Avoidable behavior can keep you from getting your most important tasks done. Here are a few ways to kick the bad habit.
I’ve been meaning to write this column for a long time. But I just couldn’t get around to it for some reason. That reason? Avoidable behavior. Some people own up to it. Others don’t. But it’s more common than you think, especially among business owners. I’m not a psychologist and I want to clarify that I’m not talking about Avoidant personality disorder which is something else entirely. I’m referring to the practice of “procrastination by other means.”
When you procrastinate, you simple put off doing something you know you should do. Avoidable behavior is more subtle. It involves filling your time with tasks that are less important—or completely unimportant. This gives you the feeling that you are accomplishing something when more important tasks stay firmly on the “to do but not done” list.
A common example of avoidable behavior is checking Facebook, e-mail or online news in the morning. On more than one occasion I’ve found myself reading the news headlines when I should have been calling a vendor to argue for a refund. I’ve also been guilty of checking e-mail and responding to a dozen webinar registration requests instead of putting the finishing touches on a sales proposal that’s due that day.
The problems with engaging in avoidable behavior are rather obvious. Important tasks don’t get done. Pending work piles up. The volume of pending work increases and becomes intimidating. The result is more avoidable behavior. It’s a vicious circle that absolutely destroys productivity. How do you deal with avoidable behavior?
In order to deal with avoidable behavior you must take certain definitive steps:
1. Recognize the problem
Admit to yourself that you engage in avoidable behavior. If in your mind it’s completely reasonable to check your spam folder in case an e-mail was mis-flagged as junk when you have pending proposals due then you won’t be able to muster the energy to deal with the situation. Just admit it.
2. Be willing to let unimportant tasks go undone
A key cause of avoidable behavior is the sheer volume of pending work that can accumulate. Manage your pending tasks by eliminating those that aren’t necessary. Just delete the automated e-mails from that sales guy. When you want to buy something you’ll call him. Forget about filling out industry surveys or downloading another whitepaper to “read later.”
3. Identify the “culprit tasks”
We each have our preferences when it comes to the kind of work we like to do. I love to brainstorm, research, and write about small business. I’m not so fond of other tasks, like preparing RFPs or reviewing edits. Tasks like these are important and they need to get done. Since I don’t like doing them, the solution lies in delegating the tasks to someone else. It will get done on time with far less aggravation and stress then if I try to do it on my own.
