The 7 Habits Of Highly Ineffective People - And How To Avoid Them (the habits, not the people!)

I've been putting off writing this article - then I realised I was doing the "I Just Have To Do This First" Technique. So I took my own advice (which follows), and it's done!

Which of the following highly ineffective behaviours do you recognize in people you work with and others you know?

The Running Around In Circles Technique (also known as the Chasing Your Tail Technique and the Paper Shuffling Technique) where people are very busy 'doing' things (sometimes even frantically!) but actually achieve nothing.

The Stick Your Head In The Sand Technique (closely related to the Run And Hide Technique) where people completely ignore an issue pretending it doesn't exist.

The "La La La La La I'm Not Listening" Technique (closely related to the Dig In Your Heels Technique) where people stubbornly take a stand and refuse to listen to other points of view and/or consider other options.

The Kick The Cat Technique where people vent their frustrations by taking them out on other people and/or animals (eg: by yelling at them) and/or inanimate objects (eg: by slamming phones and doors).

The "Why Does This Always Happen To Me?" Technique where people waste time lamenting their predicament rather than doing something about it.

The Bore Everyone To Tears Technique (closely related to the "I'm So Busy" Technique) where people talk incessantly about what they have to do rather than getting on and doing it.

The "I Just Have To Do This First" Technique (also known as the "As soon as I ..." Technique) where people busy themselves doing low priority activities when they know they have high priority activities that require their attention. Mystically, the low priority activities become monumentally important!

It's easy to recognize these behaviours in others. It's also easy to recognize how ineffective they are.

Now, here's the more important question. How many of these behaviours do you recognize in yourself?

All of these highly ineffective behaviours are avoidance behaviours. Each of them will occupy your time and energy in doing something other than what really needs doing.

Problem is; you have something to do and you don't want to do it. Bigger problem is; the longer you put it off the more stress you're likely to create for yourself;

The stakes get higher
The deadline gets closer
Other people involved get more angry & frustrated

So why don't we want to do what we know we need to do?

FEAR. We're scared of it. Each of these 7 Highly Ineffective Habits is a stress response, an avoidance strategy and/or procrastination strategy.

Why are we scared?

We haven't done it before and don't know how to do it
We have done it before and it didn't work out well
We anticipate a surly response, a rejection
We set monumentally high expectations for performance that we don't believe we can achieve.

In each case, we look into the future and imagine a negative outcome - which makes us feel bad. So we put it off using one of the 7 highly ineffective habits.

Next, we'll discuss how you can avoid the highly ineffective habits. In the meantime, 3 questions for you:

Which of these highly ineffective habits do you have?
When was the last time you used them?
What are you avoiding?

Avoiding the Seven Ineffective Habits

Remember, all seven of these behaviours are stress responses - avoidance/procrastination strategies. In each case, we look into the future and imagine negative outcomes. Perhaps;

We haven't done this task before - and don't know exactly how to do it
We haven't done this task before - and worry it won't work
We have done it before - and it didn't work out well
We anticipate an outcome we experience as painful - for example: rejection, refusal, rudeness
We set high expectations for our performance - and we worry we won't achieve it.
Imagining negative outcomes makes us feel bad - so we shy away from them using one of the 7 highly ineffective habits.

Get More Done In Less Time With Less Stress

To eliminate these highly ineffective behaviours from your life - and get more done in less time with less stress - here's the 5 steps you need to take:

1. Acknowledge

Acknowledge the ineffective behaviour.

As soon as you recognise you're doing one of the ineffective behaviours ... STOP.

2. Align

Align yourself with a positive outcome.

Imagine the best possible outcome. What does it look like? What's happening? What are people saying? How does it feel? What positive consequences are there?

Now, ASK yourself:

"What do I have to do to make that happen?"

Identify whatever's necessary to your circumstances, and make a list:

What are the steps you need to take?
What resources do you need?
What do you need to learn?
Who's successfully done it before that you can learn from?
Who can you pay to do it for you?

3. Act

Act, Act, Act.

Now you know exactly what you want, and how you're going to do it - ACT. TAKE ACTION. DO IT. The sooner you start the sooner you finish. Work your way through the list - each small step takes you closer to your positive outcome.

Remember:

Incompletions in your life drain your energy
Completions release your energy

4. Assess

Assess your progress as you go.

Write your positive outcome it on a post-it and stick it in your line of vision. Each step along the way, check whether that action is the best action to progress you to your goal.

5. Applaud

Applaud your success.

When the task is done ... celebrate!

You've taken control of your actions and achieved your goal. Congratulate yourself on your achievement, and the new skills you've learned. You've raised your capability threshold. Next time this task needs doing, you'll feel confident to dive in and get it done quickly and easily because you've proved to yourself you have the skills to do it.

Acknowledge
Align
Act
Assess
Applaud

And get more done in less time with less stress.

Ask yourself:

Where can you use these skills to benefit your professional life?
Where can you use these skills to benefit your personal life?

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, but it's the right place to start. To learn more about communicating in stressful situations visit my website www.suemaree.com.

For other information on how to make your life easier, check out the website: www.suemaree.com

If you think this would be helpful to anyone you know, please feel free to tell family, friends, colleagues and clients about this Web page. At the very least they'll know you're thinking of them.

Wishing you happiness, health and success,

Sue-maree is an expert on sales and communication skills for professionals in sales and service, nationally and internationally. For more information go to www.suemaree.com. Sign up to our FREE h-spotting newsletter for practical sales and communication skills that reduce stress and increase your productivity and profitability.