You’re so overwhelmed with your to-do list, yet find yourself scrolling through social media. You dread turning on your laptop so you take your sweet time sipping your coffee as you prepare for that BIG TASK. You blink, suddenly it’s midday and you have done everything but the most important things on your list. Sounds familiar?
The Merriam-Webster definition for procrastination is putting off intentionally something that needs to be done. Regular procrastinators identify themselves with not being able to meet deadlines. They start to lose trust in their word and work habits, causing toxic self-talks, eventually leading to being at odds with themselves. This often leads to bigger issues later.
Procrastinating has many common elements. It’s either a big thing that seems so important to mess up or a simple task that entails some discomfort to be undertaken. Discomfort could be fear, irritation or disgust.
Perfectionism is another great ingredient to put off something. That feeling where one is never ready and enough, one needs to learn more, be more to take on the task. Distractions and excuses are also nice additions. Whatever you’re doing other than what you’re supposed to be doing could count.
How then does one just turn it off and get on with finishing those tasks? Here are simple and easy tips to stop procrastinating:
1. Start with your most challenging task first. Work on what requires the most brainwork and emotional investment. Even small and simple activities dilute our focus and energy. If you finish reading those emails that take one minute each to respond, by the end of two hours, you won’t have enough mind space for the things that need more creativity and concentration.
2. Divide the big task into chewable parts. Start with the smallest parts. If it’s creating a deck, it could be choosing a template, a color, a theme or a font. Listing the references you’ll need, people you’ll need to reach out to, are all parts of it. Doing this leads you to momentum.
3. Count every little thing. Procrastinators tend to discount small efforts and easy wins. They require finishing everything in one sitting, or it doesn’t matter. This often leads to waiting till everything is ready or finding a big block of time. These seldom happens and if they do, it’s often too close to the deadline.
4. Create first, then you edit. Just let it flow on the first draft. Critique, edit and beautify it later. If you criticize every slide, every sentence, you won’t get far. You’ll just feel awful which will make the task extra hard. Once you stop, you won’t want to go back to it.
5. When stuck, do something different. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them,” said Albert Einstein. If you do a different activity, it allows the brain to develop a different perspective and connect the dots.
6. Assess your skills. Are you equipped to do it? Do you need to enhance some skills to make the task less intimidating? Or is it all just too much combined? Check how you can delegate or if you need to set some boundaries.
7. Pause and think about what’s not working. Are you letting your fear of being reprimanded dominate your thoughts? Do you hear yourself judging your work? Perhaps images of past “failures” keep popping up? Whatever it is, stop and focus on what needs to be done.
8. Align with your values. Is there something about the job that violates your values? You might not be aware that your inner core is opposing the work.9. Check with yourself what you need in the moment. Most procrastinators take on too much. They’re afraid allowing breathing space will make them lazy and slack off. The opposite is probably true. They’ve exhausted themselves too much, they’re running on short fumes and have little to give. Being more in tune with your needs will allow you to take care of your needs which will in turn increase your capacity for work.
10. Be intentional with everything. Rest and have fun intentionally. This will power you through challenging tasks. You’ll be able to align wanting to do it, needing to it, and actually doing it.
Believe that whatever you’re doing or not doing comes from a positive place, even if the results are not agreeing with what’s best for you yet. Inquire on what’s happening inside. Many times the answers are simple once we find out what the root cause really is.
—CONTRIBUTED
The author is an executive coach and an organizational development consultant. You may reach out to her through coachsheila.tan@gmail.com.