This entry may change your life.

I believe you can tell a lot about a person by how he or she reads the Sunday paper. Of course, some people don’t read a Sunday paper. Interpret that how you wish, but for now, let’s pretend that everyone reads the Sunday paper. Remember back to the moment when you last carried the paper to your favorite reading spot; what do you do next?

Keywords: mindsets of change leaders, procrastination, time efficiency, efficiency expert

What Do You Do?

I haven’t officially studied the topic, but I think most people rummage through the paper looking for a few of their favorite sections, pull them out, and start reading. After consuming those sections, they plunge back into the pond to fish out more sections. Some people are more methodical about it than others. I dated one woman who tore the entire paper apart first to remove all advertisement: want-ads, auto dealers, and home builder sections first. She removed inserts from remaining sections. She tore off the half page ads on the front of the comics and the TV weekly guide. She hated ads. Then she reordered the paper, with her favorite sections on top.

Other people start with the front page and work their way inward, habitually not reading some sections, unless something special catches their eyes. Perhaps they assume the paper’s initial order must have a purpose or logic, or they figure it just wastes time and makes a mess to pull the paper apart.

What do Efficiency Experts Think?

Now let’s shift topics and talk about efficiency experts. I’ll come back to the Sunday paper later.

There is a famous story about an efficiency expert who went to the steel king, Andrew Carnegie, and pitched him on an idea. The expert claimed that he could improve the efficiency of all his managers, and Mr. Carnegie could pay him whatever he thought the solution was worth. Mr. Carnegie agreed.

The solution was straightforward. He had all of the managers write down the items needed to be done on a piece of paper, then prioritize the items by putting the number one next to the most important item, number two next the second most important item, and so on. Next, start t to work the items in the order of their priority. He told the manager not to worry if the list wasn’t finished, it didn’t matter. Each person was already working the list in the most efficient order and no other way of working would have completed the list better or faster. Finally, he told the managers to carry over unfinished items to the next day and begin the process all over again.

It was said that a short time later, Andrew Carnegie sent the man a check for $10,000, which was a very large sum of money 100 years ago.

William Covey adds a second dimension to the efficiency expert’s method. Covey, in the third habit: “Put First Things First: Principles of Personal Management”, adds the dimension of urgency. This creates a quadrant model with quadrant I being important and urgent, II is important but not important, III is urgent but not important, and IV is neither important nor urgent. Covey says, “Don’t do quadrant IV; and do as little in III as possible. Focus on quadrants I and II. The more you focus on quadrant II, important but not urgent, the fewer quadrant I activities, urgent and important, will show up in your life”.

If you don’t live the quadrant II habit, you lack the ability to prioritize , or the desire to organize, or the discipline to execute. If you fall into this group, as I do, then you need to buy a tool to help you do it.

Different Thinking

Now I’m all for efficiency, but it doesn’t come naturally. Human beings aren’t wired that way. The fundamental problem is that we avoid pain and seek pleasure. If the task isn’t fun to do, we put it off and do something else more interesting. This is the modus operandi for procrastination. Unless I’m wrong, most people struggle with procrastination every day. Eventually, what we put off becomes so urgent that the pain of not doing it becomes greater than the pain of doing it. We give in and do what we don’t like. Filing Income Taxes comes to mind this time of year as a good example of this behavior.

Here’s the Engaging Change Anti-Procrastination Plan.

(Pay me whatever you think it’s worth ;-) . Email me and I’ll give you my address.)

Take your Sunday paper and organize the sections by putting the least favorite on top and the most favorite on the bottom. For example, if you love the comics or the Sports section, put that last. Now read the paper in this order and notice how you feel when you are done.

I use to read the paper starting with my most favorite and ending with my least favorite. Some sections I never read at all. Of those I read, the last was the Opinion section. Before starting the Opinion section, I was already a little worn out. After reading several letters and op-pieces I didn’t agree with, I was definitely grumpy. So I started my day anticipating a relaxing Sunday morning with coffee and the paper, and I ended up two hours later an agitated bore, with no energy to play or do chores.

Surprisingly, I had been doing this habitually for 25 years! On some occasions, I noticed my mood swings, but then next Sunday would come, and once again I would look forward to relaxing quietly with the Sunday paper.

With the ECAP Plan (remember, sections are ordered from least to most liked), I look through all the sections, except the ads. (Now, I too remove all the inserts and 100% ad sections.) I read the Opinion section first. It does little to dampen my mood. Next, I skim through sections that I normally never looked at such as Travel and Scene. These “fluff” sections only take a few minutes, and I actually find some of it interesting.

As I move through each section, my mood grows progressively more positive because I’m anticipating more favorable sections. Picking up the last section is a great feeling. I’m almost done, and the best one is yet to come.

I finish the paper faster: more sections, in less time. That is an unexpected bonus. The difference is motivation. Motivation improves focus, and focus creates efficiency. I also finish the paper in a much better mood. I’m ready to engage and take on some chores or cook breakfast for everyone.

Here’s How it Works for Work:

Make your to-do list. Include EVERTHING you need to do that day (i.e. eat breakfast, exercise, read the paper, respond to email, write a status report, make sales calls, and play spider solitaire). This is a total truth moment, but don’t you worry; no one else need know your secrets. Prioritize by pain and pleasure. You can number items or put plusses next to fun stuff and minuses next to dislikeable stuff.

Now break your day into chunks: pre-breakfast, pre-lunch, and pre-dinner. If you are a zealot, you can finish with pre-sleep. Before breakfast, do one or two items you dislike. Maybe that’s exercise, or paying bills or washing the dishes. You will be surprised how fabulous it feels to knock off a few annoyances before breakfast. It’s much better than starting the day with the guilt, shame or denial that goes with procrastination.

Keep going with the plan. By lunch time, almost everything you didn’t want to do is done, and you can start the fun stuff in the afternoon. That’s great because normally it’s harder to concentrate in the afternoon, especially if you are doing something you hate. Before dinner, you are cranking away on your favorite stuff or just plan having fun. Instead of showing up for dinner cranky (thinking about all the stuff you should have done but put off), you have pride in yourself, are cheery, and a more loving parent and mate.

Conclusion:

Now you know what the Sunday paper has to do with efficiency and procrastination.  All those efficiency expert approaches are rational, but we have emotions and motivation. The ECAPP is designed for humans, not robots. That’s why it’s so efficient.

Try it with the newspaper first, (it doesn’t have to be Sunday’s) or with a magazine, or with a few simple chores, or just go for it! You will feel you have been reborn.  Good luck and let me know how the Engaging Change Anti-Procrastination Plan works for you.

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Michael Cushman, The Engaging Guru, wants you to master enrolling others in your truth, get the goodies of life, and change the world.  www.engagingchange.com