Procrastination, Twitter and my Cartoon Nose Job
Hey there!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
Relax, put your feet up and pour yourself your favorite drink as I tell you a story.
It was Wednesday evening this week. I sat down at the lovely big glass desk in my man cave and turned on the computer.
I feel great about today, I said to myself as my mac sprung into action. I’m going to get loads of productive work done.
I fired up my web browser and logged onto Twitter.
Tweet Tweet
A lengthy aside about Twitter
For the uninitiated, Twitter is a bit like an online bar (except that you have to bring your own alcohol and you don’t need to wear pants.) There’s a load of people, a load of noise, some cool fun interesting people to meet, and some terrible dullards.
There are people who want to convince you that hawking overpriced vitamins on your friends and family is a good idea, as well as people who just want to hang out, get to know some people and have some fun.
The key to using Twitter in a way that doesn’t suck, is to ignore the first lot and befriend and engage with the second lot. Just as you’d walk away from the drunk guy in the corner dribbling on his sweater, and go talk to fun looking lady on the unicycle making balloon animals.
For the small home business owner, Twitter is an excellent networking and marketing tool. Especially if you’re prepared to take the time to do your marketing in a personable, non-creepy way.
It can also be an excellent procrastination aid.
It really shouldn’t be.
It takes a few seconds to say something funny that’s on your mind, check out what other people are up to, and then get back to work.
It should be a perfect-sized refreshing break…
…if you have well-defined work to be getting back to.
So, back to my story… What happened with me?
Well, I noticed a comment from an internet friend. (That’s a friend I know through the internet, not a friend who is an internet. There’s only one of those.)
And I replied to said comment with a hilarious comment about rolling a watermelon down a hill, turning a house upside down with a big stick and a rock as a lever, or some other such nonsense. I don’t remember what it was right now, but it was surely absolutely hilariously irreverent.
Gosh, I am terribly amusing sometimes, I thought to myself.
And then I checked my email.
I had a message from the illustrator I’ve been working with. (I found him using elance. You can find out how to do this effectively in this article here.)
He’s making a cartoon logo of me, for reasons that are much more to do with satisfying my own ego than any serious branding considerations.
He had sent me some sketches. It’s really cool to see a cartoon version of you. I sent it to Mrs. Jalopy and a few friends. I debated whether my nose looked too big and whether my hair was curly enough.
I shot an email back to my illustrator dude. If I’m going to be a cartoon, I’m going to be a bloody good looking one, that’s for sure.
I requested a cartoon nose job.
What a pretty cartoon!
An hour had now passed since I first sat down to work.
I should finish that article on confidence that I’ve been writing on and off for the last week. Or I should finish the About Me page on my website, or that Squidoo lens, or those sketches I’ve been promising the web designer…
Yeah, but first… I bet someone has replied to that hilarious comment I made on Twitter.
They hadn’t. Perhaps no-one had read it yet. Or maybe they thought it was so hilarious that they couldn’t think of a worthy reply. Yeah, that was probably it.
So I logged onto Facebook, made a few comments on some people’s photos, watched some videos of monkeys playing with firearms. Soon got tired of that.
The bit where I hurry the story a little because you’ve got the idea by now…
Looked at my cartoon again.
Thought about finishing that article.
Or the one for April which has now been festering even longer. (Sorry April, if you’re listening. It is like totally brilliant though.)
Thought about making that squidoo thingywotsit.
Emailed the web-designer dude with a link to a website that I think is prettier than the one we’re making…
Finally I sat down to finish the article.
But by now I was feeling really tired and Mrs. Jalopy has already gone to bed. I don’t like it when we go to bed separately. I miss my snuggletime.
So I turned off the computer and go to bed, feeling a little guilty about how long I had just spent doing pretty much nothing.
So what went wrong?
Gosh. Lots of things. Where do we start?
I had no goal.
To be successful at doing stuff you first have to know what it is that you want to do.
“I’m going to do some networking and hopefully finish that article, talk to the web-designer and illustrator” is not a goal.
So what would have looked better? How about this?
I’m going to finish my article on confidence and reply to any urgent emails. I’ll give myself a couple of breaks to make tea and to briefly connect with people on Twitter.
I had no deadlines or defined timescales.
I had blocked off a period of time in which I was going to “do work”. I had allowed myself to be okay with not finishing anything. I was happy simply to be doing work stuff.
So I flitted around, satisfying my little ego with cartoon nose jobs and flirting with imaginary friends on Twitter.
What would have looked better?
I’m going finish my article on confidence tonight, before I go to bed.
I had no accountability.
I sometimes talk about making non-negotiable agreements with yourself.
