“I’ll do it later… tomorrow… One day… didn’t have time… too complicated… too many emergencies. »
Few people escape procrastination. For some it is a way of life, for others sporadic moments. In any case, how do you stop procrastinating?
Because when you procrastinate, you usually don’t feel very good… This can generate anxiety, stress, guilt. In short, nothing too motivating here.
So here are some causes of procrastination and solutions to stop procrastinating!
The causes of procrastination
1.You don’t know where to start.
You have a big project to start, your first budget to produce, a garage to repair, you need to use a new tool to do your job. In short, you have to do something new or in a new way of working and you don’t know where to start.
2. You don’t leave yourself the right to make mistakes.
You don’t dare finish or do something because you’re afraid it won’t be perfect. The fear of failure blocks the possibilities of moving forward.
The race for perfection is a brake on action.
3. You thrive on the emergency room.
You are so comfortable in managing operations or emergencies, that taking a moment to do “something else” or work on substantive issues is not in your habit and especially is not comfortable.
4. You have trouble prioritizing.
Prioritizing what you want to do also means not doing anything else that you can like or want to do. It’s saying no to some elements to prioritise others.
The causes of procrastination are usually found under the theme of time management and the courage to get out of one’s comfort zone.
These are very human reasons, and they’re not problematic in and of themselves, if you’re feeling good.
They become problematic when procrastination prevents you from moving towards your goals or when they cause anxiety, stress and guilt.
Solutions to stop procrastinating
1. Eliminate uncertainty
Uncertainties can create anxiety, which becomes a blocking element. Not sure where to start? Take a moment to get organized, to train, to ask for help.
Nowadays, you can find information in many places, easily and free of charge on the internet. Google and YouTube are good allies. I once built a “Gantt” table in 5 minutes in Excel by watching a YouTube table, and yes I procrastinated because I didn’t have a “system”.
Other sources of information: your colleagues, friends, family.
Get help.
Every day I meet people full of talent and potential who don’t dare to get help because they are “capable”. Getting help does not in any way doubt your abilities! Getting help allows you to be more efficient.
Another way to take the guesswork out of it is to ask questions! Yes!! Are you in doubt, you don’t know the priorities, what is important for the other person? Tired of having to start your files over again? Validate expectations, goals, and success metrics more.
Clarity is the ally of performance.
2. Work differently
If you’re uncomfortable with making mistakes, one way to gain confidence and allow yourself to dare is to work differently.
- Create small goals
- Create small deliverables
- When you get stuck, ask yourself what you could move forward on. A colleague didn’t deliver what you needed? Can you make progress on anything else in the meantime?
- Deliver concrete things, and adjust.
Manage your time in an agile way.
Wanting to do too much, too perfect, with a close date that looks more like a recipe for failure than a recipe for success. At the same time, tell yourself that the fear of succeeding exists, as strong as the fear of failure. Daring to deliver something that is important to us is an important action, in English we would say it is a ” statement “!
Procrastinating leaves you in that comfort zone. Take action: that is, deliver little bits to stop procrastinating. This allows you to move forward and gradually increase your confidence.
Working differently means being more agile and communicating more.
3. Recognize the value of your time
Here are a few tips to better manage your time.
- Considering when you’re most productive and energetic to do the most difficult tasks or ask you to step out of your comfort zone.
- Close your phone, emails, etc. If you feel bad about doing it, start with 20 minutes, work your way up to 90 minutes. For my part, I often put my phone in “do not disturb” mode, I know that if there is a family emergency it will ring.
- Organize your priorities, those who succeed have time management routines! Mine is: on Friday evening / Sunday evening or Monday morning I organize my week by setting priorities, each end of the day I take stock and I adjust what needs to be adjusted. Time will not manage itself.
- Before you say yes, ask questions and look at the impacts. Have you ever agreed to help someone or do a project at an earlier date only to realize that it was more complicated than you initially thought? While it’s never too late to adjust, ask a few questions at the beginning to get more clarity.
- If you don’t know where you’re wasting time, spend a week to a month listing what you’re doing. Then, prioritize, delegate, hire.
- Reverse schedule! I love this strategy. I start from the deadline and “go back” to organize my time. This allows me to have more clarity, make more realistic plans, or adjust the deadline if I realize that it doesn’t work.
4. Recognize the value of other people’s time
I also invite you to start observing your context and the impacts that your time management has on others. When you’re late, do you put stress on colleagues, suppliers, partners? Start to see the impacts more holistically. What we are looking for here is to position ourselves as someone who contributes to making the system more fluid, not to adding grains of sand!
Conclusion
In conclusion, the reasons we have for procrastinating are neither good nor bad. The idea here is that if you want to achieve your goals, reduce your stress and anxiety, you can put in place simple things, one thing at a time, in small steps, and move in the direction you want.
Share your tips for quitting procrastinating!