Tips to avoid procrastination.
Procrastination is a topic that comes up often with my clients, and when I’m speaking to people about my work as a time management coach. And strangely, I realised it’s not something I’ve written about yet. (I wasn’t procrastinating, haha!).
So, without further ado, here are some of my thoughts on procrastination and tips to overcome it.
What is procrastination?
A good place to start is to consider what procrastination is. Procrastination is the habitual delay or postponement of tasks; you might be avoiding your responsibilities in favour of more pleasurable and less demanding activities. Procrastinators will get a temporary relief from the discomfort associated with the task they are delaying, but in the long run they’re likely to experience increased stress and reduced productivity. At it’s core, it’s a gap between the intention and the action. There are a variety of potential sources; we can break it down into these three: (i) technical, (ii) external or (iii) psychological. For example, it could be that you don’t know what it is that you need to be doing or you don’t know which of the things is the most important which is a technical issue (these tend to be more easily resolved). It could be that you’re in an interruption rich environment, which is an external issue and is typically outside of your control (but there will be strategies you can adopt to help) or it could be that there is something underlying that’s holding you back, a belief or a story, perhaps a fear of failure or a need for perfection - this is the psychological component.
Bringing some awareness to your behaviour
As with a lot of things, some curiosity can be helpful in bringing some awareness to your behaviour. Are there specific patterns to your procrastination? What insights can you get from past experiences with procrastination?
And if it’s a particular task or type of task that you struggle with, think about how this task aligns with your values and future vision. Are there any fears associated with the task that might be hindering you? How might you alleviate your concerns?
Time management tips to avoid procrastination
Make sure you’re being realistic with your schedule; most people will overestimate what they can achieve in a day and they underestimate how long things will take to complete. Time blocking your calendar can give you some structure that minimises room for procrastination, and it also forces you to prioritise your tasks.
Think about working with your energy rather than against it. When are you most alert and productive, and schedule your important tasks then. For me, I do my best work in the morning (she says writing this in the evening!), and so I tend to block out my focussed work first thing.
Tracking your time to figure out how long things take you to do can be really helpful, and will ensure that your schedule is well thought out and robust. Remember to include time to rest + recharge, and make sure you add some buffer into your timelines (but not too much, see Parkinson’s law below!).
Parkinson’s law states that work will expand to fill the time available for it’s completion. Most of us either give ourselves too much time to finish tasks, or we fail to give ourselves a limit and we work until the task is finished. Both cases mean that we spend too much time working on things. Start to see if you can stretch yourself a bit to complete tasks in a shorter timeframe. If you give yourself 2 hours to write a blog post, it will take 2 hours. Try giving yourself 90 minutes or an hour and see how you get on.
Ensure that you’re breaking your tasks down into manageable chunks. If you have ‘design website’ on your list of to-dos, it’s likely to be off-putting. What are all the little steps that need to be done, and go from there. I like to use Asana (a free digital project management tool) to organise and manage my business, and within this tool you can break a project into tasks and subtasks and assign due dates for each. And when you complete the smaller chunks, make sure you celebrate as you go (even if it’s just a wee text to your biz bestie). You can decide in advance how you will celebrate and get it scheduled; book the brunch for when the website will be published… and work to that completion date!
Get creative - can you turn a boring task into a challenge? This might look like treating yourself to a reward when you reach a milestone, but could also be a competition with yourself against the clock or create a visual tracker to see how far you’ve come.
Get yourself an accountability partner. Having someone that you’re accountable to can work wonders. Share your goal with a friend, colleague or hire a coach (hi! It’s me!) and ask them to keep you on track. Having someone that you’re reporting your progress to can help keep you motivated.
Improve your environment and limit distractions. If your home or workspace is cluttered then you’re more likely to procrastinate. If my house is a mess, I like to take myself out to a café where I’m not going to be distracted by the chores.
And you’re going to also want to set-up screen time on your phone, block websites on your router, delete apps etc and do all you can to remove digital distractions.
My last tip to set yourself up for success is to visualise your future self having done the thing. Can you see yourself completing the task, and how will you feel when it’s done? There are lots of great guided meditations available online that can help with visualisation, and I’ve got a specific procrastination meditation available to the members of my programme, Project Manage Your Life. This can be helpful to get your started.
What next? How you can work with me:
Working with a coach will provide you with personalised strategies to optimise your time, regain control of your schedule, and create a more harmonious and fulfilling life.
Are you ready to get more time for the things that really matter?
I currently have space for 1-to-1 coaching clients; find out more here.