All of us procrastinate at some time.
While not all procrastination is harmful (see my post, Four Ways Procrastination Can Benefit Your Creative Work), it can keep us from doing important work and result in higher stress levels when we put off doing things until the last minute.
Why We Procrastinate
• We know it’s going to be difficult, high-energy work. We’re feeling lazy and don’t want to do the hard work, so we put it off. It’s easy to be distracted by other less complex tasks that we decide need our attention. We feel like we’re being productive because we’re busy. But in doing so, we’re neglecting our most important work.
• We’re afraid we might fail in doing the task or the project. We feel it’s better not to do it and put it off rather than it is to risk failure. As long as we don’t try, we don’t have to worry about the emotional consequences of failure. So, we do nothing.
• We lack motivation or interest in the task or project. Perhaps it’s something we thought we’d be interested in when we first put it in our task manager, but later, it doesn’t seem that interesting or important. Our lack of motivation keeps us from actually doing it, and we keep delaying working on it.
Reevaluate the Task or Project — Is This Something I Want to Do?
If we keep procrastinating on a task or project, we need to reevaluate whether it’s still necessary. Is this something that needs to be done?
Sometimes, we put off a task because we sense it’s unnecessary. Is it something that maybe we should delete?
See my post, Maximize Your Productivity by Killing Unnecessary Tasks.
How to Overcome Procrastination
How can we overcome procrastination for those tasks we determine are important and necessary?
• Prepare thoroughly for the task. Sometimes, we need to do more research or outlining before we can do the task. I prepare for writing a blog post by mind mapping my topic. If I see logical or content gaps in my mind map, I know I need to do more preparation before I try to write the post.
But we don’t want our preparation itself to become procrastination. At a certain point, we need to move on and do the work. See my post, Prepare, Then Do The Work.
• Break a task or project down into smaller doable steps. Sometimes, when we have a large project, it feels intimidating. We don’t know where to start or feel we can get it all done. It’s better to break it down into smaller steps in that situation. It’s easier to do the smaller steps one at a time and build some success and motivation than to try to tackle the entire project.
• Delegate or hire someone else to do the task. We can procrastinate because we don’t want to do the task or project. If so, perhaps we can delegate it to someone else on our staff. Or we can hire someone else to do it.
I’m not a skilled painter. When we needed to paint the interior of our home, we knew it would be a huge job that we didn’t want to do. We hired a professional painter to do the job.
• Give it some time. If you keep putting off a project, perhaps it’s because there are parts of it you still need to think through. You can intentionally put it on hold and let it incubate.
During the incubation period, you can gather more information, and your mind will continue working on the problem even when you’re not focusing on it. See my post, Incubation — The Key to the Creative Process.
•Schedule time to work on your task on your calendar. You can use time blocking to get a job done. Designate a block of time on your calendar when you intend to work on your project. When the time comes, treat it as a mandatory appointment with yourself, just as you would a doctor’s appointment.
Spend the time focusing on your task or project. If you’re not done in the allotted time, schedule another time on your calendar to continue your work. See David Sparks’ post, The Hyper-Scheduling Experiment.
• Use the Anchor Technique to visit the task. An alternative approach to time blocking is to “visit” tasks using the Anchor Technique by Kourosh Dini. See my post, Discover the Anchor Technique: Finding Balance Between Structure and Flexibility.
List options you can potentially work on (projects or tasks) and then intentionally pick one to “visit.” When you’re done visiting it (until either the task is done or you tire of working on it), you choose another option and visit it. If you haven’t finished the task by the time you’re done visiting it, then you schedule another time to revisit it.
This approach helps me feel like I maintain my choice instead of being “forced” by my prior self to do work at a specific time, which is how I sometimes feel when I block time. I can make choices at the moment based on my feelings and interests and “visit” options for an unspecified amount of time. I get to choose what I will work on, when I will work on it, and how long I will work on it.
Overcoming Procrastination
Procrastination affects everyone at some point. It can significantly reduce our productivity and increase stress if we don’t manage it effectively.
Understanding the reasons behind procrastination, such as fear of failure, lack of interest, or feeling overwhelmed by a task, is the first step toward overcoming it.
We can re-evaluate the necessity of tasks, prepare adequately, break projects into smaller steps, delegate when appropriate, and give tasks time to incubate. We can time block our calendar and use the Anchor Technique to get the work done.
These strategies can help us stay focused, motivated, and productive, allowing us to accomplish our goals more efficiently and with less stress.