Emmy-winning producer Paula Rizzo breaks procrastination into three causes: fear of the unknown, lack of knowledge, and feeling overwhelmed. She walks through tactics like breaking projects into small goals, time-boxing with the Pomodoro method, and accepting imperfect work to meet deadlines instead of chasing perfection.
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Hey everybody, I want to start today's video by saying thank you. Thank you so much to all of you who have left comments and questions on my previous videos. We've already talked all about how to clear some clutter from your business by aligning yourself with your priorities and how to deal with distractions because now that we're working from home, there's so many distractions, right? And today I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Today we're going to talk all about procrastination. And my big secret is that I'm actually a huge procrastinator. I love to procrastinate. And I know it's something that a lot of people have been surprised about through the years when I've told them, because they think, oh, but you're so efficient. Oh, but you're so productive. You must be getting so many things done. It's true, but I have trained myself to do that. And I'm going to give you some tips and tricks and ways to do that as well. So I'm going to dive into this. Training a bit with you right now. And, uh, you know, procrastination, it's something that hits all of us, but it's the way that you deal with it that really makes all the difference. So as many of you know, I'm an Emmy Award-winning television producer. I worked for a very long time in TV news, close to 20 years. You can't procrastinate in TV news. That is why I have actually gotten really good at this. And I'm the author of two books about productivity, Listful Thinking and Listful Living. And I also am a LinkedIn Learning instructor. So there's two courses on LinkedIn that I have put together and taught, one about how to set up your remote office for optimal productivity, and the other one is all about how to use lists to be more productive and powerful in, in your day. Uh, and so I hope that you check those out. And as I go through the training today, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I will get to those. And if you're watching the replay, leave them anyway. And I'm going to go through and make sure to answer every single question that you have about any of this. And if you go to paularizzo.com/list, I have a list-making starter kit there for you with some tips and tricks and additional ways to really be efficient and on top of your game because I know there's just so many things that we could be doing, but I'm all about let's focus on what you need to be doing. So looking back at what we've already talked about in previous videos, knowing your priorities, it's super important to be able to clear out clutter from your life and from your business and from the balance of both of those. If you have that laser focus of here's what I actually need to be doing that's aligning with my priorities, it's very different than getting an email and saying, oh, let me go do that now because somebody else thinks that you should. So I taught all about that in the first video. And the second video, we talked about dealing with distractions. Now that we're at home, there are all new distractions in front of us, right? There's leaf blowers and construction and kids and things that you didn't have in your regular office. So to do a little quick recap on that, one way to deal with these distractions is to actually have a better to-do list. So make sure that you make that list the night before so you have a roadmap and you've set an intention for what you want to do for the day. So when distractions do pop up, because they will, you know exactly what you need to get back to. And I do have another little tool that I use a lot, which is called a distraction placeholder. So I put that right on my actual to-do list. So if I do get distracted, I write down what I was in the middle of. So then I can get back to it faster when I sit back down at my desk. And if you go to paularizzo.com/list, I have the template for you so you can see how I set up my to-do list. Another way to deal with distractions is to tune out, to, you know, give yourself some headphones to get away from it all and to use a mantra. A mantra that I really love sometimes to use is to just keep saying the thing that I'm supposed to be doing right now. And it sounds a little crazy if you're, you know, there's other people around you, but, uh, if you're in an office by yourself, it's okay, uh, to be able to say, you know, write this blog, working on the blog. And even if you have to write it down to remind yourself that that's what you're doing, it's so helpful because if a distraction pops up, you might go and want to do that other thing, or it's an email that came in or whatever. But to keep yourself on track, I use that, that mantra. So that is, you know, just a quick, quick recap, but please check back on the, the other video that I did for some more deep dive on that. So, you know, there's obviously productivity obstacles, many of which we have already talked about. The distractions— procrastination is the one that we're going to dig in on today. It's super important. And then of course staying motivated. So I will get to that in a future video. But procrastination is the devil. It is the thing that will make you the least productive. You know, you think that you're doing well for the day and then you procrastinate. But there are Specific reasons why we actually procrastinate, and this is important to know so that you can combat it. Okay. So understanding and knowing why you're doing it is really, really important. So the first reason is fear. Fear of the unknown, right? Fear of what happens if I do this thing. Will this actually, you know, set me into a different bracket doing something totally different? Fear