How to Procrastinate AND Achieve Your Goals

At the beginning of every fiscal year, my manager and I would sit down and discuss what work goals to achieve for the fiscal year. At work, I never miss the mark. They call me Mr. FedEx because I always deliver.

At the beginning of the calendar year, I would sit down and write down my new year's resolutions/personal goals to achieve for the year. Sadly, this Mr. FedEx does not deliver personal goals.

As the year of 2022 came to an end, I asked myself the big question:

Why do I often achieve my work goals successfully, but often procrastinate and not achieve my personal goals?

The answer? Accountability.

After reading this post, you will learn how I created the 4DX scoreboard below to track my progress. And how I convert procrastination into a visual aid that motivates me to achieve my goals.

Identify Your Achievement Tendency

In Sun Tzu's The Art of War, there is a phrase that reads,

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

I set out to understand myself (the enemy) more to fight the enemy (myself) and took the four tendencies test. In Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies Framework, I am an obliger.

An obliger meets outer expectations but struggles to meet expectations they impose on themselves [1].

According to research, the distribution of the tendencies is: 41% Obligers, 24% Questioners, 19% Upholders, and 17% Rebels [2]. In other words, there is a good chance YOU are also an obliger. Find out who you are and let me know in the comments!

As an obliger, it is the external accountability that keeps me going. If I want to achieve my personal goals, I must create an external accountability tool.

Find Your WIG (Wildly Important Goal)

Because of the need for accountability, I found my wildly important goal and implemented a scoreboard to keep me motivated.

The wildly important goal (WIG) is a concept from the 4 disciplines of execution (4DX) [3]. 4DX prescribes steps to achieve certain organizational goals by having the organization adhere to

1. Focus on the wildly important goals (WIG)
   I would suggest picking a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant (to your purpose), and Time-sensitive.
2. Act on lead measures
   Lead measures are the immediate actions you can take to achieve your WIG.
3. Keep a compelling scoreboard
   This scoreboard shows you the progress you are making toward your WIG.
4. Create a cadence of accountability
   This is a regular check-up and reminder for yourself.

For example, my WIG for blog writing looks like

1. WIG: Write at least 12 properly stressed blog posts by 12/31/23
2. Lead measures:
   - writing for 1 hour, 0.5 hour, or 0.25 hour
   - doing research for a post
   - working on graphics
3. Scoreboard:
   - 1 hour (10 points), 0.5 hour (7 points), 0.25 hour (5 points)
   - doing research (5 points)
   - working on graphics (3 points)
4. Weekly check-up on Sunday mornings

This is how I created my 52-week scoreboard for the year 2023. I am a little behind, but I am making progress.

Record Your Procrastination

I would say keeping myself honest is the toughest part of this 4DX exercise. If I haven't done anything to win points that week, I need to record a big fat zero for that week, see the below scoreboard.

Having procrastinated for 4 weeks, earning myself 4 consecutive zeros, my pride prevents me from putting down more zeros. In week 15, I sat down for an hour and wrote the first paragraph of this post. To continue my scoring streak, here I am in week 16. Writing again.

Recording my procrastination on the scoreboard helps me visualize its impact. The lack of progress then becomes the motivation that drives me to win points and make progress.

Define Success with Spectrum Thinking

Before the implementation of the 4DX process, my result of achieving a goal and not achieving one is binary: success or failure. With the scoreboard, I have a way to gauge the level of success. Because my current score is not 0, I know that my level of success is not 0%.

Knowing that just by doing a little something (acting on a lead measure), I can win some points and increase my level of success is encouraging. I like the lead measure concept because the actions are within my control. When I am just simply relaxing and watching some cat video to pass the time, I ask myself if I want to use this time to put points on the scoreboard.

You have to push yourself to achieve your personal goals, but you also need to take care of yourself. Like many other things in life, moderation is key.

Would I have been writing this post without the weekly check-up and the scoreboard? NO WAY. Without the 4DX accountability tool, I would have just shrugged and told myself, "Well, I tried. Better luck next year."

Having a systematic way to achieve my goals and to keep myself accountable allows me to procrastinate while maintaining concentration. I have shared the template I am using in the action item section. If you find it useful, feel free to share it with your friends and family.

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Action Item

1. Identify your wildly important goal (WIG) that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-sensitive
2. Download the template above
3. Type your WIG from 1 to the A1 cell
4. Replace the placeholder text (action1 to action5) with your lead measures
5. Do the actions that give you points (or get a big fat zero)
6. Meet with yourself weekly to update the scoreboard

References

[1] https://gretchenrubin.com/four-tendencies/
[2] https://www.weeklywisdomblog.com/post/the-four-tendencies-summary-and-application
[3] https://www.franklincovey.com/the-4-disciplines/