I just wanted to check in with you and see how Anti-Procrastination Month 2008 is going for you thus far. Any breakthroughs? Epiphanies? ‘AHA’ moments?

I know it’s making a difference in people’s lives. For example, here’s a snippet of an email I received over the weekend:

Your anti-procrastination month and some other stuff has made me realise that I need to simply take more ACTION. Therefore I dug out an old laptop that isn’t connected to the internet and they just sat away from distractions (as much as I could) to get some writing done.

Beating procrastination doesn’t have to be all about ‘the system,’ although admittedly useful to many. Winning the battle to regaining momentum can be as simple as getting “unplugged” from distractions for a while.

If you’re still facing productivity challenges, let me know what they are and I’ll do everything I can to help you come up with a workable solution.

2008 is almost over. It’s time to kick it up a notch, and I’m here with you all the way.

Make today a great one!

October 2008 marks the second annual Anti-Procrastination Month on The Savvy Entrepreneur.

Now I ain’t an anti-procrastination expert… In fact I’d like to get something out in the open right now — I’m a terrible procrastinator or should I say I’m good at procrastinating? Either way, what I’m trying to say is that I struggle with productivity, procrastination as much as the other guy.

Anti-Procrastination Month is my attempt at boosting productivity and regaining momentum. Along the way, I share with you what I’m learning. How does that sound?

Now that the awful dirty truth is out, in order for Anti-Procrastination Month to be a success this year, I need your help.

I’ve posted the question on LinkedIn Answers and now I’m throwing it to you.

I’m looking for your favorite productivity-boosting/procrastination-beating tips, tasks, ideas, thoughts and suggestions. If I like it, I’ll use it as one of the daily Anti-Procrastination Month posts (with full attribution, of course).

Are you an Anti-Procrastination expert? Would you like to participate at a higher level and get a little more exposure? If so, please c’ontact me. Let me know your desired level of participation and what you want in return. Some ideas are:

• Interview (live, recorded or blog-interview)
• Guest post
• Daily/weekly tips, assignments
• Etc… (suggestions?).

I look forward to reading your comments — and please, no smart ass replies like “I’ll tell you tomorrow” or “I’ll get back to you on that one.” They are highly predictable and it’s old already — I got my (over)dose on LinkedIn.

Until next time, just do it (another popular reply received thus far)!

Today’s quote was selected in line with my continuing study on the strengths movement.

You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself. — Harry Firestone 1868-1938, American businessman

Isn’t that summed up well?

I finally started reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. I just finished the first chapter and already I feel well on my way to being a productivity powerhouse!

So, today’s Anti-Procrastination Month assignment is: Outcome thinking!

Sounds like a lot of work? Not when done ‘David Allen style’.

It takes only 2 minutes, so get a pen and paper, and go through these 3 steps right now. Ready?

1. What is the one project, task or situation that you most want (or have) to deal with? What is that one thing that consumes most of your conscious attention? Write it down (just one).
   Here’s mine: Figure out what to make for supper tonight. (Don’t laugh, it’s a thorn in my side!)
2. What needs to happen in order to mark it off as “done”? Don’t get fancy. Write down, in a short sentence, your intended outcome for this one thing.
   For me: Have supper ready and everyone fed by the time I have to leave for my presentation tonight.
3. If you had nothing else to do today, what would be the very next visible, physical action you need to do to move this forward? Got it?
   I would: Go to RecipeZaar and choose a recipe.

Is your action step something you can do within the next few minutes? Do you feel a little lighter? Do you feel like doing that one thing right now? Me too!

What a shift!

While I still don’t have the big picture of David’s system, I already appreciate the value of taking his “bottom-up approach” (starting with the everyday stuff first), instead of going from the top down (starting with the “big” stuff — listing values, mission statements, vision, objectives, etc.).

What did you discover through this exercise?