Still procrastinating? Cut yourself some slack and get curious!

According to our old friend Google, procrastination is defined as, "the action of delaying or postponing something." According to Tim Urban a more accurate definition is, "the action of ruining your own life for no apparent reason".

‍That might be a little overdramatic, but I know from my clients and my community that procrastination is a huge productivity stumbling block that not only stops them from making progress in their business, but also stands in the way of enjoyable and guilt free rest.

So at best, procrastination is something really irritating that causes tasks to take longer than they need to, eating into time we'd rather spend doing something else, whether that's actually getting something done or sitting, taking a break, curled up with a book on the sofa.

But at worst, procrastination can lead to really debilitating anxiety, feelings of failure, self-judgement, all of that really unpleasant insidious stuff that if left unchecked can really start to damage our self-confidence and our self-esteem.

As with so many things in life, we just want to be told the answer. We want to know the quick fix that will solve the problem in one fell swoop so we can crack on and achieve all of the amazing things we know we'd be capable of, if only that procrastination monkey would let us take the wheel for a change.

But there's no single solution that with a wave of a magic wand is going to work for everyone. And we know that, don't we? I'm not saying this to be defeatist, but because I want you to cut yourself some slack if despite your very best efforts, procrastination is still getting in your way. That doesn't make you a failure, it makes you human.

So of course I'm not suggesting that you give up. That there is nothing you can do about it, so you might as well admit defeat. That's not what I'm saying at all. What I want for you is for you to get curious.

To get curious about your own procrastination patterns and what does and doesn't work for you when it comes to getting that pesky procrastination monkey away from the controls.

And if you're wondering why I keep talking about a monkey, take a look at Tim Urban's brilliant TED talk about procrastination. It's really, really good. Highly recommend!

So, in the spirit of experimentation, I'm going to share three very different ideas that you could play with to help with your procrastination.

1. Lift the lid‍ ‍

Often procrastination is a symptom of something that's going on under the surface.

Are you struggling with imposter syndrome? Is there some fear involved in the thing that you're procrastinating about? Maybe there's a lack of clarity around what you're doing and why? Is there a deeper mindset issue at play that's causing you to reach for Instagram or LinkedIn when you should be working?

 So the first thing you can do is to just take a step back for a moment and see if you can get to the root of what's underlying that procrastination.

What is it that's actually going on? And when you know that, you can then start to bring some tools into play to counter whatever it is that's coming up for you.

So lift the lid and get under the hood, poke around, see if you can figure out what's going on.

2. Change your environment‍ ‍

It may sound really obvious, but what if you could remove your procrastination tool of choice from your environment?‍‍ ‍

When you're curious about your patterns, you'll start to identify what you reach for most frequently when you're in procrastination mode. It could be your phone, maybe you open up loads of tabs on your browser, maybe you end up in YouTube. Maybe you go and do the dishes or something.

What is it that's coming up for you when you are in procrastination mode?‍‍ ‍And what might you do to change your environment so that that doesn't trip you up anymore?‍‍ ‍

So some simple suggestions could be to put your phone into flight mode, put it in a different room, set something up on your laptop to limit you actually going onto the site that you're using when you procrastinate. ‍‍ ‍

I've been experimenting with actually turning off the Internet on my computer. I’m quite old school and do a lot of my work in Word docs. When I’m distracted or procrastinating - clicking over to LinkedIn to see what's going on over there because I'm bored or struggling to focus - I disconnect the wifi on my laptop, so that option is no longer available to me. ‍‍ ‍

It could be that you create some extra steps and some extra barriers that get in the way of you reaching for your procrastination tools. So let's go back to that example of doing the dishes. ‍ ‍

If that is something you might find yourself doing when you're procrastinating, what barriers can you create between you and doing the dishes?‍‍ ‍

It might be that you close your office door and you close the kitchen door so you have moments of pause where you can think, do I really want to be doing this? Or you could hide the washing up liquid. Think creatively about what you can do in your environment to make it harder for you to reach for those procrastination tools that stop you from getting your work done.

‍3. Unleash the panic monster.

‍This one is inspired by Tim Urban's brilliant TED talk, in which we find out that the panic monster is the only thing the procrastination monkey is afraid of.‍‍ ‍

When it shows up, stuff gets done, but unfortunately it often doesn't show up unless there's a deadline or some sort of negative consequence to protect you from. ‍ ‍

So what if you could unleash the panic monster before the situation becomes dire? What if you could set lots of small deadlines? Maybe getting some accountability, if you know that accountability works well for you? What can you do to unleash that panic monster in a way that's not going to completely fry your nervous system. Can you find just the right amount of panic that will help you get the thing done without tipping you over into stress and overwhelm?‍ ‍

I wouldn't suggest using this approach all the time because it can end up making you feel frazzled, which is the exact opposite of what we're aiming for here. But it can be a useful thing to keep in mind - if you're finding yourself procrastinating, what can you do to unleash that panic monster, but in a way that feels good?

Is it really procrastination?

If I'm running a masterclass or a workshop, I'll sometimes talk about the difference between a marathoner, a sprinter, and a procrastinator. And what I see happening is that people who work best in sprint mode confuse themselves with procrastinators.

‍They think that they're procrastinating because they're leaving things to the last minute, when actually for them, leaving things to the last minute - or turning it into a sprint where there's a deadline involved - is how they work best.

‍Does it help to think about it that way? To consider that maybe you’re not procrastinating at all, you’re just creating the conditions where you work best, and for you, that involves a little bit of pressure. Not the amount of pressure that's going to send you into a tailspin, but just enough to help you get the thing done.

There is no quick, easy fix to procrastination, but change happens when we get curious and experiment with new ideas. So whether it's taking that step back to take notice of what's going on under the surface, eliminating your procrastination tools of choice, or introducing just the right amount of pressure to keep you moving forward, I hope there's something here that helps.‍ ‍