Begin by starting a logbook to keep track of your work-stalling habits. Do this for at least a week, taking note of how you feel about the projects you're delaying, and what kind of tasks they are. At the end of the week see if you can uncover any patterns to the types of tasks that you are postponing. Are they tasks that you feel should have been completed by someone else? Understanding and clearly identifying what falls under your Job function will help eliminate having some of these likely to be postponed tasks from being dumped in your lap.

Changes in behavior are usually initiated by changes in how we perceive ourselves. If you think of yourself as a procrastinator, then you will act accordingly. We are more than the sum of our work behaviors; we are also composed of our thoughts, dreams, aspirations, and feelings. Think of yourself as someone who gets the important tasks completed, and then 'make it so.'

Break difficult tasks into its component parts. Then set up a timeline to finish these individualized parts of the greater whole. Prioritize your tasks and eliminate the ones that are causing you to fall behind on all the others. 'The journey of a thousand steps begins with one small step.' Of course, if there's a bar around the corner from where you work, the journey to it also begins with one small step. Try to recognize the difference between the two.

Change is generally a gradual process. There will be times when you revert to your ingrained, procrastinating ways. This is not a black and white process, at times you'll still find yourself falling into basic avoidance of unpleasant, overdue projects. It is almost always better to finish a Job with slight imperfections than it is to not get it done, but have every 't' crossed and 'I' dotted perfectly.

Cut down on all of the distractions that allow your mind to veer from the task at hand. Everyone knows what it feels like to be in 'the zone', where you're really productive and time flies by without you even noticing. Drink lots of water at work to keep you mentally alert, and turn your work tasks into games. For example, say, "I can get this done in 45 minutes", then time yourself. Set small personal goals and attempt to better them. Reward and reinforce your successes with simple treats, whether it's chocolate or time off for productivity gains.

Finally, get help when you need it. Help can come in the form of counseling, specific advice about the task at hand, guidebooks, CD coursework, networking groups both online and off, and most importantly, colleagues. Generally there is always an office template that covers the task you're working on. Don't try to constantly reinvent the wheel when there is a perfectly acceptable boilerplate method for completing the task in a professional and timely manner.

-Mark Poppen

Procrastination

April 29, 1999

All of us have lengthy to do lists, though some of us are fortunate enough to have the ability to keep track of them without the use of little scraps of paper that have the tendency to hide themselves at inappropriate moments. One of the Joys for me and my colleagues during the work day occurs after finishing a project when we get to cross off one of those tasks that has been lingering overlong on our to do lists. And some weeks it seems like the list grows ever longer, with some tasks getting pushed into the 'next week's list' that never really gets done.

Why do we put things off? Are we all just overworked to the point that it is impractical to expect us to finish the volume of work that is assigned to us? While true in some cases, it is much more likely that we procrastinate doing some tasks for reasons that may not be entirely clear to us. Overcoming procrastination, our default programming, involves analyzing why it happens to us in the first place. The most common reasons involve the following issues:

Control - Economic conditions often cause Employees to lose control of their work product. As colleagues are laid off, their workload is shifted to the remaining workforce. If you are put into a position where you are assigned additional tasks that you give a low priority to, then a likely outcome is that you will subconsciously shift them into the 'disappearing list file'. Feeling yourself cut out from the end result of a project after investing considerable time on the front end often leads to the desire to stall your team's delivery of completed tasks.

Fear - Whether it is an obvious panic-driven, sweat producing fear, or a well hidden, deep seated anxiety, all of us have some work related tasks that we take great pains to avoid. One common one is the fear of public speaking. This fear leads to poor presentations to both colleagues and supervisors, and encourages pain avoidance, whereby we postpone tasks that cause us discomfort rather than tackling them head on. The fear that we won't be able to secure another position often traps us into a position that has evolved into something we don't really like - and the resentment that builds justifies 'letting things slide'.

Habit - Humans are creatures of habit. We follow the path of least resistance and tend to do things today the same way we did them yesterday. Thinking requires energy, and most of us don't want to use any excess energy at work. While creative problem solving can be a fun and necessary diversion at work, few Employees care to do something so intensive all the time. The 'rut' we're in at work may give us cause to complain, but it does have the comfortable fit of an old pair of shoes. Some of our procrastinating ways are ingrained from years of completing school projects at the last minute after all-nighters.

