Am I procrastinating or are these tasks really important?

[ollimatrix]

If you want to achieve a goal, you'll have to do a list of tasks, that help you get closer to that goal.

We all know action is king when it comes to achieving goals: you'll want to cut out distractions, unnecessary busy work (which just keeps you spinning in circles instead of moving forward), stop procrastinating and work on the most important task first.

Sometimes however, it'll be necessary to do another task in preparation, before you can actually do the task that directly leads to your goal.

So you'll end up with this:

I want to achieve a goal, for which I'll primarily have to do A.

But first I have to do B in order to be able to do A.

But first I have to do C in order to be able to do B.

But first I have to do D in order to be able to do C.

But first I have to do E in order to be able to do D.

... and so on.


Assuming I am working on a project, for which I pretty much have to make up the rules as I go, and there's a lot of trial and error involved (it's not a project where the outcome is perfectly clear, and I can follow an existing project plan that lists the steps; there is no "cookie cutter" recipe for my project, neither is there a predecessor who's guideline I can follow), I am wondering the following:

How do I know if I REALLY need to do task E in order to (in the long run) accomplish my goal?

How can I judge if I am procrastinating, if I am doing busy work, of if I am taking the right action, that'll get me closer to my goal?

Any guidelines I can follow?

 

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[smarty]

How can I judge if I am procrastinating, if I am doing busy work, of if I am taking the right action, that'll get me closer to my goal?

Ask yourself "How can I get my first PAYING customer as soon as possible?"

 

[Ninjakid]

Imagine your business or project, or whatever it is you're doing is a smoking hot lady. You DEFINITELY know when you're giving attention to your lady. Would you not give this lady tons of attention and care? If you're doing everything else but not giving the lady any attention, or avoiding her, you're procrastinating.

Of course this applies to whichever sex you are attracted to; this is just what works for me.

 

[Visionquest]

I think your on the right track. You have to look at "this is where I want to be" Then look at the steps involved to get there. This is the barrier for most people. They try and jump to the end "get rich easy" or they get intimidated by the work and watch TV instead. Where you want to be will take a million little steps. Each on done appropriately and efficiently will pay dividends later. If you stuff through the little things they can come back to bite with more work or lost profit or stolen ideas. 10 year plan where do I need to be in 3 years to be on track what is my goal for 1 year stay clearly moving to the 3 year goal. What should I do this month. What am i doing today to get this month goals accomplished. 10 years is millions. Today is work to make your life converge with your dream

 

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[The-J]

Depends. Is it congruent with a specific milestone? Like... first sale, maybe? Or first 100 sales?

If so, then the tasks are necessary and you should work on em

 

[Yasai]

Imagine yourself driving to a certain city. Maybe 200km away.
Do you have to see the WHOLE distance? Or just what's directly in front of you?

It's not necessary to see the whole 200km road in full detail, as long as you know where you're going.

All you need to see (and the only thing that you can ACTIVELY influence right now) are the couple of hundred meters ahead.

(Another lesson I got from Jack Canfield. All credit to him.)

if I am taking the right action, that'll get me closer to my goal?

Allow yourself to fail. You're getting valuable data every time you fail. And what you've probably noticed: you (and almost every other human being on this planet) fails on a weekly or even daily basis. And it's no big deal, is it?

As long as you don't have to fear any catastrophic losses, go out and get your hands a little dirty. The worst that can happen is that you find a way how NOT to do stuff (and that's actually a benefit, isn't it?)

Applies to everything. Don't run simulations in your mind without having any data. Go out there and GET data.

 

[custardcat]

begin with an end in mind,and do whatever it takes wuth full focus x

 

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