Procrastination: the act of delaying or postponing something; a delaying tactic; stalling. In other words, putting things off until later because you’d rather be doing something else.
Procrastination is NOT taking the necessary time to think something through and avoid making a hasty decision.
You might say, “But I work better under pressure.” Bullshit!
That’s an excuse, and it’s selfish if other people are waiting for you to finish your task, so they can finish theirs.
Imagine an organization filled with procrastinators…
How productive, efficient, and successful would that be?
When would things get done, and when they did, what kind of quality are we talking about when
everyone is rushing, or “working better under pressure?”
Now, don’t get me wrong, procrastination aside, some people can become truly focused and
knock out some unbelievably fantastic work, but it’s not usually due to deliberately putting it off.
When we procrastinate, it can induce stress and worry knowing a deadline is approaching. That’s
not so great for our mental health and well-being.
In addition to stress and worry, when we procrastinate over and over, we develop the habit of doing so, almost addictive.
It becomes easy to put things off…
This morning becomes “later”… later becomes “tonight”… tonight becomes “tomorrow”… tomorrow becomes “the weekend”… etc.
Ultimately, we may start to have anxiety, a lack of motivation, then even depression when we
feel we’ve let others down, and ourselves.
An organization filled with procrastinators are filled with “busy work” where it looks like things
are getting done, but are not actually moving forward with goals because no one is working on
high payoff activities.
You know what, though, when we actually get things done when they’re supposed to get done, things that are important, things that move us toward individual goals and accomplishments, which, in turn, move our company toward its goals, we all feel SO good!
THAT good feeling can become addictive because everyone now has the habit and routine of getting things done!
Imagine how amazing THAT kind of company looks like!
Great!
How do we do it?
Simple!
These 4 steps:
Step #1 - Admit you’re a procrastinator!
Stop lying to yourself and justifying “why” it’s better to put it off. When it comes to important tasks, the only time it’s better to put it off is sickness, a true emergency, and maybe a severe hangover!
If you notice, I wrote simple, not easy. Believe me, I understand. As a Sagittarius man, it’s my birth right to be a procrastinator. It’s innate. I can’t help it! I am a Master Procrastinator!
Now, that’s not to say all Sagittarius people are procrastinators, but we’re known for it. Which brings up a crucial point.
Just because we’re known for something less than ideal, we don’t get to use it as an excuse for doing it.
The important thing is to identify and acknowledge any area of who we are that needs improvement.
Hence, admit it!
For the record, ANYONE can be a procrastinator, not just us Sagittarius peeps.
Step #2 - Identify the 3 most important things you need to do and WRITE THEM DOWN!
When you close out your day, grab a sticky note, or some kind of equivalent, and write down the 3 most important things you need to get done tomorrow.
It’s extremely important that you select tasks that move you toward your goals, your success, be it professional or personal, but NOT low-payoff activities that don’t move you along in life.
Remember, length of time is not automatically indicative of being a high-payoff activity. It can be something that may take you all of five minutes, but that five minutes might be a particularly important first step to the beginning of a major project.
Place that note at your desk, on your computer, the bathroom mirror you look at first thing in the morning, wherever you will see it before you start your day.
Identifying the 3 most important things you need to do the day before eliminates the temptation to procrastinate in the morning trying to decide what you need to do.
Brilliant, right?
Look, as a Master Procrastinator, I know all the tricks!
Step #3 - Just do them!
Like Nike, in their famous ad campaign says, “Just do It!”
The most difficult part of any task is starting.
Don’t think!
Just start!
Don’t know where to start?
Go back to Step #2 and WRITE IT DOWN THE NIGHT BEFORE!
Ernest Hemingway, the famous American writer, had a great trick for never having to think about what to write at the start of his day of writing. He would stop mid-paragraph the day before to end his day of writing, so that he knew exactly how to pick up the next day without wasting any time.
And just like a writer, who rarely has a first draft be the final draft, your project and tasks don’t have to be perfect the first shot out.
Especially since you’ll no longer be putting things off to the absolute latest possible time, you’ll actually have the time to get your tasks and projects completed as great as possible, even if it means some revision.
Progress, not perfection, helps to eliminate procrastination.
Step #4 - Repeat EVERYDAY!
To get rid of a bad habit we must replace it with a good habit.
The only way to develop a habit is to first develop a routine, which requires deliberate practice.
That’s why you MUST repeat these steps DAILY, until they manifest itself as an automatic urge, ultimately becoming an ingrained habit.
To truly make this an awesome habit and once and for all eliminating procrastination from your life and your organization, you must WANT to do it.
Let’s throw in a bonus step…CELEBRATE!