How do you overcome Procrastination? Keeping with the topic, I'm putting off any solutions till tomorrow.

-Mark Poppen

Just Laid Off

April 28, 1999

Last year Employees witnessed more layoffs than any other year in the 90's, and 1998 had over 50% more layoffs than the previous year. The present economic slowdown will probably exacerbate the problem, making 1999 another record setting year for the sheer number of layoffs. So you are not alone.

Take a break, shake off the doldrums, and recognize that layoffs, downsizing, and projectization are the new paradigms of the work world. While this may not be particularly empowering to you as a worker, there is an upside to these changes - a wide variety of Jobs in the next ten years will see steady pay increases that will easily outpace the inflation rate. And acquiring the skill set necessary to do these Jobs will be neither time consuming or expensive.

First, assess why you were laid off. Was it something you said? Most layoffs occur for one of two reasons: either you had a personality conflict with the boss or your Industry is in a declining phase. If you didn't get along with your immediate supervisor, ask yourself whether other workers had similar problems. Were you willing to learn new skills that other workers either possessed or acquired while you were on the Job?

Evaluate what skills (or attitudes) colleagues who were NOT laid off displayed to your boss. While Employers are subject to penalties for age discrimination, it is commonplace across the labor force for Employers to keep younger workers, all other things being equal. If you don't offer more skills and relevant experience than younger employees, why should you be retained and not them? Odds are that older workers are higher up the pay scale, and managers are generally making decisions with at least one eye on the bottom line.

Consider how long you might be out of work. A rough estimate is you'll be out of work for one month for every $10,000 you were making, up to $60,000. Executives earning more than $60,000 may take six months to a year to find their next gig. By researching your target companies, retraining or upgrading your abilities, and treating Jobhunting as a 40 hour per week Job, you can drastically reduce these estimates.

Think about doing consulting work for three reasons:

One, you'll bring in badly needed cash to keep yourself afloat.

Two, consulting helps you get comfortable using your network of industry contacts, and

Three, working is the very best way to find your next Job.

-Mark Poppen

Net Shift

April 27, 1999

The economic churn that eliminates one million Jobs every year can be very demoralizing to Jobhunters. Headlines that tell of Blue Chip Companies laying off tens of thousands of workers does not make for an easygoing day of Jobhunting, rather it adds a sense of urgency to the calls for information about available work.

But at the same time as all these Jobs in Manufacturing and Production are evaporating millions of new Jobs are being created. Often the new Job that is created is an offshoot of a hobby or special interest that someone has managed to find a niche for. A useful exercise is to research some of these newly minted professional categories and see what qualifications they require.

These opportunities are especially ripe when it comes to web based companies. Business on the Internet sounds a lot like the way writers used to describe the Gold Rush - people are risking all they have (and most of what other people have!) in the hope that they'll strike it rich by accessing something extremely valuable. For the 49'ers it was gold, for Net companies it is market share, or eyeballs that are attached (in the larger sense) to credit card numbers.

How do your skills translate to the ongoing Net Rush? Some of the early adopters of Net technology that are now running Internet businesses may be reluctant to hire workers they perceive to be 'out of the loop'. It may be worth re-tooling your resume and skill set definition to show that you are not a corporate bureaucrat incapable of assuming a new role. You don't have to be an acrobat to show your work flexibility, but you should be able to change your description of your work abilities to reflect the specific position you are applying for a Job.

Many of these 'new' Jobs are slight variations on the old standards, like sales, marketing, and management. What may be different is the need to think 'outside the box'. Whereas policy handbooks and Company guidelines were strictly enforced in your old (or current) Job, Internet positions are notorious for demanding employee ability to make decisions based on incomplete and often conflicting facts. Vision on where the company is going is just as important as where it is or where it came from.

And startup companies that offer high potential growth and pay (usually via stock options that might turn out to be worthless) may be more demanding, asking for longer hours and weekend work when deadlines overwhelm early projections. Try to keep your skills and skills description (c.v., resume, portfolio, etc.) from being too static and easily pigeonholed.

Learning the current buzzwords and what problems your target company is facing make you look less like a dinosaur and more like a worker ant with a mind of your own.

-Mark Poppen