Hey y’all!
It is nice and hot here, and I am very grateful that we live right next to the water. It is like we are at a cottage, even though it is our year-round house. The summer months are incredible here, and we are so blessed to get to enjoy it.
And this week is even better, as I am on vacation for the week! Summer is such a great time to kick back a bit, relax, and allow yourself the opportunity to recharge.
I hope you are having a great week, are enjoying the summer weather, and taking some time for yourself. It is so important to being able to sustain a career over the long term. You can’t run full-steam all the time. Trust me, I learned that lesson the hard way!
Once you have rested and charged yourself back up, you then need to have the courage to tackle your most challenging work. Instead of procrastinating on it, as so many of us do (and yes – I am looking in the mirror on this one!). Hence, my thoughts on how to beat procrastination….
How to Kick Procrastination in the A*$
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Procrastination is something that is universal; we are all guilty of doing it sometimes. It is part of our nature.
This article lays out 3 primary reasons for our habit of procrastinating:
- A lack of self-discipline (or reasonable systems and habits).
- Intolerance for particular emotions.
- Flawed thinking patterns.
I think the article is correct in that these are the primary drivers behind procrastination. But I also feel that it may be worth expanding on a couple of them, and considering adding one more potential reason we procrastinate. I also think that it is worth exploring a couple more approaches to minimizing the amount of procrastination in our lives.
Personally I don’t put a lot of stock in the thinking that procrastination is because of a lack of self-discipline. There is some truth to it of course, but I don’t believe it to one of the primary drivers. As a general rule, people want to be useful and productive. Contributing helps provide meaning, which is really what everyone is after. I don’t believe that we procrastinate because we are lazy. Of course, we need to take action. And we absolutely must have habits, systems, and processes in place that drive us forward towards our goals. But if we are procrastinating on something, chances are that there is something deeper going on.
The article talks about how negative emotions can cause us to put off working on something that we should work on. I believe this to be one of the leading causes of procrastination, based on what I have seen in working with others — and from personal experience with not doing what I need to be doing. I don’t feel that the article talked enough about the one negative emotion that really causes procrastination; fear.
The world is enormously complex, many of the tasks that knowledge workers in the modern age have on their plate don’t have clear-cut paths forward. Things are uncertain. And that uncertainty rears its head once you begin.
Once starting, many people — myself included — experience self-doubt. You question whether or not you are up to the task. You worry about how others are going to judge your output. And your ego feels threatened, because you have a self-image of being competent, maybe even an expert in your domain.
This is obviously uncomfortable. No one likes to feel fear, to question their ability to do their job well.
So we put the task off. That means that we don’t have to face that fear, at least for now. Of course, this is not a conscious decision. We rarely understand why we are putting it off. But if you look back at the times that you have procrastinated on doing something, I will bet that you will find some level of fear if you are honest with yourself.
The article points out a couple of flaws to our patterns of thinking that also contribute to procrastination, and these feel bang-on from my experience. As I mentioned above, tasks are often complex and hard. And a normal response to friction is to shift to an easier task. When we accomplish a task, we get a rush of dopamine. It feels good to complete something; everyone loves to check items off of their seemingly endless to-do lists. By avoiding the hard tasks, we allow ourselves to feel good by getting something done that is easier. There is very low friction to doing some emails, to handling a couple of administrative tasks. That is why we end up putting so much of our precious time into those activities, rather than doing the hard, friction-filled work that really pushes things forward.
One cause of procrastination that I felt was missing from the article was a lack of clarity. When we need to produce some output, it is often overwhelming. Where do I start? How can I best tackle this? As we stare at the task and ponder what to do to move forward on it, the lack of clarity about what to do paralyzes us. And this leads back to fear; maybe I can’t do this thing!
So we task-switch to something that is simple, something that we know exactly how to do. Bang! Dopamine hit from completing something, and we now feel better again.
I used to think that I needed to “wait for inspiration” on a complex task that I was unsure how to tackle. That once I was “in the right mood”, I could knock it out. That thinking is completely backwards.
You can’t wait for the right moment to begin; it will never arrive.
You need to break the work down into small chunks and get started. Getting started is the hardest part. So just commit to making progress on it, on starting, on working on it for 30 minutes. After spending some time breaking the work down into smaller, more manageable chunks, you will have eased some of your uncertainty and stress. By moving forward on the task, you create momentum. And Newton’s first law of motion clarifies that an object that is in motion stays in motion, unless acted upon by another force. Once you are making progress, you will probably continue to move forward.
A great way to do this is to time-block. This is a popular time management strategy where at the beginning of your day, you record in your calendar what tasks you will work on when, and for how long. This helps bring some realism to your day; you will quickly find out whether you are “biting off more than you can chew” for the day. It also helps you avoid spending time on the wrong things; you decided on your priorities and when you would work on them, so you don’t need to worry; you just execute.
Block yourself some short periods of time to make progress on your most important tasks. And then respect those appointments with yourself. When it is time to do that work, turn off your notifications. Close your email program. And move forward.
That is the way to beat procrastination. A bit of progress each day
“We’ve Always Done It That Way”
I just read Ozan Varol‘s latest blog post, “The one question I ask myself frequently” and it really resonated. He talks about trying to make change and switch things up, only to have someone tell him that things need to remain status quo, as “we’ve always done it that way”. I agree with Ozan that there is likely no more frustrating response to an attempt to introduce change.
But there was one particular phrase from the post that really caught my attention. I believe this applies to all of us, and is the primary reason we find changing our lives significantly to be so difficult.
That is powerful. And so very true. We too often allow our vision of who we could be tomorrow to be clouded and obscured by who we are today, and who we were yesterday.
The reality is that we can choose a different tomorrow, by responding differently. By adopting a new mindset. By being open to new experiences and new interpretations of past experiences. We can literally rewrite our life narrative.
It starts with making the choice to take responsibility for your life, and shaping it to be what you want. You have more power than you realize.
If you need help making change in your career, I’ve got your back. Click below to hop on a free call with me to learn how I can help you transform your career and shape it to let you win.
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Quotation that I’ve been pondering
This quotation lines up so perfectly with the idea of procrastination being fear avoidance.
Remember that you can just start; it does not need to be perfect. You can refine it as you go. But start today, not tomorrow.
Journal prompt
I think that making time for introspection and writing about your thoughts is one of the most profound things that you can do. By learning about yourself, you unlock the ability to transform. You learn about who you really are. Here is a useful prompt to reflect on.
Have a great week! And remember that YOU are the one in control of your career and your life. Don’t allow yourself to be tricked into thinking otherwise.
Cheers!
Tim
