Happy Easter !!! 🐣

I hope you had the opportunity to connect with family and loved ones to celebrate. The Easter weekend always feels like the real start of spring. It’s finally starting to warm up here and I’ve been enjoying puttering around in my yard.

Excelling in your career and life requires you to overcome your tendency to procrastinate. It is a challenge that we all deal with. I found myself dealing with this last week, and my experience prompted me to share some thoughts on how to deal with procrastination.

Let’s go! 💪🏻

Confessions Of A Serial Procrastinator: How To Slay The Procrastination Dragon

Confession time – I am probably one of the world’s worst procrastinators. Sometimes it feels like a constant battle to get myself to do something that I know needs to be done, even when it is a task that I enjoy doing. I know it’s not because I’m lazy; I’ve been told over and over that I have a strong work ethic. And I have a track record of getting results and have had some success. That’s not a common outcome over the long term for lazy people, so I’ll assume my procrastination is not laziness.

So why do I (and pretty much everyone I know) procrastinate on things? And more importantly, how does one stop doing that?

This is what we’ll explore in this article.

A personal anecdote

I’ve had a task on my to-do list for weeks. I’m embarrassed to say for how many weeks, so let’s just leave it at ‘way too many’. It was an item that was important to me, something I knew would help me. But I was always “too busy”, so I kept putting it aside. Just until next week, when I would finally have more time to get to it. Except I probably don’t need to tell you that when next week came around, it was just the same thing; stuck in the infinite ‘to-do, carry forward loop’, always being pushed aside.

Last week, I finally sat down and started working on it. I settled in, cracked my knuckles, and dove into the work. And within 10 minutes, I noticed myself scrolling some random site on the internet, rather than doing the task. What the hell?

I stopped for a minute to think about what I was doing and why I wasn’t working on the task. After stopping to reflect, I realized I didn’t know how to do what I needed to do. I’d made an initial attempt, but it didn’t work, and I didn’t know what to do next.

So I avoided the task by switching what I was doing. I was avoiding the pain of having to admit that I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. We all avoid pain and chase pleasure, and it felt good to be learning something – even though it wasn’t what I’d decided what was most important for me to do.

I pulled myself back to the task at hand, reminding myself why it was important to me to get the task done. Then I started scouring the internet for solutions. I got some insights into how things worked. I watched a couple of short YouTube clips on how to do what I was trying to do, and I started experimenting. And Eureka!!! I got it working “in test mode”, and then could focus on the problem at hand and get done what I needed to have done. It only took me a couple of hours.

I felt such relief after the task was done. I’d carried around this task on my plate for weeks, and I’d spent more time keeping track of the task and planning for it than it took me to do it. This undone task had been nagging at me, as I knew it was something important to me and I wasn’t making progress on it.

All because I was too silly to face the discomfort of not knowing how to do something. That’s especially embarrassing for a career coach; I know better! But I am human, after all. 🤷🏼

Why do we procrastinate?

The experience got me to thinking about procrastination and to do a little reading on the topic. I related what I read to my lived experience as a world-class procrastinator and concluded that there are 4 main reasons we procrastinate:

Lack of clarity about what to do.
Self-doubt; the belief that you’re not capable of doing the task.
Perfectionism.
Task aversion.

Previously, I’d sort of assumed that the reason I wasn’t doing something was always #4, that I was just avoiding the work. Reflecting on procrastination more deeply led me to realize that, in fact, that is rarely the reason I procrastinate. There are things I’ll likely never enjoy doing, and so I need to rely on some measure of discipline to push myself through those tasks.

But discipline isn’t the answer to the other three reasons for procrastination!

The first step to overcoming procrastination is to understand why you are putting off working on a particular task. When you procrastinate, stop and notice how you’re feeling. Pay attention! What made you want to stop? Which of the above four reasons might cause you to delay?

Once you understand why you’re avoiding a task, you’re better equipped to figure out the best steps to get you moving again. Let’s break down some approaches you might try to address procrastination in each of these cases.

Lack of clarity

Confusion about what to do will lead to inaction. To reiterate the point that I made earlier, we avoid discomfort and pain, and not knowing how to do something that we need to do makes us uncomfortable. So when you’re confused about what to do, you will switch to doing something else that you know how to do. And then you’ll feel better, because you’re making progress on something.

To move past procrastination when you realize you’re putting something off because of a lack of clarity, you need to break the task down into something simpler. Instead of looking at the whole task, break it down into multiple tasks. You don’t need to get fancy here; it can be as simple as writing out some bullets of steps that would need to be done in order to complete the task. Maybe one task is to do some research to learn how to go about it.

