To Procrastinate or not that is the Question
Procrastinating can be fun, sometimes!
I manage to fit unscheduled shopping sprees into my already busy
timetable, visit people I haven't seen for awhile or give them a
'quick' phone call. Sometimes I'll even clean out the
refrigerator, wardrobe, and any closet or room in the house -
well they need cleaning and sorting sooner or later! If I had a
dog I'd probably take it for a long walk, maybe give it a bath,
clip its toenails, place ribbons in its hair - procrastinating
can be fun!
The word procrastinates means to defer action, or put off (I'll
add dawdle and 'hope it goes away' as well). What's interesting
is the cras (adv) in procrastinator is the Latin word for
tomorrow. To me this snippet of information means
procrastinators have been around for a really, really, really
long time! Wonder what strategies they applied back then.
When I drag my feet, and keep putting something off, at the back
of my mind is a flicker of hope that someone else will step in
and do for me what I'd rather not (like my accounting
paperwork!).
There are many, many reasons someone procrastinates and also
varying levels. What lies beneath could be a fear of failure or
fear of success, have no idea how to start or finish a project,
in a state of overwhelm, depression, seems pointless, not
motivated, or maybe just maybe laziness.
What happens when you know there's something you really should
be doing instead of cleaning out the refrigerator again? Maybe
an assignment's due, bills are overdue, and filing needs to be
done urgently because you can't see your desk anymore. My guess
is your frustration and stressometer starts rising rapidly.
Now would be a pretty good time to sit down and ask yourself
some serious questions such as the ones below:
1. How can I better organise myself to get things done?
2. What's in it for me? What are the pros and cons of
procrastination?
3. What will I lose if I complete what I need to? Could be
stress levels!
4. What will I gain if I complete what I need to? This could be
in the form of free time, peacefulness; banish forever what you
have to complete. Maybe your gain will be a special purchase -
much like presenting yourself with a prize!
5. How important is this really to me? For example how important
is paying your electricity bill? If you do not pay your
electricity bill your power will be cut off. On the other hand
you might have 3 things that need to be done first as a matter
of priority.
6. Is the reason I drag my feet due to a 'who cares' attitude?
Can I delegate this project (there's that glimmer of hope again)
to someone else?
7. Do you actually know what you need to do? Seriously, maybe
the process is unclear on how to start or finish whatever it is
that needs to be done.
When you've done that, break down what needs to be done to the
smallest denominator and work your way up from there. Sometimes
we think about ALL the things that need to be done which in turn
overwhelms us. Start really, really small and work your way up
by taking baby steps. Be in the present moment totally.
A life long habit that's ready for change takes commitment,
action, as well as time and effort.
By initially answering a few simple questions much like the ones
above will help start that ball rolling towards greater clarity
about what gets done and what doesn't, and is this okay. Maybe
the outcome is to work on procrastination at a much deeper level
and pursue some professional help.
Michaela Scherr
Transformational Coach