The Gift of Time - how to stop procrastinating & use this time well (7 Min read)
Given these strange times, many of us may have a little more time on our hands and we are all facing a lot more time at home. Maybe you’re struggling with working from home without the daily routine and office structure. We all have a list of projects that we’ve been planning to do ‘one day’, be that to start writing your novel, books you want to read, start learning a new language and that’s not to mention all the work you still have to do (like writing an article on procrastination for example…). Now is a unique opportunity to start on those projects, make real inroads and even complete them.
Yet, most of us will find something else we’d rather do in the moment, even if it’s reorganising the cleaning supplies under the sink (guilty) or endlessly checking the latest news update. This is called procrastination and it’s something we all do. Studies show that 88% of the workforce procrastinate for at least one hour a day. But what is it really and why do some people manage better than others?
Note: On researching this article it turns out that procrastinators are often impatient and so if that’s you, you can skip to the bottom of this article to find my 10 Tips to Beat Procrastination.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines procrastination as ‘to put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness’, which seems a little harsh. The Cambridge Dictionary states it is ‘the act of delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring’ - this feels closer to the truth. The Oxford English dictionary adds that it is ‘usually because you do not want to do it’ and while I can relate to that, I also put off tasks that I genuinely want to complete. So what’s going on?
Traditional wisdom would tell us that those who procrastinate less are more disciplined and motivated. So do procrastinators just need to learn productivity skills from their more effective friends or colleagues?
Dr Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University found that while everyone may procrastinate from time to time, as many as 20% of people may be chronic procrastinators. He says “it really has nothing to do with time-management,” He also says “to tell the chronic procrastinator to just do it would be like saying to a clinically depressed person, cheer up.”
Dr Fuschia Sirois is a Personality and Health Psychology researcher who has studied what she calls the 2 related traits of procrastination and perfectionism. In a recent podcast interview with Adam Grant she stated that procrastination is “more about mood regulation not laziness. If you are actively doing something else your house is probably immaculate, but you are avoiding a big task that creates unwanted feelings or negative emotions”.
I find Dr Sirois’s research fascinating, instead of seeing ourselves as as lazy for procrastinating, we need to get under what thoughts we have about that piece of work or project. Those thoughts are mostly unconscious and create the feelings that make us want to avoid it and dive into our favourite forms of procrastination.
This is something we regularly do in coaching; we take time to uncover what we call negative automatic thoughts that relate to certain tasks or situations. We then work with you to replace them with new positive empowering thoughts so that you can get out of your own way and take action with more confidence.
The irony of procrastination to avoid unwanted feelings is that we often end up feeling worse. Procrastinators create what I call an 'avoidance - anxiety loop’, where a task is put off, then feelings of worry, guilty or anxiety grow around not having done it, which of course feeds into the avoidance. This can become quite toxic and have negative side effects on your health due to increased stress and the subsequent lack of sleep this causes, which can ultimately impact your immune system. And no-one needs that right now.
To overcome procrastination an important step is forgiving yourself for having done it in the past. I know this sounds woo woo but research in 2010 demonstrated that if you do this, you’ll likely to do better the next time you try to tackle a project you normally avoid.
To get better at motivating yourself to complete tasks I believe that Gretchen Rubin (one of my favourite authors on the subject of happiness) is on to something with her 4 Tendencies. In this she has created 4 categories of how people respond to expectations (outer expectations such as a deadline and inner expectations such as your desire to write a book). Once you understand these you’ll be able to set up support mechanisms that play into your type so that you are more likely to do the thing you set out to (unless you are, like me, 'a rebel’ which means you resist both inner and outer expectations). I’ve put the link to her tendencies quiz below.
It’s also good to remind yourself you are not the only one who procrastinates. From the Dali Lama to Leonardo Da Vinci, Douglas Adams to Margaret Atwood - you are in good company! I realise I shouldn’t encourage you but… if you are looking for a diversion, then Google what their tricks were to overcome procrastination (some are quite out there and not recommended!).
Lastly you can’t talk about procrastination without mentioning productivity. I’m not going to go into this in detail but direct you again to Adam Grant, who says it’s “not volume of output but value of output”. So please don’t dwell on the hours you spend or don’t spend doing something. The focus needs to be making sure the time you are spending is producing the right results. You can then spend more time on the things you really care about without feeling guilty or anxious, even in these strange times.
10 Top Tips to Stop Procrastinating
Be kind to yourself and forgive your past procrastination. Research shows this will help you to procrastinate less next time. Remember everyone does this - it’s not only you!
Understand how you feel about a task you are avoiding and then take time to unpack what your thoughts are that are creating those feelings. Challenge those negative automatic thoughts and replace them with positive empowering thoughts. Coaching can be helpful with this.
Schedule your day; particularly tasks like doing emails - set an hour aside for that, then switch it off to focus on your work. Do not multi-task.
Create an environment that minimises your distractions; if you always end up cleaning then go to another workspace like the library. If this isn’t possible due to self isolation then make sure you set up rules to prevent disappearing down rabbit holes. Some keys ones: no social media (or set time limits / ban scrolling after you’ve done your task). Eat at set times and have snacks handy so you don’t end up staring into the fridge for the 10th time in an hour!
Know when you do your best work - are you a lark or a night owl? Set the tasks for a the time that you work best.
Give yourself a deadline and commit to it, otherwise Parkinson’s law state’s that work expands to fill the time available! To help you succeed, I recommend Gretchen Rubin’s 4 Tenancies Quiz. This will help you to set-up expectations around the deadline that will help you stick to it.
If a task or project is overwhelming then break the it down into smaller manageable pieces and schedule those.
The 5 Minute Rule - this is a CBT technique that is proven to work. If you are struggling to start - set yourself a time limit of just 5 minutes and start. If after 5 mins it’s awful you can stop but it’s likely that you’ll keep going a while longer. If you don’t, you’ll already have experienced a win and you have broken the avoidance-anxiety loop.
If you are struggling, ask for help or talk it through with someone. There are very few new problems in the world so it’s always worth reaching out. Coaching is also useful here.
Reward yourself when you have successes in sticking to your work plan and not procrastinating, notice how good it feels have done it without all the stress and anxiety that comes from putting it off.
So those are my 10 tips that are widely proven to help overcome procrastination, but you need to find out what works for you. If you have any others, please do share them in the comments.
What projects are you going to try to tackle during this time of self isolation and have you made any progress? I’d love to hear about them.