According to a study by the American Psychological Institute, over 20% of adults consider themselves chronic procrastinators with up to 95% of students procrastinating.

What is procrastination?

Putting off a task to get another done isn’t procrastination, it’s time management and prioritising. Procrastination happens when we repeatedly avoid tasks to do something less important. Like when we find ourselves postponing a big report to get some emails done or to do something more enjoyable like kicking off a new project or scrolling social media.

It’s a self-sabotaging behaviour that feels good short term as we get a brief sense of relief. Yet, chronically avoiding things and the emotions that they come with has long-term negative impacts. It can eat away at our confidence, destroy our focus and lower our resilience.

I’m not a procrastinator. I get things done when they need to be done. I have my moments, however, I’ve recognised why I procrastinate and have tools in place to overcome that. I’d like to share these tools so you can do so too.

Why do we procrastinate?

Nobody procrastinates because they’re lazy. Lazy individuals don’t care about getting the job done at all, procrastinators often care way too much! It’s all about the emotions we attach to the task and the meaning we ascribe to them.

The lack of motivation to ‘get on and do it’ is caused by a fear of failure, or perfectionism in some form. If we are anxious or stressed about the task, we often put it off to escape those feelings. Dr. Sirois said in a 2013 study that procrastination is seeking short-term mood relief. Checking our phones usually feels better than finally filing our taxes.

When we hold limiting beliefs about ourselves and our potential, the below automatic thoughts could get in the way of our productivity. This internal monologue could sound like this:

–       This is new to me and I’m scared I’ll get it wrong!

–       It’s way too big and I don’t know where to begin.

–       I’m no good at this anyway.

–       No matter how I do this, my boss won’t like it.

–       Now’s not the right time to start a business anyway – who would buy from me?

–       Nobody really wants to hear what I have to say in the pitch, so why bother?

What can we do about it?

Procrastination can be overcome and I’ve seen many achieve it! Leonardo Da Vinci, Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and even Oprah Winfrey have spoken openly about procrastination, yet they have each overcome it to achieve great success, and you can too.

Here are six steps to overcoming procrastination, for good!

1. Set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely):

Get clear on the end goal. Why is this important? Will it mean getting a qualification to do your dream job and help people? Look at the overall goal, but set smaller ones on the way. For example – reading the brief, collecting the information you need, and starting a plan to execute.

2. Practise accountability:

Write down what you’re doing and why. You are 42% more likely to achieve goals if they’re written down. Tell others what you are doing as well. Both so they don’t disturb you, but also so they can offer any support. If it’s a work task and you tell your boss or colleague you have a big scary pitch, they may offer their help.

3. Show some self-compassion:

You’re putting off a task because it comes with negative emotions. We can overcome overwhelm if we have things to look forward to and use positive self-talk. Take a look at the Self Talk + mobile app, a resource of positive self-talk you can listen to whilst you go about your day to rewire those negative automatic thoughts. If you have no energy for the task, look at why. Make sure you have taken care of yourself if you expect to take care of significant tasks ahead.

4. Build discipline:

Discipline and resilience are muscles that we can train. They say ‘eat the frog first’ which means do the most difficult thing first before you allow yourself to complete the ‘easy’ or ‘fun’ tasks. Plan for the big tasks first and you can fit in low-priority tasks around or afterwards. The app ‘UseMotion’ allows you to plan tasks by importance and uses AI to create your schedule with high-priority or large tasks blocked in but also split out into smaller tasks.

5. Make it enjoyable:

Think of ways you can bring enjoyment to the task. Put on your favourite music, have some snacks, and plan something for afterwards. Give yourself small rewards after each section is completed like a coffee or tea. Gamify the process with a timer and try to ‘beat the clock’ for small dopamine hits along the way. Use the ‘Forest’ app to watch trees grow as you focus and stay off your phone.

6. Identify the root cause of your beliefs:

Until you come to terms with why you procrastinate and re-write those unhelpful limiting beliefs, you will continue to do so. Use a coach external to your life to look objectively at your behaviour and to help you identify those beliefs re-write them in a valuable and productive way,

It is no solution to try and get it all done in  a day! You’ll only find yourself procrastinating again  if you still have the unhelpful programming of limiting beliefs and negative feelings around a task. Behaviours can be unlearned, and we can achieve what we want with the right support.