Have you ever had one of those days when you are ready to get some work done and you get distracted by urges to do other things? Well that's Procrastination, a sneaky culprit who creeps along at the worst time, just when you are ready to be the most productive.
These distractions have many voices, "Maybe I should organize my closet, clean the kitchen or maybe I should just binge watch all my shows so that I can finally clear my DVR." This last one may be just me, but any binge watcher can probably relate. These urges are often seen as mere distractions but often times they go a little deeper than that.
Many of my clients working on productivity issues often ask "Why doesn't the urge to organize or clean hit when I am actually ready? " What it comes down to is this, it's never about the distraction you want to do or get done, it is just plain avoidance! Avoidance doesn't promote a desire to organize, clean or watch TV, but instead it is a sign that the task at hand may contain some level of fear or discomfort.
In situations like these what does the body do? It tries to ward off those uncomfortable feelings by entertaining other activities that are manageable. Now this coping mechanism might be helpful in the moment but it is a short term solution. As we ignore the emergency alerts that our bodies are sending us, procrastination and avoidance set in, forcing us to push off, hide and stop activities essential to living our lives. The more we try to avoid situations or tasks that trigger anxious feelings, soon every situation begins to elicit some form of fear, resulting in an avoidance cycle of burnout and complacency.
So how do you overcome it? I offer the following steps which my clients have found to be really helpful.
1) Stop and Scan
I once worked with a writer who made her living by writing academic journals and reviews. At the time, she was having trouble finishing her projects, or just plain getting started. She complained she was always entertaining other projects, such as organizing her home office or decluttering her closet, whenever she had a deadline looming. This procrastination was dire, as she had missed several deadlines; endangering her job. I observed in our sessions she was getting stuck in her head a lot, obsessing over the need to get her home in order.
So we initiated a Stop and Scan, a self management technique used to ascertain the reality of a presenting situation. As soon as you feel yourself drifting off from the task at hand, stop and check in with yourself. Start with your mind and then move your way down into your body. Start first by asking yourself, "What am I currently thinking?" Now in my client's case she was thinking she wanted to declutter her closet, but that wasn't the reality. It was what she was telling herself, but we had to dig deeper, look for the meta message in her avoidance. So then I asked "Is there any truth to this desire?" Now I advise you to really sit with this question, don't rush. When I asked her this she came to the realization that she actually didn't want to declutter her closet but rather she was afraid to write. The meta message was fear, which caused her to start doubting herself. As soon as she let fear dictate what she would do, which was nothing, she became a prisoner.
2) Be Truthful
When you find what it is that is preventing you from your task then own it. If it is fear then say to yourself "In this moment I am scared". Sit with it for a moment. Be truthful with yourself. It's ok to feel fear, it is a sign you are alive, but what's not ok is to be held prisoner by it.
When you allow fear and avoidance in then you're not a genuine reflection of the real you. You will internalize resentment that will cause you to be unhappy with yourself, ending up disorganized and confused. You'll be confused because you won't know what to do or who to be. To be truthful with yourself takes an amazing amount of bravery. To be truthful demands reflection and a sincere openness to really sit with what stops you, what your fears are and things that are often uncomfortable.
3) Get up and move forward
Sir Isaac Newton said, "Objects at rest tend to stay at rest and objects in motion tend to stay in motion." The same can be applied to humans as it can for apples
Momentum is key in overcoming procrastination. The human body has a tendency to maintain motion when motion is initiated. Basically get done what you have to when you are tackling other tasks. Try to schedule activities in productivity batches. If you find yourself responding to emails then you are already in the flow of writing, so schedule all writing tasks, such as blog posts, social media updates and article submissions at the same time.
So now that you have spent a good amount of time getting clear on why you are procrastinating, it is time for you to make a move forward. Face that fear and break out of that prison.
So ask yourself, “What are the steps I can take right now to get me one step closer to accomplishing my task?" Now the steps don't have to be big or overblown, they can be as big or as small as you can handle, but they must move you forward. The point of asking this question is learning to trust yourself. Learning to pay attention to your instincts and recognize that your inner resourcefulness is always trying to move you in a safe and productive way.
Hope these steps are helpful.
Cheers,
Ed