because you don't know how to do it, right? There might be an element of that, right? And that's lack of knowledge. Not knowing how to do your taxes is the reason why you don't do them, right? Because you're like, wait, I don't, I don't want to figure out how to do this. So I'm just going to procrastinate to the last second and freak out. I don't do that. That is why I have a bookkeeper and an accountant to do those things. They are much better qualified than I am because I probably would procrastinate this. So see, there are ways that you can combat even your own tendencies. Maybe you're overwhelmed and need support. This happens a lot of times. We'll have a project in front of us. We'll mean to get started with it, but we don't actually have the time or the space or whatever to do it. So instead of pulling it apart into smaller little pieces, we procrastinate. But maybe you need some support, and whether that be a friend or a family member or a coworker to go through and say, okay, what are the pieces that you can actually do and what are the ones that you can maybe outsource or you ask for somebody else's help or whatever it is. So those are the 3 main reasons why we procrastinate. And the way to combat this is to make your goals bite-sized. And this is the exact same thing that I say about your list. So when you make your to-do list, you're doing the exact same thing here. We're not putting on a list, write book. If you put write book on your to-do list today, please let me know in the comments below. At any point, has write book been on your to-do list? Please let me know. Or anything like that, anything huge like that, you know, climb Mount Everest, like these huge goals. You're never going to do it. You could be the fastest writer in the world and it won't happen. And I'm a pretty fast writer. I have to say, I can't write a book in one day. I don't think I have not tried it, but I don't think that I could do it. Uh, so to make those goals bite-size, a small part. So a small part of the book would be to write the title or write the table of contents. Do you see? That smaller goal is attainable and you won't procrastinate it. Because if on the list we say write book, you're going to procrastinate all day long because what does that mean? What do you have to actually do? You haven't pulled apart those little bite-sized nuggets. So that is, that is the trick, right? Also, another way to deal with procrastination is to eliminate small annoyances, things that will get in your way that will stop you from just doing. Some of these things include stacks of stuff, right? Piles that are on your desk, magazines, you know, books you need to read, mean to read, any of that kind of stuff. And also, you know, I have like the Tupperware clutter there because this is a great example of something that you might procrastinate to do is to, to deal with this Tupperware overflow. But every time you go over there, you get annoyed and everything falls out of the, out of the cabinet and you can't deal with it. But you know what? If you timed yourself and said, you know what, I'm going to just tidy this up, it would probably take you like 2 minutes out of your life, 2 minutes out of your life that would make your life so much easier. Why not just do that? But yet we procrastinate these things that would actually make us more efficient. So there's some other things that you can do to make things easier for yourself. You always want to simplify. Pick a gym with a locker so that your clothes are there. You already have a spot for the clothes as opposed to, oh, I got it, you know, you gotta lug your stuff, you gotta whatever. Make it easy on yourself. Use your optimal productivity time. So this is a lot of what I get into in my book Listful Living, all about your personal productivity style. I've written about this quite a lot. Use the time that you work best to do what you need to do. Keep your keys in the same place every single day. OK, so that's how I treat apps as well. In the same way that I keep my keys in the exact same place, I know exactly where to find it every single day. So I don't procrastinate and look for, you know, other things. I do this with apps as well. I have specific apps for specific things, so I know exactly where they are. And other ways to kill procrastination is to use the Pomodoro Technique, which I love. Now, if you've not done this before, it's 25 minutes of targeted time. Okay. So what you do is you set a timer. It's called Pomodoro because Pomodoro means tomato in Italian. And the guy who created it is Italian and he used a little tomato timer when he was, uh, you know, creating this. So you set it for 25 minutes and you pick one task and you work on that task for 25 minutes and nothing else. And if you get distracted, you have to stop the clock. This is a great exercise because it teaches you what distracts you. And how you react because, you know, you have to stop the clock, reset yourself and get back to it. So I definitely recommend that you try it. Also, stick to your list. It all comes back to a really well-constructed list. All of this, all of the things that I've spoken about in all of these videos come back to list making, really. Okay. The way that you can prioritize, stick with your list. The way that you can, you know, deal with distractions, stick with your list. Kill procrastination, stick with your list. So you really have to create this in a very, very structured and curated way. We're not just dumping everything on the list. Be clear about why you want to do this thing that you're procrastinating. Maybe you don't want to do it. You ever thought of that? That thing that keeps coming up on the list again and again and again. Why? Why does it keep coming back up? Maybe it's one of those things that I mentioned before, but maybe it's just you don't want to do it and you don't have to do it. And that's OK. Crossing things off your list permanently is very freeing. And