You have a deadline looming. However, instead of doing your work, you are fiddling with miscellaneous things like checking email, social media, watching videos, surfing blogs and forums. You know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything.
We are all guilty of procrastinating from time to time as there’s always something more interesting than the work at hand. We usually think it’s no big deal since a deadline is our biggest inspiration, and we do our best work when we’re inspired. However, procrastination is a massive waste of time and can greatly hurt productivity. When we procrastinate, we squander away our free time and put off important tasks we should be doing until it’s too late. When it finally is too late, we panic and wish we had started earlier.
The chronic procrastinators delay, put off things, slack, hide from work, and face work only when it’s unavoidable, then repeat the loop all over again. It’s a bad habit that eats us away and prevents us from achieving greater results in life.
The reasons for procrastinating vary from person to person. At its core, procrastination is an avoidance strategy where procrastinators choose to do something else instead of doing what they need to do. Procrastination is the antithesis of productivity. It is a habit, and one that many people don’t even realize they’re engaging in. However, it is possible to learn how to overcome procrastination once we know why we do it.
In this article we will take a look at different types of procrastination, how we can break the patterns, and better manage our time and productivity.
There are five basic types of procrastinators. See if you can relate to any of these:
The Perfectionists
The Perfectionists pay too much attention to the minor details and are afraid to start the task at hand because they get stressed out about getting every detail right. They can also get stuck in the process, even after they’ve started, hindering them from moving on.
Advice for the Perfectionist
Instead of letting your obsession with details take up all your time, be clear about the purpose of your tasks and assign a time limit to each of them. This will force you to stay focused and finish your task within the time frame. Procrastination is sometimes a subconscious fear of failure. If you put off a task long enough, then you don’t have to face up to the potential (and usually imagined) negative results. Stress of getting things “just right”, with a focus on minor details, may be too much and cause you to delay continuing the task. Fear is at the root of the problem and can sabotage your desire to move forward.
Try visualizing the completion of your task in a positive way. Think about how it would feel and focus on this as you move forward with it. Perfection doesn’t exist therefore simply put in your best effort and realize that’s all you can do.
The Dreamers
The Dreamers enjoy making the ideal plan more so than taking action. They are highly creative and have many brilliant ideas but can’t quite seem to bring them into fruition. The main reason for this is because there’s usually no structure or goal-setting involved once the idea has been created. This aimless approach ends up manifesting as a lack of decision-making and can significantly delay a project.
Advice for the Dreamer
To stop yourself from being carried away by your endless imagination, get your feet back on the ground by setting specific and achievable goals for each day. Set a goal and break down the plan into small tasks that you can take action on right away.
Reflect on your progress while you work. Track your input and output for each task, so you can easily tell which tasks are a waste of time with little importance. This will help you focus on doing the things that bring positive results, which will improve productivity.
Write down a timeline of what you want to achieve and by when. Ideally, do this daily to keep yourself on track and accountable. Creative minds tend to jump from one idea to the next, so cultivating focus is essential. Set out a task list for the week ahead with the steps you want to focus on each day. Doing this ahead of time will stop your mind from wandering to different ideas.
The Avoiders
The Avoiders are afraid to take on tasks that they think they can’t manage. They would rather put off work than be judged by others when they end up making mistakes. The complexity of a task can cause the mind to lose motivation and avoid doing it altogether, choosing instead to stay in its comfort zone. The search then starts for a more enjoyable task, and the harder tasks are put off. This can cause stress and dread when the task inevitably comes up to be completed.
Advice for the Avoider
Don’t start your day answering emails or checking your social media profiles. Most emails are unimportant and steal your time and mental energy before you even notice. Instead, focus on the most challenging task first to tackle this type of procrastination. This will give you a sense of achievement and will help you build momentum for a productive day ahead.
Break the challenge down into smaller tasks, and tackle each one individually. Understand how much time and energy is really needed for a given task and make realistic calculations. For example, if you have a project that has technical elements to it that you know you’ll find challenging, list each step you need to take in order to complete these difficult elements. Think of ways you can resolve potential hurdles. Perhaps you have a co-worker that may have time to help, or perhaps the solution may be easier than you initially thought. Put each task in order of most daunting to least daunting. Then try to deal with the more challenging parts of each task in the morning so that momentum is created as the tasks get easier through the day.
The Crisis Makers
The Crisis Makers deliberately push back work until the last minute. They find deadlines (aka the crises) exciting and believe that they work best when working under pressure, which causes them to manage their time poorly.
Advice for the Crisis Maker
Being forced to rush the work because you will perform better is just an illusion as it actually leaves no room for reviewing the work to make it better afterwards. If you always leave work until the last minute, try using the Pomodoro technique, developed by Italian entrepreneur Francesco Cirillo. It focuses on working in short, intensely focused bursts, usually 25 minutes, and then giving yourself a brief break (5-6 minutes) to recover and start over. For example, use a timer and divide your complex work into small, manageable sessions. In between the small sessions, give yourself a break to recover. This makes it easier to focus on the task at hand, gives your brain a regular break, and gives you time to go through your work again for any improvements.