This is when you say, I’m going to finish this article before I go to bed because I’ve decided that I will. There is no other way.
You’re being accountable to yourself. You’re coaching yourself.
Accountability to yourself. And to others.
You may also get a lot of value being accountable to a coach, or a mastermind group trying to achieve similar things together.
Either way, accountability is a big piece of the puzzle.
The bit at the end where we wrap things up.
I’m sure the story I just confessed is totally unfamiliar to a productive and efficient business person like you!
Or maybe it’s not so much…
I find it interesting that the basics to working productively are so simple, straightforward and easily understood – but also difficult to act upon consistently.
There is a huge payoff in getting the basics right. Having a plan, putting timescales and deadlines against all your tasks and being accountable to yourself and others… these are the basics.
And we’d do well to set up a habit to remind ourselves of this every single day as we sit down to work. And make a non-negotiable agreement with ourselves to do these things – even if we don’t feel like it.
How do you manage this? What systems do you have in place to remind yourself of the basics to working effectively? What strategies to you have when procrastination rears its ugly head?
Let me know! You know you can talk to me below. And you know I love it when you do! 
See you soon.
JJ Jalopy.
P.S. I believe that procrastination is actually a very complex issue. It is my belief that no-one self-sabotages. All of our decisions are, I believe, made with our best interests in mind, but with limited or “flawed” information. In this post, I don’t mean to make light of the issue of procrastination, simply to highlight the importance of getting the basics right.
Comment by Pam Schulz
15 June 2009
JJ – You’re right it’s so easy to procrastinate when you haven’t set concrete, observable and measurable goals. Great insights. FWIW – I like your cartoon caricature – although I must say you bare a striking resemblance to Robin Hood.
Pam
Invest in Your Future
Pam Schulz´s last blog ..The Strength of Markets
Comment by JJ Jalopy
15 June 2009
@Pam – Thanks for your comments! I like that I look a bit like Robin Hood. I was never quite sure why he was allowed to steal from people and have it be okay, but I always liked his hat. Cool.
JJ Jalopy´s last blog ..Procrastination, Twitter and my Cartoon Nose Job
Comment by Darryl Pace
15 June 2009
JJ,
Procrastination is a tempting seductress, leading us astray from our main squeeze (productive work). Working from a list, where the list contains a prioritized task/goal list for the day, and making it a challenge to either finish the list or finish as many tasks/goals on the list in a day sometimes helps.
Health, Fitness — Darryl Pace
Fitness Product Review
Darryl Pace´s last blog ..First Bodybuilding Show Experience
Comment by Anthony Lemme
16 June 2009
I don’t know if I believe in procrastination either. It is something entirely different. It is not so much putting off work as it is staying busy with everything but the work that we are supposed to be doing. It is a complex issue that is often misunderstood. We should do a little duet on “procrastination” and what it really means and really is.
Anthony
http://www.anthonylemme.com
Anthony Lemme´s last blog ..When to Let the Voices in Your Head Speak
Comment by JJ Jalopy
16 June 2009
@Darryl – Dude. Sounds like you have an awesome system going there. I think that’s the key: having a system and sticking to it. I’m great at the first one – not so good at the second! I’m loving your blog. It’s always great to see a new post.
@Anthony – Interesting one, isn’t it? I think it’s useful to believe that we never self-sabotage. Not sure if it’s necessarily “true”, but it’s certainly helpful from a coaching perspective. It’s one of the presuppositions of NLP actually – that every decision a person makes acts in accordance with what they believe is best for them, whether consciously or sub-consciously. As always, I’m very interested in hearing your thoughts on it…
JJ Jalopy´s last blog ..Sleazy salespeople and their sleazy salespeople ways.
Comment by Newport Beach, Widow Support, Bereavement Counseling, Divorce Recovery, Grief Support, Orange County, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Irvine
22 June 2009
Hey JJ,
Having and Setting Goals with Social Media Marketing is essential, or it is a HUGE time suck aka waster.
And I just gotta say and cast my vote for your real nose.
It’s more YOU and part of YOUR brand as being COOL and touch offbeat and FUN FUN FUN. Not… beige.
Best regards,
April Braswell
Single Boomer Dating Expert, Relationship Success Coach
Widow Support and Bereavement Counseling Outreach Workshop Orange County, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, CA
Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Orange County, Website Marketing, Web Design, SEO, Social Media Marketing
Comment by JJ Jalopy
22 June 2009
@April – Thanks April. My nose blushes a little.
Comment by Lisa McLellan
28 June 2009
I often lack goals and spend lots of time doing a little bit of everything so I actually get nothing done! Today seems to be one of those days!
Lisa McLellan
Babysitting Services – Babysitters and Nannies