You might be familiar with that feeling of staring at the screen for hours unable to come up with a word. Or getting paralysed in the face of chaos — be it a mountain of paperwork to sort out or an endless to-do list that only grows bigger. In search of solace, you resort to Google, hoping procrastination isn’t merely a synonym for laziness.
It’s not, does that make you feel better? Whatever definition you find, nothing seems to be able to resolve that issue, which is glued to you. And the more time you spend trying to escape it — even if seemingly looking for a solution to address it — the larger that nudging feeling grows within you.
It’s Only a Jigsaw
Sometimes we struggle to make the right choice having multiple options in front of us. Other times, albeit seemingly knowing what we want, we can’t bring ourselves to action. Of course, that’s debatable. Some might argue that our hesitation indicates a misalignment between our verbalised desires and actions. Yet, life isn’t always so straightforward; not everything fits neatly into the black-and-white categories.
Let’s start with the fact that it’s ok and only natural not to enjoy every part of your activity and, wish to postpone it. Take, for instance, a startup owner who adores their business but dreads the admin routine. Surely, many of us have this idealised notion that well-optimised and successful individuals swiftly find ways to enhance efficiency and prevent chaos from accumulating. Yet, as we’re talking about a start of endeavours or a sticking point on the way to our success, let’s figure out how to solve that issue.
Begin by shifting your perspective. Notice a puzzle where you used to see a problem. The moment you sort one little bit out, you’ll get better equipped and clearer about the next one. And so on, quickly being done before you notice. Whether it’ll be your assignment draft, a webpage for your new business, dissertation, work report, or anything else <insert what’s relevant>.
Start Asking the Right Questions
Simple, right? Why then many of us are struggling to address that monster?
To put your mind at ease, it might be useful to note that procrastination isn’t laziness per se. You might wonder whether procrastination is inherently good or bad. But framing it as such is perhaps the wrong approach altogether.
Ask yourself — does it serve you? What did it cost you thus far? Shorter sleep, dissatisfaction, feeling low, wasted time? Even if it takes the form of you binge-watching Netflix or eating everything that your fridge has to offer, and seemingly enjoying that. As well as feeling like a hero managing a task in record time.
Handling things at the last minute, you might experience an adrenaline rush. But it drops quickly when you don’t get the desired results. Then you’ll be reassuring yourself that slightly more time would’ve helped you to get a better outcome. However, should you be honest, you know you had all the necessary time, you just haven’t used it.
When You’ve Chosen Not to Procrastinate What Have You Done Differently?
Ask yourself: What would you do with your free time if your tasks were completed in advance or approached in a more structured manner, rather than constantly looming in the background, incessantly nudging you?
Sometimes, the issue arises from the lack of direction about what to do with our spare time or life in general. Consequently, puzzles fill a void with a semblance of meaning, alleviating a feeling of guilt and inadequacy. However, that’s more the case with the ongoing postponement of our lives dictated by lack of clarity.
Take a moment now to close your eyes and picture yourself with completed work well ahead of the deadline. Notice how it changes the quality of your life and how that makes you feel.
Observe yourself from the outside and notice what you’ve done differently this time. Reflect on the actions you can replicate next time to achieve results similar to those you’ve managed in your ideal world. And as you come up with interesting observations — feel free to write them down.
Scary Monster
The peril of procrastination lies in its potential to become habitual, spreading to other facets of our lives. This pattern can result in delayed decision-making riddled with contemplation, leading to mediocre outcomes, overarching chaos, and pervasive dissatisfaction. This cycle can cascade into compromised well-being, health issues, unsatisfying relationships, and beyond. But let’s stop here. It’s far wiser to address this issue before the consequences become unmanageable.
Let’s find out what causes procrastination and how you can address it.
Procrastination that Wished You Well
First, let’s thank it for its effort to serve us. Remember, each of our behaviours, whether we like it or not, is guarding what it perceives as our best interest. What’s important to understand is that we tend to procrastinate not because we’re lazy or want to screw a result or even crave that adrenaline rush of the last minute. Though the latter, if re-occurring, does reinforce our behaviour. Be mindful, that feeling of sudden relief after continuous struggle might become addictive.
The key reasons behind procrastination typically revolve around our fear of failure. Whether we think we don’t know the right approach or don’t have an answer. Ultimately, our reptile brain wants to ensure we avoid disappointment at any cost. And we feed it through temporary pleasures. You might agree that it’s far more fun and pleasurable at the moment to get occupied somehow else to delay tackling the major task and, potentially, failing at it. That’s far less appealing than a pizza and beer with friends.
We don’t even have to dissolve ourselves in watching series or spending hours with friends or on social media. We might well occupy ourselves with something else seemingly important at that moment: whether checking and replying to emails, cleaning the space, or addressing so-called urgent demands and enquiries. And when we do that we might feel a momentary relief because we see immediate results. The reptile brain is happy.
