Are you a self-proclaimed professional procrastinator?
With the best of intentions you have to do lists for work, for your household and everything in between.
You spend a lot of time thinking about the goals you want to accomplish. You promise yourself that you are going to head home after work and right after you make dinner you are for sure going to get the dishes cleaned up and lunches packed for tomorrow.
You promise yourself that tomorrow will be different; that you will tackle everything on your list so it is ok to sit down and watch some tv before bed because its been a long day and you deserve to relax.
Maybe you aren’t quite a full-on professional procrastinator (yet) but you find yourself putting things off and don’t understand why there are certain things that you just keep pushing out.
As a recovering procrastinator myself, it does take some time and effort to increase your productivity and learn how to overcome procrastination.
However, it is totally doable and we are going to cover a few key strategies to help you become more productive!
There are some super great tips and tricks for better time management, and I’ve implemented several of these strategies as a working mom. They have been very effective to help me achieve work life balance!
However, I am a living, breathing testimony to the fact that there are some strategies out there that you can start applying right away that will help you get to where you want to in life!
But if you don’t understand why you procrastinate, then you will never be able to stop procrastinating.
And despite what you think or are told, procrastinators are not generally procrastinators because of laziness.
There is so much more to understanding why you procrastinate than just chalking it up to laziness. So before we learn the two simple methods you can start using today that will help you move past being a professional procrastinator, let’s cover the basics!
What is Procrastination?
In real life terms, procrastination is when you put something off when you didn’t need to.
Examples of procrastination:
Not starting your project at work until the last day it is due to your boss.
Telling yourself that you can just get things ready in the morning and slip into a mid-week Netflix binge instead.
Deciding to wait to do the laundry until you are completely out of clothes because you ‘hate doing laundry’.
Spending time scrolling through social media when you know that you should be going out for the walk you kept telling yourself you would take tonight.
Professional procrastinators often struggle with achieving their goals, though they may spend hours every week thinking about them. But they don’t put action behind them.
Why Do I Procrastinate?
Well, it isn’t because of laziness (most times) so you don’t need to learn how to overcome laziness.
I mean overcoming laziness is never a bad thing, but odds are, you being a professional procrastinator isn’t because of laziness! Good news, right?
What would you say if I told you that you procrastinate because you are afraid of doing the thing you are procrastinating?
I imagine that your first reaction to that statement is a bit of denial.
I totally denied it too.
However, as I dug into better understanding procrastination, I recognized that there are several types of procrastination tendencies.
Four Types of Procrastination
The four biggest types of procrastination tendencies that I see fall into 4 buckets (with their corresponding procrastination examples!):
The ‘perfect procrastinator’.
I can’t turn this in until it is perfect, I just need more time to work on it.
The ‘probably just get to it tomorrow’ procrastinator
It isn’t due for 2 days so I will just start it tomorrow.
The ‘I have more fun things to do’ procrastinator.
I’ve worked all day, I deserve to have a break even though I have so many other things I should be doing, it’s ok! I deserve to have fun in life too!
The ‘I’m really afraid to do the thing I need to do’ procrastinator.
I should apply for that job! Ok, I have to do XYZ first so I’ll for sure do my resume as soon as XYZ are done…
In my observation, we dabble in a bit of all of those causes of procrastination but the main causes of procrastination for most of us fall in that last bucket!
The Biggest Type of Procrastination
As I was saying earlier, I was in denial the first time I thought about my professional procrastinator tendencies being linked to fear. And then I started thinking back to the things I was procrastinating and then it hit me, it is in fact very true.
Whether I was putting off going out for a run, getting a work task done or cleaning out my car, I was absolutely putting them off because I was afraid of it.
I was afraid I’d be tired physically after the run and why would you knowingly go make yourself uncomfortable?
I knew that when I sat down to tackle that work task was going to add some stress to me because I really needed to dig in and understand it, and I wasn’t really prepared.
I hate cleaning my car because my kids leave it a disaster and every time I clean it out is a reminder that I’ve failed at trying to keep it cleaner… which I swear to do after each time I clean it out.
Professional Procrastinator… guilt!
We procrastinate because we are afraid/stressed/anxious about the thing we must do.
Let me repeat that in a different way:
It isn’t that we don’t want the outcome on the other side of the task.
Human beings, simply put, do not like to be uncomfortable.
And procrastination helps us avoid addressing the stress that comes with being uncomfortable.
How You Can Be More Productive as a Professional Procrastinator
The key to being more productive is two things:
- Learn better time management
- Learn how to stop procrastinating
In regard to creating better time management skills, there are not enough printables and planners in this world to help you with time management unless you address the real reason you struggle with time management.
I cover this topic in greater detail and provide lots of time management examples for working moms on this post.
Another great strategy that I have found to help overcome procrastination quickly, whether you are a professional procrastinator or procrastinate just a little bit, is the 5-second rule by Mel Robbins.
Professional Procrastinator Strategy 1: How to Overcome Laziness
Can one truly learn ways to help overcome procrastination?
Yep!
I am living breathing proof that this is possible!