actually, I recommend it all the time because it's a way to free yourself from thinking you have to do this thing. You might not have to evaluate it. And really, 10 minutes is all you need. So if you're in this procrastination zone and you're like, oh, I got to get started on that thing, set a timer for 10 minutes and just get started. You can do anything for 10 minutes and it really gives you a good boost to jumpstart and to say, okay, I'm going to work on it. Let's see how far I can get. And at that point you get into the groove and you're like, all right, I guess I could do another 10 minutes. And then you keep going and you keep going and you keep going. So that is a really helpful way to jumpstart killing your procrastination. And a lot of times I think about, you know, Steve Jobs, who said real artists ship. And in the same way, that is what Seth Godin also says, just ship. His book Lynchpin is amazing. If you haven't read it, you should definitely check it out. But both of these very accomplished, amazing people have said just ship, as in just get it out the door. A lot of times we think, oh, it has to be perfect, or I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, or I can't— uh-uh, just get it out there. And this is something that, from my background of working in TV news for so long, you know, the deadline is coming up, right? If you're working for a 5 o'clock newscast, it has to be ready by 5 PM. So if you're still working on this at $450, you have to ship it. It has to get out there. So you get really, really in tune to being able to say, okay, this is the best that I can get this at this point. It needs to go. And maybe you'll refine it at another point, and that's okay. But sometimes we just need to get out of our head and stop thinking, oh, if it could be better if I had more time, or all— not true. Some of my best work has been done within like 5 or 10 minutes under the gun, and I'm sure you feel the same way, uh, but just getting it out there will make all the difference. And in my next video, I'm going to talk all about getting the right things done and staying motivated because that's another piece here. Yeah, you can combat, you know, all the things that we talked about, but then how do you stay motivated and make sure that you actually do the things that are on your list or that are most important? A lot of times the things, especially for entrepreneurs, that aren't the most sexy or the most exciting are the things that keep getting pushed down again and again and again. But how can you get motivated to do those things? And get them off your list and, you know, bring your business to the next level. We're going to talk about that in the next video. And I'm also going to talk all about my brand new course that I'm going to be opening up for a short time. It's called Design Your Life: An Entrepreneur's Roadmap to Ultimate Productivity. And I'm super excited about this course. It's going to be a live course that I'm teaching, and I will tell you all about it if you're on my list. So go to paularizzo.com and now if there's any questions that have come through or if you are, you know, you have some questions about procrastination or you're thinking, oh, you know, I wish I knew more about XYZ thing, please let me know. So Charles, let me see what you're saying here. You've just sent this through. You said, what about the list? What about when the list takes forever to go over? And how to see what is the best thing to work on. Okay. So here's the thing about the list and how to make the optimal best to-do list. The things on your to-do list should only be the things you have the time and the resources to do. So I'm very strict about the things that I actually will put on my daily to-do list. I sit at my desk every night before work, uh, before, you know, before I leave my desk and Every night I go through and I think, okay, what can I actually get done tomorrow? So I know very clearly what I can and what I can't do or what I need to outsource. And those are the things that go on the list. As we talked about earlier in the slides, you saw that I was saying, don't put something so huge on that list. Right? So you don't want to put things that say like, oh, write book or things like that. And how do you align yourself and say, here's what's the best thing to work on? Well, there's two ways to figure that out. One is deadline-driven, right? What's coming up the fastest? Because I would do it that way, in order of priority. This has to be done sooner rather than later because that deadline is coming up. Or would you be able to do, you know, something where it's aligning with your priorities? Now, in my first video, I talked all about how to align yourself and what's on your list with your priorities. And that's very important so that you look at the list and you say, well, this is not part of the main priority for today or this week or this month. You know what? I'm actually— I'm good. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to push it to the following day. Just because you can do something today doesn't mean that you should do it. I think that's what happens to a lot of people. They think, "Oh, let me just get this done real quick because I have 5 minutes," and 5 minutes turns into 50 minutes because it took longer than you thought. To be really intentional about what's on your list and also about where you spend your time and what you're doing. Thank you, Charles, for that question. It's an important one for sure. If anybody else has any questions, please put them in the chat box below. I'm happy to answer them, or comments, you know, if you found something that has helped you with procrastination, I want to know about it. And stay tuned because I'm going to be talking all about how to get motivated and keep motivated in my next video. And I'm excited to talk to you all about my brand new course, Design Your Life, that's coming out too. So I will see you all soon. Good luck.
