3 Tips For Blasting Procrastination
Have you ever found yourself putting off a task, big or small, that you KNOW you need to do, but you just keep avoiding?
You aren’t alone. 88% of adults procrastinate at least once daily, and, according to research by Dr. Joseph Ferrari, 20% of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators.
Many of my Life Coaching clients have struggled with procrastination in some form. Anyone can procrastinate– high-achieving professional women, law students studying for the LSAT, or a mom with a to-do list a mile long.
As a Life Coach, here are my top 3 tips for blasting procrastination:
Recognize that procrastination is often perfectionism in disguise. Some people are waiting for some magical time to be inspired and take perfect action. If you do this, you create your own (false) standard for perfectionism, which leads to stress. I’ve heard a life coaching client say, “I do my best work under pressure, at the last minute, right before the deadline.” But no, that’s not true. That’s just when you do the work. If you had an earlier deadline, you would still do the work, and it would happen without the stress. If you are a person who waits to do something until you can do it perfectly, so you procrastinate “under pressure” at the last possible second, just notice how inefficient that is. And notice how you create avoidable stress! My recommendation is to take imperfect, messy action. Focusing on taking one step towards what you want to accomplish, even if it isn’t pretty or perfect. This will help you perform at your highest level, work more efficiently, and reduce your stress.
Eat the frog first. Mark Twain once said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” From this quote, author and business consultant, Brian Tracy, wrote the book Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. Here’s the concept: whatever is your most important task of the day - the one with the greatest consequences - should be what you do FIRST. Focus on doing this task quickly and doing it well. It’s like eating a frog: when you have a big challenge, or frog to eat, it’s best to get it out of the way first; everything after that will be easier by comparison. This applies to both your personal and professional life.
Identify laziness vs. restfulness. When procrastinating, you might wonder if you are being “lazy” by procrastinating, or if you are resting. Identifying the difference between the two is helpful for overcoming procrastination. Being lazy is when you don’t want to do something, so you don’t do it. Restfulness is taking the time that is necessary for you to be at your best, when you’re stepping back from pushing yourself too hard. If you’re not sure if you’re procrastinating because you’re being lazy or because you’re resting, here’s how to tell: RESULTS. Are you producing results at the level that you are capable of doing? If you are, then you are not being lazy. But, if you’re NOT producing results, and you don’t feel like doing something so you don’t do it, you might be exhibiting laziness. Not wanting to do something is completely NORMAL. There is nothing wrong with you – you are human. If you take time watching Netflix, scrolling on social media, or staying in bed an extra hour, yet you are STILL producing results, then you are resting, not being lazy or procrastinating. If you are doing these things and NOT producing results, it’s time to reevaluate your actions and behaviors. If you are resting BEFORE producing results, it might be time to push yourself to take some imperfect, messy action.
