If you have you ever sat down to work on a business assignment, your resume or, maybe an important speech you’ve been asked to give, and then realized it would be much less stressful to check your Social Media Accounts or the sports scores; join the crowd. A recent study revealed that 20% of adults regularly procrastinate. An estimated 85% of college and University students procrastinate at some level and 88% of all of those surveyed said they procrastinate for at least one 1 hour daily*. As a side note, a colleague of mine pointed out, many people surveyed may have just never got around to complete the survey. Hmmm.
The point is that lots of people procrastinate, and, for the most part, to their detriment.
But I believe that procrastination is a habit; And habits can be reshaped or replaced. So, there is hope for those of us who procrastinate. Here are my top 5 tips to overcome procrastination.
Tip 1: Start the day with the hardest task – that is, if you’re up for it. This pays homage to the old Mark Twain advice to eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. I believe the entire thought read: “If it’s your job to eat a frog, its best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, its best to eat the biggest one first”. Translated – do the most challenging and difficult to-do item on your list before anything else, and you will have checked it off. Good advice, but only if you’re up for it. Some of us might not be at our best selves first thing in the morning – and in fact, might be better off eating our frogs in the afternoon or at night, when we’re at our peak performance level. So, the advice here is to realize when you’re going to be at your best self – and at that point, eat your frog.
Tip 2: Do the quick to-dos really quickly. I remember getting advice early in my career to keep all sorts of email folders to manage inflow into my inbox – folders telling me to respond tomorrow… or respond on Friday… or respond early next week. And at the time, I remember how overwhelming – and inefficient this all sounded (and no wonder it actually was advice from someone who himself was quite inefficient). My best practice now is to make a super quick assessment of an incoming message, think about if I can realistically respond immediately, and then just do it. I can report that with this strategy, I currently have only 14 total messages in my inbox as I write. For me, that’s an improvement.
Tip 3: Make your intentions known – be accountable to someone. If overcoming procrastination is outside your comfort zone – as it is for many of us – make a pledge to take the leap and, ideally, have that pledge be public. You don’t necessarily have to announce it to the world – especially if you’re a private person and don’t really want to share what you’re working on. But find someone supportive you can be accountable to and tell them. It might be a close friend, your coach, a colleague, or a group you belong to. The more you’re accountable, the more likely you’ll be to follow through.
Tip 4: Reward yourself for small wins. Procrastination and “perfectionism” often go hand in hand. Those of us who are perfectionists and/or high achievers might not necessarily feel it’s worth celebrating that we started to respond to a few more emails or were able to accomplish our most difficult task first thing in the morning. But these are achievements worth noting and celebrating. It’s not easy to take the plunge and do something outside your comfort zone. So, celebrate your small win and move onto the next one.
Tip 5: Remember that not all procrastination is bad. Procrastination can serve a purpose and be useful. I tend to think of this in terms of staging. By allowing yourself time to consider different ideas, think in original ways, and then come back to the task at hand, the finished product often benefits. Creativity can flow more easily. Of course, there is an important caveat here: that you actually return to the task at hand; Because if not, then basking in the worthiness of procrastination becomes itself yet another tricky procrastination technique.
In the end, procrastination can be challenging to overcome; But with a plan in place and the courage to take it forward, you can make great strides in your time management and productivity.
Are you a chronic procrastinator? Partner with Mark on developing your own go-to strategies that will help reshape this habit.
* Source: thrivemyway.com
** Source: Andy Molinsk Global Dexterity
1 Source: Adam Grant Professor University of Pennsylvania