From procrastinating to productive: 10 ways to shift gears.
As a business owner, you never feel like there are enough hours in the day, right?
But what doesn’t help matters, and can be wildly frustrating, is that despite being ridiculously busy, we often find ourselves wasting time procrastinating (cue mindless Instagram scroll).
It blows my mind that I can literally have an endless list of important tasks to do, that I sacrifice my personal time to attempt to achieve, and then find myself at various points in the day watching endless videos of funny cat fails, or spontaneously deciding I’d rather organise my spice cupboard. Sound familiar?
In an attempt to free myself from procrastination’s time-wasting powers I have taken every opportunity to learn about it, reading articles and listening to podcasts, so I decided to gather all my learnings and pull them into one place (for both of ours benefit).
Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist, therapist or any other kind of ‘ist’, I am just one procrastination suffering woman trying to help another out.
Ok, so, time for the big part, why we procrastinate…
Why We Procrastinate
In order to begin shifting away from procrastination and into productivity, I think understanding why we procrastinate was the first pivotal moment for me.
I’m not 100% sure which podcast or article it was when this clunked into place for me, but when I heard this, the magnitude of it was a bit of a light bulb moment.
So, at its core, procrastination is often fuelled by two main ingredients - perfectionism & self-doubt; fear the thing you need to work on will never be good enough, and/or, fear that you are not good enough. Yes, it goes that deep.
This delightful cocktail of perceived inadequacy leads us to overestimate the importance or difficulty of a task, and so we’ll then find literally anything else we can possibly do instead to still feel ‘busy’ but not actually tackle that task. And, unfortunately, being busy does not equate to being productive. I know, ouch.
Busy does not = Productive.
Plus, it’s a vicious cycle, because the longer we leave the task, the bigger and scarier it feels, right? So now a task that was probably really simple and wouldn’t have taken very long is instead sitting on our shoulders like a giant elephant.
Luckily for you and me, my many instances of procrastinating whilst learning about procrastination have meant I’ve actually gathered a few very effective tools and tips that I now use on a daily basis, which I am sharing with you below.
My top 10 ways to beat procrastination and get productive
Some of these you will no doubt have heard before, and hopefully, others will be new helpful tips for you to deploy in moments of distraction. The last few are some of my fav’s, so keep going to the end, I know I talk a lot so it’s quite a long one, but I promise it’s worth it.
1) IDENTIFY THE SPECIFIC FEAR-FUELLED THOUGHT OR EMOTION AT THE ROOT OF YOUR PROCRASTINATION.
Let’s get deep right off the bat - something bigger than this task is triggering you. Perhaps you are; scared of failure, worried about what your colleague or client will think of your work, or harbouring a belief that you are just not good enough?
I know these sound a bit extreme, but dig deep and ask yourself why you are avoiding that task. Ask the question several times, and something like this will probably be hiding underneath all the surface level reasons for your procrastination.
Identifying the specific feeling being triggered and the root cause of it helps us separate it from the actual task at hand, so we can see the task at face value without all the extra baggage we’ve attached to it, and then move forwards and get it done.
Once you have identified your root cause, you will probably notice that the same theme appears on other occasions of procrastination… Ultimately for me, it almost always has something to do with fear of failure/not being good enough, or fear of others perception of my work (fun, right?).
This all links to perfectionism, performing and worthiness, so I’m just going to leave a name here that you will find invaluable if you decide to dive into the world of working on these… Brene Brown - Thank me later.
Ok, now we’ve got the heavy stuff out the way, let’s talk actionable tactics.
2) PRIORITISE & PLAN AHEAD - THEN FOLLOW. YOUR. PLAN.
It sounds obvious, right, you’ve heard this one a million times, but taking the time to plan a schedule of work for the week, and then actually implementing discipline and following it, closes the gaps for procrastination to sneak in. You just follow. the. plan.
Easier said than done I know, because we all love to plan, but following the plan is trickier.
When making your plan, I have found using this 3 step method the best way to ensure the right tasks are getting done:
1) Write down all your to-dos. Everything. Task vomit onto a piece of scrap paper or a word doc.
2) Next, prioritise them by order of importance & needle-moving ability. Anything low down the list, consider removing entirely or delegating if you can. Don’t be tempted to do these first because they feel easier - THIS IS A PROCRASTINATION TRAP!
3) Now, schedule out your task execution, prioritising the needle-moving tasks first. Take into account any other commitments you might have, and be realistic about the time needed for each task. We all have a habit of overestimating what we can achieve in a day, and that only leads to stress, which makes you feel more overwhelmed, and likely increases your chance of avoiding important tasks.
3) WHEN YOU WRITE YOUR TO-DO LIST, BE VERY DETAILED ABOUT EXACTLY WHAT THE TASK INVOLVES.
So now we are planning out our week and creating a scheduled plan of to-dos. When doing this, I find a vague to-do list with just headline to do's can be very overwhelming, and it often causes me to over anticipate the size of the task.