While I could sit here and tell you weekly, heck I could probably tell you daily examples of using these methods and my improved time management skills to resist the procrastination bug, but we don’t have that much time!
Seriously, I am very grateful I have learned these tools and have them in my toolbox of productivity and motivation.
So, the first method that will help you end your run as a professional procrastinator is Mel Robins 5-second rule.
She talks about how our brains have a short window between our desire to act on something and our brain taking over and stopping us from acting.
Mel says that when we start to feel doubtful of the instinct that just popped up we have a 5 second window to make an action towards it.
You can prevent your brain from procrastinating on the instinct by simply counting backwards from 5 when you start to feel the hesitancy coming on.
5-4-3-2-1.
And Then, Procrastinators Act
it truly is this simple.
In fact, I joke that i’ve been “54321’ing” my way through the last 18 months. And while I joke, it is completely true!
It has helped me overcome things I’ve starting to try to convince myself not to take action on both in my personal and professional life.
Overcoming the fear and procrastination has helped me to have a very successful year, in both my professional and personal life.
Acting doesn’t have to be huge.
It doesn’t mean you quit your job, start your own coffee shop and ride off into the sunset in a matter of 3 days.
But it does mean that the moment that your dream of owning a coffee shop pops into your head, before you let your brain talk you out of it because you went to college for something else, you don’t know where you would get the money, you don’t know how to start a business, and all the other types of lies we tell ourselves, pick up your phone and google ‘how to start a business’.
Just do something… anything! Even though it might feel like it isn’t action when you spend 5 minutes googling something, but it is!
That is fact, action towards your goal!
Or for instance, next time you want to go running but your brain kicks in and reminds you that you haven’t run in a while and its going to be hard, 54321 yourself, then grab your shoes and go before you can convince yourself not to!
Before you know it you will be out the door and achieving your goal of getting back into running.
Professional Procrastinator Strategy 2: How to Be More Productive
One other strategy I have used to help me push through being uncomfortable and stop procrastinating has been “eating the elephant”.
Don’t worry, no elephants are actually eating in this process
But if you think about an elephant, they are huge!
Approaching your goals with the “eat the elephant” mentality means to simply take them one bite at a time.
Turn cleaning your house into just cleaning the counters.
Turn 5 loads of laundry into just putting away 3 things.
Turn trying to increase your monthly revenue by $1,00 into reaching out to 3 customers today.
An entire post that needs published becomes writing 7 sentences.
The big goals are still there, but you and I can get our arms around the smaller version of the goal. It is the stairstep to your goals; it is totally doable.
Using this method will help those of us that are procrastinators no longer see the goal as overwhelming because we are much less likely to procrastinate putting away 3 shirts are writing 7 sentences! We can accomplish those smaller tasks in no time flat!
Eating the elephant will do 3 MAJOR THINGS FOR YOU:
- Overcome procrastination
- Get more things done (hello, time management tip!!)
- Develop good habits using this trick (and actually make the habits stick!)
Time To Finally Overcome Procrastination!
Since you are serious about learning how to stop being a procrastinator and are ready to trade your title of professional procrastinator into “goal achiever¸ the best strategy is to combine these methods!!
- Use Mel 54321 Strategy
- As soon as you start to feel yourself resisting your instincts to act/make a decision/try something new/think something new, remember to count down like a rocket ship getting ready to take off!
- Once you hit 1 go into action!
- Eat The Elephant
- As soon as you have hit 1 and jump into action, jump into a smaller action and keep eating away at them until the whole task (elephant) is done!
For even more great tips on improving productivity, overcoming procrastination and taking steps to achieving your goals in life, don’t miss the free Someday Sunday weekly email designed to help YOU move your someday closer to your today!
Critical Advice From a Reformed Procrastination Queen
100% be prepared that you set out to stop this bad habit of procrastinating, your brain is going to want to pull you back to its known behavior: procrastination.
That is how our brain attempts to protect us from trying things that could make us uncomfortable.
Our brain is basically like a dog that barks at the person walking by and then thinks it has done a great job once the person is no longer in sight, which they think is because they scared them away with their bark and saved the day.
Your brain thinks it is saving you but it isn’t.
Your brain is holding you back.
So instead of letting yourself be held back any longer,
you are going to jump on that rocket ship, count yourself backwards and eat an elephant. (could this be a funny pin image?)
The next steps you need to take after you get your procrastination in control is to develop better time management. LINK somehow to course or another post?
With these two things tackled, you will be unstoppable in all that you pursue!
Procrastination is the Thief of Time
The two strategies have been proven themselves to be effective time and time again for me and others I have shared with.
They will help you move through procrastination.
You will be taking action on your goals, dreams, tasks and commitments instead of pushing them off to the last minute (or not doing them at all).
That being said, you do need to spend some time better understanding which of the four types of procrastinators you are.
Knowing which type of procrastinator you are will help you remove procrastination from your vocabulary for good because once you identify it, you will be able to develop good habits around the root cause of your procrastination!
Great things are just around the corner for you my friend, It just takes a little bit of investment in yourself~
