The following is a guest post from Future Buzz community member Hillary Rettig. If you’d like to contribute thinking here, please read the guidelines.

Procrastination isn’t laziness, lack of discipline, lack of willpower, etc.: it’s disempowerment. Disempowerment means you aren’t missing anything, but lacking access to that which you have. Remove or heal from the disempowering forces in your work and life and you’ll “automagically” recover all the energy, discipline, willpower, etc., you thought you were missing, or had lost.

There are two main categories of disempowering forces: obstacles and triggers.

An obstacle is something that competes with your project for time or other resources, or that inhibits your ability to do your work. Distractions, conflicts, lack of resources, and lack of training or information are all obstacles.

Triggers are feelings that undermine your ability to do your work – fear and shame being the big two. In fact, these are most people’s major barriers to productivity, since, besides paralyzing you, they also obstruct problem solving. Once you help people overcome their fear and shame, they often speedily deal with their obstacles and get back to work.

The above analysis makes it clear why the two most common tactics for dealing with under-productivity – punishment and nagging – are inadequate.

Punishment includes actual or threatened punitive acts, and emotional punishment such as harshness or shaming. In any form, it increases one’s fear around one’s work, and therefore one’s disempowerment. It also increases one’s need to escape from one’s fears via procrastination. Other problems with punishment include: (1) we become habituated to it, so it eventually loses its power; (2) it at best achieves short-term compliance, and not the growth and capacity building that enables us to do our best; and (3) it’s fundamentally inhumane.

Nagging is what well-meaning bosses and colleagues often do instead of punishment. However, constantly asking someone, “How’s the work going?” is not only not helpful, it’s likely to backfire by adding to your colleague’s sense of fear around his or her project.

Here are some better techniques:

1) Ask if you can help. Better yet, suggest how you can help. Because underproductive people are often mired in shame and denial they will often brush off a non-focused request of assistance. But if you say, “How about if I handle the billing paperwork so you can focus on your blog post,” or, “How about if I handle the graphics while you focus on the text,” they might accept. At home, this strategy looks like, “Honey, why don’t you let me do the dishes and put the kids to bed so you can work on your project?”

2) Assist the person with problem solving, i.e., “Let’s make a list of what needs to get done,” or, “Let’s see whom else we can get to help with this project.”

3) Help them optimize their process. Many people who get struck on their writing or other projects lack an effective process. Ineffective writers, for instance, often think they’re supposed to start at the beginning of the piece and proceed linearly to the end, which is a recipe for a stall-out. Far better to do what nearly all professional writers do and work on whatever part of the piece (or whichever piece) seems most friendly, interesting and accessible at the moment. Then, when you feel the urge, simply switch over to another part. In this way you’ll cover the entire piece as quickly and easily as possible – in part because while you’re busy switching from easy part to easy part, you’re actually shedding light on, and “marinading,” the challenging parts so that they, too, eventually become easy.

Here’s the ultra-prolific Isaac Asimov – author or editor of more than 500 books and a voluminous correspondence – explaining how it works:

‘What if you get a writer’s block?’ That’s a favorite question. I say, ‘I don’t ever get one precisely because I switch from one task to another at will. If I’m tired of one project, I just switch to something else which, at the moment, interests me more’ (from his memoir In Joy Still Felt).

This and other optimized writing techniques will make your process not just way more productive, but way more fun.

4) Encourage them to look at their barriers. If someone can’t do their writing or other work, suggest they write about, or discuss, *why* they can’t. In other words, have them list their obstacles and triggers (most people come up with a list of two or three dozen). Remind them that people’s reasons for procrastinating are always valid. Always. Procrastination is simply a suboptimal response to those reasons.

Fortunately, many obstacles and triggers will be easily dealt with once they’re out in the open – and sometimes simply naming one is enough to defuse it. The rest can be split into the “moderately easy to deal with” and “hard to deal with” camps. Even with the latter, however, at least you’ll know what you’re up against and what you need to do, moving forward.

Everything I said above applies to your staff and colleagues, but obviously it also applies to yourself! High performers learn to manage their internal dialogues and their moment-by-moment relationship with their work so they can catch any punitive or nagging thoughts as – or even before – they occur. This takes a bit of time and practice, but the yield, not just in terms of increased productivity but increased joy in your work, is sublime.

Hillary Rettig’s new book is The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer’s Block (Infinite Art, 2011). Read sample chapters, and access lots of other free information related to productivity and time management at her website. Hillary also does coaching and workshops, and welcomes your inquiries at hillaryrettig@yahoo.com.

image credit: Shutterstock

Help Your Team Overcome Procrastination And Finish Projects is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing

The following is a guest post from Future Buzz community member Lior Levin. If you’d like to contribute thinking here, please read the guidelines.

Want to get more done in your day? Of course you do. To stay competitive in any industry, from digital marketing to software development, in many cases it comes down to one thing: productivity.

The good news is that everyone can increase the amount of tasks they accomplish in a day. If you consider your productivity an iterative process you work on bit by bit, you can slowly improve it.

