Probably everyone procrastinates at one time or another, and around 20% of Americans identify themselves as chronic procrastinators. There are a million reasons to put something off for a while!
For the same reasons, procrastination is often cited as one of the worst enemies of entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Victor Kiam once said, 'Procrastination is opportunity's assassin.'
Do you sometimes get concerned about the effects of your own procrastination? It can definitely become a problem that gets in the way of your success.
But let’s start by dispelling some myths.
Have You Heard Any Of These Myths About Procrastinators?
First of all, procrastinators aren’t lazy. In fact, people who procrastinate often use up a lot of energy. It can be positively exhausting to keep finding reasons to put things off!
Procrastinators don’t generally lack ambition, otherwise they would not have so many actions on their list. However their goals may be unrealistic or so vague that it's hard to work out how to achieve them.
It’s not that procrastinators don’t care. It’s the exact opposite in many cases, because they care so much about what they need to achieve, that it feels debilitating, which gets in the way of starting a task or project.
And procrastinators are not born that way. They weren’t always procrastinators – they have just developed a habit of procrastinating. And although a habit can’t be “broken” as such, it can certainly be replaced with a new, more useful one.
So what goes on in the mind of procrastinators? Usually, they are using one or more demotivating mental strategies which affect the way they think and act.
The Be-Do-Have Principle
Before I go into that, I want to take a moment here to discuss something we call the “Be-Do-Have Principle”. Understanding this concept can help us to manage our procrastination habit (and many other things in our lives).
Be-Do-Have is a process. Let's work backwards from "have". In order to HAVE anything in life we must DO something to achieve it. For instance, if you want wealth, you must first invest. If you want to have a successful business, you need to get started on building one. If you want customers, you must promote what you want them to buy from you.
No matter what you want, you need to DO the right actions first, before you can HAVE. Obvious, right? But there’s an important step before that. Remember, it's BE-Do-Have.
In order to DO – to take the necessary action so you can have what you want – you must BE the person who would have (and keep) the thing or state you desire. In other words, you must develop the identity, beliefs and values of the kind of person who does those actions and has those results. You must have heard of lottery winners who, within a couple of years, lost the millions they’d won. The problem was that they didn’t BEcome a “millionaire” in their own minds. Instead, they retained old beliefs about not being wealthy, so they lost it all and went back to how they were before. Back to the situation that matched their beliefs about themselves.
It's true: you are what you think.
This is getting a bit deep so more about all that another time. Back to procrastination!
Understanding Be-Do-Have is helpful here. When thinking about why you procrastinate, the first question to ask yourself is: “What am I thinking (who am I being) which makes me procrastinate (not do) this so I don’t get the results I want to have?”
Which leads us to...
The 10 Procrastination Personas
We’ve identified 10 different procrastination personas or styles. See if you recognize yourself in one or more of these:
1) The Perfectionist has such high standards that they don’t believe they can achieve the perfect outcome they desire.
2) The Doom-monger focuses on the disaster that they think will happen if they don’t complete the task or if they make a hash of it – and gets immobilized by fear.
3) The Overwhelmed thinks of so much detail and complexity (or thinks in such big picture terms) that they feel overwhelmed.
4) The Awful-izer thinks about all the unpleasant parts of the project, rather than the desirable end result.
5) The Future-Thinker imagines the task already completed and skips the detail that they have to actually make it happen!
6) The Equalizer gives equal points for and against completing the task, and can’t decide whether to do it or not.
7) The Non-Starter dreads the mere thought of starting something new and prefers to stick with comfortable, familiar tasks.
8) The Rebel feels that by putting things off, they are in control of their time, rather than the person who needs the outcome of the task.
9) The Self-Sabotager is afraid of the responsibility that comes from success, and sabotages themselves by not taking action.
10) The Worst-Case Thinker is afraid of failure, and just cannot imagine themselves achieving a positive outcome.
Which of those procrastination styles best describes you? Is there more than one that resonates with you? (Can you think of another one we should add to the list?)
Fill out the form below to get details of how to deal with each of these 10 Procrastination Styles.
Step 1 – The first part of making any kind of change is awareness. So recognize and acknowledge when you are procrastinating. Laugh at yourself, and say something like, “Here I go again…”
Step 2 - Next, identify your adopted Procrastination Persona(s) from the list above and consider what specifically you are procrastinating about. As I explained, we are what we think, so acknowledge to yourself that by thinking and acting differently you will get a different result. (The one thing about constantly banging your head against a wall, is that it's wonderful when you stop!)
Step 3 – Look for the opposite of your main procrastination thought pattern. For instance, if you’re being The Rebel, recognize that other people are counting on you to complete this task. If you’re being Overwhelmed – simplify your complex task or project into small chunks that can be completed within 15-30 minutes each, and tackle one small piece at a time. And so on.
Step 4 – Picture the end result in your mind’s eye. Imagine/ talk about/ write down/ feel what it will be like when the task or project is successfully completed. Put sticky notes, charts, pictures on your wall to remind you of the end goal.
Step 5 – Tell at least one other person what your goal and deadline is so they can help you stick to it. And if you feel comfortable, share your procrastination style with them, and ask for them to keep a friendly eye out for that type of behavior. You can even agree a signal or a fun phrase they can use to let you know when they notice you doing this.
Step 6 – Take some small action right now. Start and complete just ONE small step of your task or project, even if you only spend 10 minutes on it.
Step 7 – This is ongoing: celebrate every step you take and recognize the progress you're making, however small. Pat yourself on the back, tell a friend, tick it off or cross it off your list.
Now get our list of simple strategies for dealing with each of the Procrastination Personas:
P.S. Our final piece of advice ... Do it NOW!
Hey, did you enjoy this article? Please share it to spread the knowledge! Thank you :)
Comments