Starve Procrastination with Salami-Slicing Tactic

“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.”—Wayne Gretzky

Once, I had a personal project to accomplish within a relatively short period of time, brimming with gusto I made a public announcement to family and friends; I to them to hold me accountable for the self-chosen deadline.

However, after few weeks of animated work, my motion waned. I was suddenly inundated with distractions here and there. So I put off the task for while. Eventually, the initial deadline turned out to be a line in the sand—it was blown away; it was missed.

The above silly story illustrates what the psychologists call procrastination. And I want to guess that every one of my readers has experienced something like that, in at least a single area of their lives.  There is hardly any human alive who is completely free from the threat of procrastination; however, the trick of proactive doers is that they know how to starve it before it could get the best of them. And that’s what I want to share here today.

On my earlier narrative, as you would expect, the task became much more difficult than it actually was. And, that experience proves the words of Charles Kingsley, the English historian and novelist, perfectly. Charles said: “Every duty which is bidden to wait returns with seven fresh duties at its back.” 

Now, if procrastination is this degenerative, wouldn’t you agree that we should learn every tactic of execution in town to stifle this insidious enemy of productivity? I think you would.

 To do that, let’s take a look at a roll of Salami.

Salami Slicing

To tackle procrastination, I tried a method of work that is simple and effective at getting stuff done—whether big or small. It is called Salami slicing technique. 

If you are curious to know the meaning of Salami itself, it is an Italian sausage made of beef and the process of eating it involves slicing them into pieces, after which you take it, one slice at a time. Even a full order of Salami—just like a loaf of bread—will be consumed by us (I mean, me and you) in no time, if we take it, one slice at a time.

Actually, the term is a real concept in the art and study of execution; it is not something I coined by myself. I read it first in Brian Tracy’s book, “Eat That Frog.” In the book, he said that it is always easier to complete any huge task when you “Salami slice it,” and tackle it, one at a time.

Tracy explains:

“One technique that you can use to cut a big task down to size is the ‘salami slice’ method of getting work done; with this method, you lay out the task in detail and then resolve to do just one slice of the job for the time being.”

In the art of war, it is also a warfare strategy that uses a systematic process to divide an opposition into slices and then tackle the division, slice by slice. Before your opponent realizes what is happening, you have already gained the upper hand. You have won. 

Therefore, through this approach, you can conquer a gigantic task (or opposition) by slicing it into manageable pieces and taking it down, piece by piece until the monstrous challenge becomes a walk in the park. Trust me, this method works. 

Ostensibly, a huge task can be somewhat dreadful and that is invariably, one of the most common causes of procrastination. But the thing is when you fail to start your work on time because it is hard, does the delay make it any easier? Of course not, the wait does quite the opposite.  It only makes the task harder than it already is. And that is the last thing you want. On this, the French poet, Charles Baudelaire agrees. He said: “The task on which one dare not start… (soon) becomes a nightmare.”

Break It Down, Focus and Act

Salami slicing is very effective and it is one of the key tactics used by many highly successful people in the world. They do the tasks the rest of us habitually put off because they know how to get started, they know how to get going, and most importantly, they know how to get things done. And all through these stages of work, simplification through slicing is the trick. 

On this surprisingly powerful skill, the American novelist, Mark Twain had this modicum to add. He said:

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.”

From the foregoing, it is clear that to overcome the inertia which a complex task may bring, just slice the major job into smaller portions and tackle it all, one portion, at a time. 

Whether in school at work or even at home, always use this technique to break the crippling spell of procrastination and see yourself among the elites of super-productive people who can accomplish anything they set their minds to. Truly, if you can defeat delay, you can join the best global professionals in your field.

Norman Vincent Peale, the best-selling author of “The Power of Positive Thinking,” described those proactive doers as people, “who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand… (they are) full of eagerness, zest, (and) productivity.” And he enthusiastically concluded that, “You can be, too.”

Yes, we can also become proactive doers for life because we now know how to simplify, focus and act.