With that in mind following are 10 tips I’ve found work exceptionally well that hopefully can help you too have a more productive day.

1. Make a plan for your day

One of the best ways to remain productive is to make a plan for the day. Make sure you know how you want your day to go in advance, even before you start. This can provide you a roadmap for the day, helping you figure out what to take care of first and what to save for later. For this one to work best, create the next day’s play the night before so that every morning you spend time executing, not planning.

2. Break larger tasks down into easy to accomplish bits

Do you have a large project that’s just so big you keep putting it off? Or maybe you’re just unsure of where to begin, so you put it off. A better way is to break the project down into more manageable segments. Figure out what needs to be done first and then decide what can be done next. Splitting a project into smaller pieces can help you feel a sense of accomplish as you check the items off your list, and it can provide you with a way to finish the project without being overwhelmed.

3. Prioritize …ruthlessly

It’s important to accomplish the most important tasks first: always set your priorities. Figure out what must be done, do that first and rank the rest of your work according to importance. That way if you don’t get to the items at the end of your list, it won’t be as big a problem, and you can tackle them another time. You should be as ruthless as you can in your prioritization. If you’re doing it right you may hurt feelings, but you’ll achieve better results.

4. Block out distractions

As Adam has written before: focus or fail. When you have real work to be done block out distractions. Don’t keep your email open all day. Turn off the IM. If appropriate, turn off your phone, or let it going to voicemail. In some cases, you might be able to use the equivalent of “do not disturb” to keep distractions at bay.

5. Set a timer to define uninterrupted work stretches

One way you can focus your energy is to set a timer. This can also help you avoid distractions because you’ve set aside time for a specific purpose. Set a timer for half an hour, or an hour, and see what you can accomplish during that time. Don’t allow yourself to do anything else while the timer is on. You might be surprised at what you can get done here.

6. Take breaks to recharge and refresh

Taking a break can help you be more productive. A 10 to 15 minute break after a dedicated period of work can help you refresh yourself and recharge. Eat lunch, meditate, do some light reading, or find some other way to relax for a few minutes. Recharging can help invigorate you and reset your mind to work more efficiently for your next productive period.

7. Don’t make excuses or procrastinate

It’s easy to blame your inefficiency on slow computers, your boss or deadlines. Instead of making excuses look for ways around the problems. Find creative solutions and try to maintain a bright outlook. You’ll get more done if you focus on solutions and stop wasting time making excuses.

8. Reward yourself to reinforce success

One of the best ways to avoid burnout – and resulting drop in productivity – is to reward yourself. Provide a small reward if you meet your productivity goals for the day. If you’re managing others, potentially create rewards for them. And remember, these don’t have to be material: in many cases, verbal reinforcement of success is equally rewarding.

9. Maintain a positive outlook

Scientific studies provide it time and time again: positive attitude can help you improve your productivity. Look on the bright side and you’ll have more energy / your mind will be clearer, helping you identify solutions more readily, and get more done. It’s tough to meet depressed people who are productive: they’re usually far more optimistic.

10. Know how hard you work, and when

Be aware of when you are most productive. Pay attention. If you are most productive in the morning, that’s when you should hit it hard and do as much as you can. If you work better in the afternoon, take care of some things like email in the morning and then tackle the meaty projects in the afternoon. Keep on top of your work habits, and you’ll be more productive.

What do you find are your best tips to increase productivity?

Lior Levin works for a Producteev, a task management tool startup company and also provides consulting to PSD to xhtml that works with web developers from all around the globe.

image credit: Shutterstock

10 Tips To Increase Your Productivity is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing

As aside about the warnings, I think anything you do in life that goes against what someone else relies on is scary for them. As such, it causes them to react out against it. Don’t listen to this type of reaction, always find your own path.

In the previous post on this subject I shared the reasons why I went car-free. Today I wanted to share a follow-up on the experience because I think too many people can’t fathom a life without a car. In summary: I think all of you should try it at some point. It’s a very different (and better) lifestyle.

Why?

Eliminating the step in between

I grew up in a city called Hollywood, Florida. It’s located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. There wasn’t much walkable from my house, as is typical of the American family in suburbia and minimal, disparate public transit. Even if you wanted to walk or bike somewhere, it wouldn’t really be something I’d classify as a pleasant experience. You’re basically using the same infrastructure designed (and given a priority to) cars. So we drove. A lot. Driving was a necessary step in between the events of the day. It was similar in college and when I was in Minneapolis.

For most of this time, I hadn’t fathomed a life in which this step in between wasn’t necessary. No one finds it enjoyable to spend hours on concrete stretches and in asphalt parking lots that are devoid of humanity and lack sense of place. The perspective I have gained from time away from this process has, if anything, made me realize how I would be reticent to go through it again. It’s a subtle but noticeable difference when you remove a stress-inducing activity that is part of your daily process and replace it with something stress-relieving: exercise.

Re-introducing serendipity

There isn’t much serendipity when driving in a car. You’re usually destination-oriented, plus (hopefully) focused on what you’re doing so not paying much attention to what’s around you. Thus, you miss experiencing everything around you. This mode of travel is isolated and lacks serendipity.

