“Our expectations and standards tend to climb as our goals become accomplished.”—Dr. John Demartini
Unbelievably, in 2002 the IRS received $473 million in overpayments, thanks to last-minute taxpayers making unnecessary errors in their paperwork.
That’s about $400 for each American tax-paying procrastinator, according to Piers Steel, associate professor of human resources and organizational dynamics at the University of Calgary and author of the upcoming book “The Procrastination Equation.”
“People procrastinate when they’re not confident that they can complete a project, when they find it boring or distasteful and when they’re impulsive,” says Professor Steel, who calls himself a ‘reformed procrastinator.’
Not surprisingly, the #1 productivity, opportunity and success squelcher is on the rise.
“It’s so easy to be distracted in the days of technology; you check emails, play video games, and read everything on the Internet. What started out to be a three minute break turns into a three hour pleasure trip on the web!”
So if I do it, you do it and so do the psychologists you pay to help you stop doing it, WHY is this kill-joy behavior so popular?
How psychologists end procrastination.
This money survey compiled by Financial Finesse is a real eye opener on how men and women handle some very basic issues regarding their money.
Among the findings: only 53% women say they have a handle on their cash flow and spend less than they make each month. (Ouch!) By contrast, 71% of men checked that box.
In a 2006 Harris Poll for Charles Schwab, 48% of women agreed with the statement “investing is scary for me.” Only half the number of men surveyed felt the same.
What accounts for the difference in money behavior? 3 actions rich women do to get–and stay–rich
In a world where collecting “Friends” and “Followers” is the latest and greatest pastime, it’s nice to be popular.
But to achieve more, make more and have more in life, you’ll find it’s more important for your personal and professional success to be an influencer.
Being popular seems more…well, popular…than influence because it’s a term we’re all familiar with. While men use influence all the time to get ahead, women equate it with manipulation, and don’t really understand what it means.
I want to set the record straight. Because for the woman who wants real power—the know-how to act in ways that consistently benefit you—while popularity and influence may seem alike on the surface, in reality they’re worlds apart.
What is popularity?
[Read More]
Part 2 in a 2-part series
Last time I promised we’d look at one way to use influence to close the gender communication gap. I’ve decided to choose a scenario that I believe is not only relevant, but has also grown increasingly prevalent in today’s hectic world.
Asking for information.
The difference between men and women in this arena is directly linked to the male/female priorities of status and connection (see Influence By Design blog post: #1 Difference Between The Sexes Every Woman Needs To Know).
You’d think with as much easy access to DNA-detailed information there is on the planet—thanks to computers, iPods and even GPS—men might let up somewhat with their (sometimes angry) resistance to asking for information.
No such luck.
Riding in the car with her husband, Carl, Sally is fuming. But it’s not because Carl doesn’t know which neighborhood street to take to reach their destination. They’ve been driving around aimlessly for 30 minutes and she’s mad because Carl refuses to ask someone which way to go.
Through her feminine filter, Sally knows that if she were driving, she would have stopped and asked for directions the moment she realized she didn’t know which way to go. The couple would already be enjoying themselves in the comfort of their friends’ living room.
Since asking for directions doesn’t make her uncomfortable, not asking doesn’t make sense to Sally and is a source of unnecessary stress.
But in her husband’s world, asking for help is uncomfortable, so driving around is not only reasonable, it actually makes him feel better and less stressed.
What’s going on here? Why do men resist asking for information, and just as important, why is it so many women don’t, even when they feel it’s the right thing to do?
[Read More]
Part 1 of a 2 part series
In his book Men Are From Mars, Women are From Venus, fellow psychotherapist John Gray focuses on the “light years apart” differences between men and women—men are from Mars and women are from Venus, after all—and offers a simple solution: the sexes must acknowledge and accept these differences before they can develop happier relationships.
So what exactly are these differences? [Read More]
