If you don’t have time to clean up, you don’t have time to cook

I remember a McKinsey women’s event where fifteen or twenty young consultants from the San Francisco office sat around a glossy oval table listening to a junior partner speak about her successful ascent. The topic turned to work-life balance, as it always did at such events, and she advised us as follows: If there is a household task where it matte... See more

3) The Have-To-Dos may happen, but not the Want-To-Dos. Even if the procrastinator is in the type of career where the Panic Monster is regularly present and he’s able to be fulfilled at work, the other things in life that are important to him—getting in shape, cooking elaborate meals, learning to play the guitar, writing a book, reading, or even ma... See more

Maintenance tasks in our life and in our projects are usually very clear-cut. They seductively offer a clear problem and a clear solution. The structure-seeking part of or brain loves this and will endlessly procrastinate important ambiguous tasks in favour of taking these on.

When we are pulled into this game we usually think: “let me just check al... See more

Just as you are there to nurse the dough in the window it requires to get the result you want. You can’t do steps 1-8 of a recipe, then decide you’re tired, leave it for 2 days and come back to do steps 8-10 hoping for the same result. This sounds so ridiculous you wouldn’t even try it! Because you know it wouldn’t work. And yet this is how many of... See more