Walking or biking a city is a far different experience than driving. If you live in an innovation hub like San Francisco there are countless coffee shops, restaurants, artists, people, art galleries, bookstores and a diverse amount of culture throughout the city. When walking (or biking) it’s not a big decision to stop and explore or interact. Basically, you’re a part of unscripted action vs. just watching from the sidelines.

Gas and car expenses are wasted income and time

Have you run the numbers for what you pay in gas, insurance and car payments each month? If not, go do it. Pretty terrible, right? And what do you have to show for it? Exactly. There’s nothing much to add here, it’s really nice to not have to deal with the nonsense of filling up gas, getting car maintenance or worrying about the upkeep. I have more time to do the things I love, like writing words and music.

Public transit / shared options = better than owning a car

I have been taking public transit to get around and it’s actually quite good. I’ve never had to wait that long (the schedules are all available online) and in fact it’s better than a car because I don’t have to deal with parking. Also any funds to pay, even if I take a taxi or use a service like Zipcar still don’t touch the expense or hassle of owning a car.

My conclusion: our car-oriented culture is not a good thing

Note, I’m not saying cars are bad, I’m saying our culture’s prioritization of them is wrong. They serve an important function, and I’m not saying I won’t own one again one day. But not owning one has given me a different perspective on how they actually affect our culture.

They encourage city designers and developers to sprawl locations of residencies and businesses, distancing us unnecessarily. Something as simple as walking 2 miles a day to the office instead of driving 17 has a noticeably positive impact on  quality of life. I have less physical possessions to maintain and worry about (I actively try to eliminate as many physical possessions as possible). Yes, I am aware of the fact I’m a marketer: but I market technology companies so my aversion to physical possessions plays well with the industry.

Curious how many readers here are also car-free? What has your experience been like?

Reflections On 6 Months Without A Car is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing

Certainly working agency-side meetings are a necessary part of my day, but I’ll never schedule a meeting unless I deem one absolutely necessary. They ruin the ability to get into a flow experience with projects and destroy the focus of your day. To an extent I’ve learned to be productive even with meetings, but for really challenging work I always clear my schedule to make the time necessary for it.

No one can force creative work into small time chunks here and there surrounded by meetings and expect to get remarkable work done. It just takes longer, the creative process can’t be forced into a neat little box. It’s messy. Meetings get in the way of our thinking process.

Recently I stumbled upon an article by Paul Graham on the notion of the maker’s schedule. One bit from it was especially interesting about meetings that I found myself agreeing with:

I find one meeting can sometimes affect a whole day. A meeting commonly blows at least half a day, by breaking up a morning or afternoon. But in addition there’s sometimes a cascading effect. If I know the afternoon is going to be broken up, I’m slightly less likely to start something ambitious in the morning. I know this may sound oversensitive, but if you’re a maker, think of your own case. Don’t your spirits rise at the thought of having an entire day free to work, with no appointments at all? Well, that means your spirits are correspondingly depressed when you don’t. And ambitious projects are by definition close to the limits of your capacity. A small decrease in morale is enough to kill them off.

Paul’s notion of ambitious projects is a powerful one. We all feel most fulfilled and that we’re reaching our potential when we’re involved in them, but at the same time they’re the hardest to break into. Anything such as a meeting that could hinder the first step is seriously worth removing.

Ruthlessly eliminate meetings from your team’s workflow and set your creative team members free.

Set Your Creative Team Members Free is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing

Anyway somehow I missed this post from Ian, but it bears repeating and is advice that transcends the marketing world. That…it’s OK to give a crap:

I, for one, am sick of people telling me I should delegate everything, find someone offshore to do SEO for me for $10 a day, take my own work ‘less seriously’, blah blah blah blah. Screw that.

…What I’m talking about here is the fact that it’s OK to give a crap about the work you do, even if most others around you do not. This just means you’re one of the people who makes things go. You build the stuff that works, from cars to web sites to novels. More people like you around, and maybe Toyota doesn’t end up like, er, Toyota. Maybe Gourmet Magazine survives.

It’s OK if you acknowledge the fact that you are doing this for your own satisfaction. This isn’t a sacrifice on your part. It’s part of what keeps you happy. It’s part of what keeps me from teaching my kids new obscenities when I’m hold with the 4th utterly incompetent phone service person.

So please, continue to give a crap. You crazy people keep a lot of things going when they otherwise wouldn’t.

Ian is so spot on here it hurts. People have told me to take what I do less seriously all my life – long before I entered the business world. I used to hear that from others about all the time I spent producing music, time spent writing, or time spent on digital projects and long ago I learned to ignore them.

To this day I’ve never let someone else’s comments phase me. Why? Because I care about what I do and spend time on my passions for intrinsic reasons – my drive for that has always been stronger than externalities.

If you care about what you do, and I think most of you reading this do, refuse to let others drag you away from that. You understand something they don’t: the difference between living life and not.

It’s OK To Care About What You Do is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing