic terms, “networking” is merely talking to other people. While that might seem simple, the importance of making the right connections and putting across the right impression can make the process very daunting.

Some pointers

Be polite to everyone

This seems to be ‘taken for red’ but it would be very easy to spend your time seeking out those who have an obvious direct link to your business but it’s also important to get talking to and be polite to everyone else.  You never know who that person may be talking to afterwards or what connections they may have.

Help others before yourself

Networking is not about sales pitches, its about contacts and getting your business concept and serivces known.  So don’t be afraid to concentrate on the other person.  You will need to know as much about their business as possible in order to respond to their needs and letting the other person talk demonstrates that you are interested in what they have to say.  Reciprocation is where the real business deals are done.  Providing help and assistance to someone now may well have them ringing you later on downthe line with a nice piece of business work.

Be Patient

Networking does not bring immediate business to your door.  Be patient, build your network and the business will follow.  If things aren’t moving after a couple of weeks, don’t panic and think its lost effort.  Keep it up and in time people will get to know you, your work and the value you can add.

Any other hints and tips for folk wanting to network?  Please add your comments and lets see if we can get people putting themselves about!!

One of the best ways of gaining confidence is to make things happen.  Feeling effective is a huge boost to self-esteem.  Once we have started achieving then we are encouraged to continue.  This I discovered when I wanted to lose weight.  For years I talked about it, moaned about it….paid lip service to the ‘diet’.  Nothing happened.  Sound familiar?    But when I actually lost a few pounds I felt elated, and not eating that chocolate chip cookie (or 10!) was so much easier because I could see and feel the benefit.  I went on to lose over 4 stone in four months.

All very well but how do we ‘get started’?  How do we initiate the motivation?

Psychologists normally agree that there are two types of motivation, ‘Outer’ and ‘Inner’.  ‘Outer’ motivation are the elements that bring us public recognition such as someone else noticing my slimmed down physical appearance.  ‘Inner’ motivation are those needs and drives that proivde us with personal satisfaction such as being able to fit into that pair of jeans.  It is widely accepted that ‘Inner’ is the stronger motivator.  Yet this tells us ‘what’ motivated us…not ‘how’ we motivate ourselves.

Goal setting helps us satisfy our needs and thus are a mechanism to motivation.  Great! But why then, when I had a goal of losing 4 stone did it not work for such a long period of time.  The problem was my goal was too big, not specific enough and didn’t have enough direction.  It was only when I created smaller ‘mini‘ goals that I was ultimately successful.  Having a goal of getting through 1 week without eating those high-calorie snacks was not going to have me drop 4 stone but it was a start.  When I succeeded with that smaller goal, dropped those first few pounds…and I felt effective…I felt good about myself and my ability to continue towards my end goal.  It was those first few pounds that were the hardest.  Getting started was the key to my ultimate success.  A ‘kick start’ so to speak.

If you are having problems getting started, have you thought about what you are actually trying to achieve?  Have you given yourself the opportunity to gain a quick win and thus provide that vital encouragement to continue?

Next time you find yourself procrastinating about getting started, set yourself a smaller goal and reap the benefits!