Once you have it broken down into something small enough that you know how to make progress, get started. You’ll get more clarity as you go, and the act of making progress will provide you with the motivation to keep going. Once you are in motion, it’s a lot easier to keep going.

Self-doubt

Henry Ford had a famous quote that I resonate with:

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

So if you’re procrastinating on doing something because of a lack of faith in yourself, the first thing to do is to alter your mindset. Maybe you don’t know how to do a particular task, but you’ve certainly proven yourself capable of learning how to do something before. Think of how much progress you’ve made over the years, and all the things you’ve learned how to do. Reminding yourself that you can learn how to do things can help you get past the hump and get started.

Your self-doubt may not be linked to a lack of know-how, but to your belief that you’re not good enough. It’s common among successful people, and known as imposter syndrome. You might feel that the work you’re trying to do isn’t good enough for people to care about, that other people in the domain have more expertise, or that your work will not matter.

If you’re feeling this way, it might be helpful to reframe how you’re thinking about the task. Rather than focusing on some outcome that is out of your control, focus on how you can approach the task to bring the best of yourself to it. Remember that you have a unique perspective, as no one else has lived the same life as you. So even if there are others in your domain doing similar work, remember that you definitely bring something different to the table and can contribute in your own unique way.

Don’t compare yourself to others, but to yourself. As long as you’re making progress, that is the only thing that matters. Everyone starts somewhere, and you can’t compare yourself to someone at the pinnacle of their work when you’re just getting started.

Perfectionism

For many people (including myself!), starting projects is easy, but finishing them is hard. A common cause for this is perfectionism, the belief that the work has to be ‘just right’. The result can be that you do the task, but never get it over the finish line, always changing something in it to make it better.

The trick to overcoming this is to focus on progress. Tell yourself that you’re just going to do the work messy, and that you’ll come back and clean it up. As they say in the writing world, “write your shitty first draft”. You need to recognize that all polished work started out as a hot mess that was refined and improved. Mistakes and setbacks are part of the process of producing something of quality, so accept that you will make them. Understand that the mistakes are a sign that you’re making progress.

A useful approach to over perfectionism is to set a clear time limitation for how long you will work on the task. Then go work on it for that length of time. The progress you make will motivate you to keep going.

Task Aversion

Sometimes there is work that needs doing that you don’t feel like doing. If you realize through the process of elimination that this is why you’re procrastinating, you might ask yourself a couple of questions:

Is the task something that you can outsource to someone else? It can often make sense to have others who are better suited to a particular task do that work. The results are often better when done by someone that has the right skills, natural abilities, and interest in the work.

Is the task something that truly needs to be done? Might you be resisting doing the work as you’re subconsciously realizing that the task isn’t important to you? This can arise when you make the mistake of letting other people determine what you’re working on.

If you conclude that yes, you need to do the task, this is one time where the need for discipline kicks in. Sometimes, you need to follow Nike’s lead and “just do it”. Remind yourself why the task is important to you and how it will impact your life in the long-term, then roll up your sleeves and get to it. When you hit this type of task, there’s not much else to do.

Conclusion

Don’t talk down to yourself for procrastinating on something. To procrastinate is to be human. The trick is to not just rely on discipline, which is what many of us resort to first. Instead, figure out the root cause of why you’re resisting the task, and then apply the proper technique to get yourself moving.

Being able to ‘get shit done’ is one of the top skills that you need to excel in your career and life. It’s worth considering what approaches work for you when you’re procrastinating.

Hope you found this helpful. If you have other insights into why you procrastinate or techniques on slaying the procrastination dragon, reply and let me know.

Quotation that I’ve been pondering

The motivational speaker and author Denis Waitley has a great quote that’s worth reflecting on:

“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.”

Stop telling yourself all the things you think you’re incapable of. No more beating yourself up for not being where you want to be in life. Take charge of shaping your identity, and design a life that is perfect for you.

If you don’t design your life with intention, you’re letting someone else design it for you.

Journal prompt

“What is one task that has been on my to-do list for a long time, but I know is important to me? What are some potential reasons I keep procrastinating on it? How would I feel if I accomplished it? How would I feel if I didn’t accomplish it in the next 3 months? And what advice might my best friend give me about how to make progress?”

Call to Adventure

Ready to overcome the procrastination that’s been holding you back from reinventing your career?

Schedule a career strategy call with me today. Together, we’ll craft a personalized action plan that aligns with your goals, strengths, and vision for your ideal life.

Let’s move you beyond just dreaming about the future you want, but actively creating it. Don’t let procrastination dictate your path. Let’s conquer it and unlock life on your terms.

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