The Busy Procrastinators
The Busy Procrastinators have trouble prioritizing tasks because they either have too many of them or refuse to work on what they see as unworthy of their effort. They don’t know how to choose the task that’s best for them and simply postpone making any decisions. Time is spent constantly switching from one task to another, or spending too much time deciding what to do. This often happens to people who like to multitask or have a variety of things to do all the time. Things can get mixed up, and prioritization becomes an issue.
Advice for the Busy Procrastinator
Identify the purpose of your task and the expected outcome. Make sure to question the value and purpose of each task, and make a list in order of importance. Important tasks are the ones that add value in the long run. You only have so much time and energy and you don’t want to waste that on things that don’t matter.
The Distraction Prones
Research has shown that our brains aren’t wired to focus for long periods of time before distraction kicks in. This type of procrastination may not always be an unconscious decision to sabotage and put off work but is simply a result of your work setup or types of co-workers you have. It is important to note that our attention spans also depend largely on the task and on our individual brain.
Advice for the Distraction Prone
Be mindful of your workspace and potential distractions. Schedule a specific time to converse with your co-workers, put headphones on to minimize listening to what’s going on around you, and switch your phone off. Aim to do this for 20-30 minutes at a time, and then take a break. This will be a much more efficient way of working and getting things done. This is also why scheduling down time is so important for productivity.
Quick Fix
Oftentimes we perceive our problems larger than what they actually are. This "Quick Fix" section is meant to nudge you in the right direction. However, if you feel that your issues are more than you can handle on your own, do not hesitate to reach out and I will be your cheerleader and we will go through this together.
Whether the type of procrastination is self-sabotage or being a victim of a distracting environment, you can take control by adding the following to your workflow.
Keep Track of Your Time
If you want to prevent the bad habit of procrastination from coming back, keep track of the time you spend every day. By having a clear idea of where you spend your time, you can always review your productivity and know which areas to improve. It gets you a categorized breakdown of how you spend your time and helps you to find out how much time you’re really on-task. You can even label activities as productive and non-productive so as to block your biggest distractions.
Break Your Work into Little Steps
Part of the reason why we procrastinate is because subconsciously, we find the work too overwhelming for us. Break it down into little parts, then focus on one part at the time. If you still procrastinate on the task after breaking it down, then break it down even further. Soon, your task will be so simple that you will be thinking that you might as well just do it now. When it is done, move on to the next task, without looking further ahead.
Create a Detailed Timeline with Specific Deadlines
Having just one deadline for your work is like an invitation to procrastinate. That’s because we get the impression that we have time and keep pushing everything back until it’s too late. Break down your project, then create an overall timeline with specific deadlines for each small task. This way, you know you have to finish each task by a certain date.
Take Planned Breaks
The human brain isn’t designed to work continuously on the same task and this can lead to procrastination. Make sure you take regular, structured breaks away from your task so that you can come back refreshed and ready to be more productive. A break as short as 5 minutes is enough to keep your mind sharp and ward off fatigue.
Reward Yourself
It is important to acknowledge and reward yourself for achieving even the small tasks. It creates a sense of motivation and releases those feel-good, productive emotions that spur you on to achieve even more. Make your reward proportional to the task you completed. Getting a smaller task done gets you a cup of your favorite coffee or snack while a major task can be rewarded as a weekend trip or other fun activity.
Change Your Environment
Different environments have different impacts on our productivity. Look at your work desk and your room. Do you feel good going into your workspace? Is your workspace cluttered or inspiring? Look for ways to make your workspace work better for you.
Eliminate Your Procrastination Enablers
If you are procrastinating a little too much, maybe that’s because you make it easy to procrastinate. Identify your websites and apps that take up a lot of your time and shift them into a separate folder that is less accessible. Disable notifications on your phone and computer.
Involve a Friend
Having a companion makes the whole process much more fun. Ideally, your friend should be someone who has his/her own set of goals. Both of you will hold each other accountable to your goals and plans. While it’s not necessary for both of you to have the same goals, it can be even more beneficial if you do.
Tell Others About Your Goals
Tell your friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and family about your projects. Now whenever you see them, they are bound to ask you about your status on those projects.
Find Someone Who Has Already Done It
What is it you want to accomplish here, and who are the people who have accomplished this already? Go seek them out and connect with them. Seeing living proof that your goals are very well achievable if you take action is one of the best motivators to get things done.
Reevaluate Your Goals
If you have been procrastinating for an extended period of time, it might reflect a misalignment between what you want and what you are currently doing. Oftentimes we outgrow our goals as we discover more about ourselves, but we don’t update our goals to reflect that. What exactly do you want to achieve? What should you do to get there? What are the steps to take? Does your current work align with that? If not, what can you do about it?
Stop Waiting
Are you waiting for a perfect time to do this? Maybe now is not the best time because of X, Y, Z reasons? Ditch that thought because there’s never a perfect time. If you keep waiting for one, you are never going to accomplish anything.
Just Do It
At the end, it boils down to taking action. You can do all the strategizing, planning and hypothesizing, but if you don’t take action, nothing’s going to happen.
Need More Than a Quick Fix?
You may notice most of the characteristics of procrastinators have to do with their mindset. People keep delaying work because of different variations of fear. This is exactly why tweaking our attitude towards work can help us stop procrastinating. We will work together to find out what your reasons and triggers are. Understanding what procrastination really is and defining your avoidance tendencies are important in moving them out of the way and helping you start the productivity momentum.