The way I found to overcome this, is to actually describe the task that needs doing in more detail, then it always feels more achievable. For example:
TO-DO: Call Brenda
TO-DO: Call Brenda to discuss the time/location of our next meeting.
Maybe it’s just me, but the open ended-ness of ‘Call Brenda’ just feels like it could be a bigger task thank it is, or involve me doing some supplementary bit of work to go with the call, not to mention my ridiculous millennial communication anxiety, so then I put off making the call. But, when I write what the call is about, I realise that this will only take me 30 seconds and isn’t so scary after all.
4) START YOUR WORKING DAY WITH A TOUGH TASK
This was a game changer I learnt from Tony Robbins. Start with a task that is important and/or difficult, the type of thing you would usually procrastinate on and then panic about at 4:55pm, and crush that task first thing!
The powerful feeling of accomplishment this creates is immense, so then everything you do from that point onward feels easy for the rest of the day. I know it sounds simple, but it really makes a difference. Try it, I literally feel like my superhero best self when I do this.
5) START YOUR DAY WITH A MORNING ROUTINE
Since working from my home for the last 18 months, I have learnt the huge power of starting your day with an intentional (pre-work) morning routine.
I’ll be honest, I’ve not been perfect at maintaining it, but it is in those moments of poor routine maintenance that I have really noticed the importance and value of having one. When I am in a good morning routine I feel calm, organised and prepared for my day, when I don’t have a good morning routine I feel flustered, dis-organised and groggy.
The morning routine that I have found best sets me up for the day is one that nourishes my mind, body and soul, and goes like this:
6.45am: Wake up
7am: Move my body for 30 minutes (I usually make myself a workout schedule to follow)
7.30am: Shower
7.45am: Breakfast and read a book. (I always have a book on the go, professional or personal and this is my time to climb into it)
8.15am: Meditate
8.30am: Get ready for work
9am: In the office (don’t forget to start with that difficult task!)
The key I have found to this being sustainable is making it achievable, and working with your unique body and mind and what feels right for you.
6) USE MEL ROBBINS’ 5 SECOND RULE
Another one that sounds super simple but is ridiculously effective, is Mel Robbin’s five-second rule. She explains that hesitation is the biggest killer of action and goal achievement and what you need to do is get in there before your doubt does. To do this, all you need to do is to take a breath, and count down from five down to one and then go! Immediately. Don’t think, just do the thing.
Tip: This is what helps me get out of bed at 6.45am (I am a night owl by nature, not an early bird)
7) FLIP THE SCRIPT
Another tip (I think I learnt from Dean Graziosi) is to flip the script on your perception of a task. You can change your outlook on a task by literally changing one letter, and it makes a huge difference!
Outlook a) ‘I've got to do this.’
Outlook b) ‘I get to do this!’
Swapping that ‘o’ to an ‘e’ literally shifts you from a mindset of begrudging to a mindset of gratitude, and that shit’s powerful!
8) MAKE THE TASK ENJOYABLE
You can thank Tony Robbins again for this one, and yet again, it’s super simple. When you are faced with a task you don’t want to do, ask yourself how you can make it enjoyable for yourself. For example, say I’ve got a big project I need to get on with, but am avoiding thanks to my delightful friend’s perfectionism and self-doubt, I literally ask myself, ‘what would make this task more enjoyable for me?’
The answer to this usually involves lighting a candle, grabbing myself a hot drink, opening the window and selecting a podcast or playlist to listen to whilst I work… Whatever it is that will make me enjoy the time more.
I’ve also used this tactic with mundane life tasks like hoovering and driving and now look forward to tuning into my favourite podcast every time I get in the car or plug the hoover in.
9) SWITCH ON DO NOT DISTURB
If you are anything like me, one irrelevant notification from Instagram can suck me into a black hole of stories, memes and inspirational home decor, then 45 minutes later I resurface feeling totally confused and empty, wondering what the hell just happened.
The only way I can guarantee this doesn’t happen is to switch on do not disturb. I know what you are thinking, what if I get an important message or phone call during that time, but the truth is, the chance of that is probably pretty small (if it’s important they’ll leave a message)… small enough to risk for one hour whilst you get some important work done anyway, the memes will still be there when you are done, I promise.
10) SET A 5-MINUTE TIMER.
My final tactic, which always works when nothing else will, is to set a timer.
Convince yourself to just do the task for 5 measly minutes, set a timer on your phone or PC, and hit start. The moment it starts, commit to focusing deeply on that task until the timer goes off, that's all you've got to do.
Chances are though, once you've got started, you'll be in a rhythm and be happy to continue. You've just got to convince yourself to start, that’s the hard bit, and that what the timer does, because 5 minutes feels doable.
Adaptation: Another way I use the timer method is to have a power hour. Set the timer for 1 hour, and blast through as many of your tasks in that hour as you can. This is a great end of day tactic for me to ‘clear the decks’.
Ok, that’s my tips done, I hope some of these were useful for you. Now stop procrastinating and get back to work! 😉