Yet, should you be honest with yourself, you might notice that doing anything unrelated to your project doesn’t help you achieve your goal.
Let’s See Who’s Smarter
A way to trick our inner reptile and rewire our patterns is to forget the big task. Yes, don’t think of the final results. Think of what you’ll get as a result of completing it and picture an outcome of an outcome. If that inspires you then you’re on the right path and you’ll manage to stick to it and complete what you’ve got to do despite the odds.
To handle a project, first of all, put it on a pedestal of priorities. Promise yourself to ignore anything else until you’re done with the tasks on your agenda related to that project. Remember equally not to aim to tackle a task in half a day when you know that realistically it requires 30 days. You know it’s not going to happen. No need to try and prove yourself a hero, just because you’ve done it once before, fuelled with an adrenaline rush. One day it won’t work.
Don’t attempt something impossibly overwhelming — that’d only lead to quitting halfway through. Or to getting distracted — because remember about that scared part of you seeking a comfort zone? Rather break the project into smaller meaningful chunks.
From the Least to the Most Important
If you can’t divide your project into parts and feel overall confused about it, start small by performing one related task that’s damn simple. Then another one. And then a few more, until you get into a routine of tackling that project.
Step back after that, and, now, being more familiar and more involved with a project, see how you can structure it.
After that move on to addressing the most meaningful parts that’d contribute to the result in a major way. Because, when you’re short of time in the end, you’ll quickly complete small bits, never mind that some parts will get addressed meanwhile, seemingly, themselves. And some will appear to be irrelevant.
To kick off your project it’s crucial to establish a structured workflow. Create a zero-distraction zone — no tea, no coffee, no phone — just one or two hours of uninterrupted focus. Follow this with a 100% break that must be treated as mandatory, even if you’re tempted to continue working. Taking breaks enhances our clear thinking, which impacts the quality of an outcome. There’s nothing more creative and productive than a fresh rested brain.
Experiment for a Top Performance
Quick tip. As we all function differently, be mindful of your attention span. You might find in the beginning that you can only stay focused for 20 minutes — and that’s fine. Have also five-minute breaks in between. Eventually, you’ll find yourself, working on a task three hours non-stop, yet the moment you feel you’re getting tired or start day-dreaming — pause.
Meanwhile, if you feel like it’s early for a break but you’re stuck with a puzzling bit, make whatever part of that task that’s clear to you. And move on to the next part. You can return to the uncertain element later, but avoid staying on it. Just staring at an issue won’t resolve it, but it’ll eat your valuable time.
Experiment with different times of the day to find your top performance hours. For example, I discovered that my most productive and creative hours are between 8 am and 1 pm. I also need a quick break in between and a larger one of an hour from 1 to 2 pm. Then I can do a further two hours non-stop, yet, my brain is already less sharp. And then a final sprint for 1.5 hours. After that I know I’m pretty useless.
I can have a massive wave of inspiration and carry on writing non-stop well past that time. But there’s no way I’ll be productive for any task that requires laser focus. And to discover that I’ve done a month-long experiment trying different schedules and monitoring my performance.
At the same time, I have a friend, and her creativity at 11 am only lasts to say Coffee. However, when I’m watching my fifth dream she’s at her peak performance.
Find what suits you.
Chunking Up and Down to the Right Size
Be wise chunking a project up or down. Attempting too large of a piece might break your teeth, discouraging you from chewing a project altogether, while too small bites might run you into boredom that’ll wear your motivation out.
Meanwhile, get into a habit of completing tasks on hand. READ: How to Stick to Your Priorities and Achieve Results When Life Gets in the Way
Do a task, ideally from A to Z in a day. If not possible — then chuck your tasks down, ideally to the size that would fit one attempt, be it in one go, one time block, or one day.
For example, writing a 3,000-word part of an assignment might take someone a full day. Yet to create an outline would require only an hour. Be clear and specific how much you wish and can accomplish. Because if you attempt a much larger task than you can complete you might end up in disappointment coupled with your self-doubt about your capabilities.
Plan Less than You Feel You Can Manage
You might find it handy to plan less than you can manage within a given timeframe. There are always some unforeseen deviations, even if you aim to stay 100% focused, which isn’t always achievable.
You’ll feel greater about yourself and more inspired by a project, finishing ahead of time. You don’t have to make your plan too slim, but equally, there’s no need and it’s rather counter-productive to overwhelm and then disappoint yourself.
Your Gracious Walk Forward
To handle your procrastination, you need to forget worrying about the judgement of an outcome and not being enough. And rather stay focused on an immediate little task in front of you. And remember, you can give it as many attempts as you like. You don’t have to nail things from the first time. Better give it a go and then improve than get stuck in a fear of failure.
Ultimately, we all fail, and that’s fine. You probably did too while learning to walk, yet your parents haven’t disposed of you for that. And look at you now — you nailed that task that well so you’re walking even without thinking. The only way to walk your success is not not to fail, but to stand up promptly and carry on walking.