Let’s face it, we’ve all got way too much going on. Our to do lists are endless. No matter how much we accomplish we feel like there is more to do, and we criticize ourselves for not getting enough done, or done well, or done fast enough.
I believe procrastination is a pretty effective coping mechanism for dealing with this overwhelming state. Rather than make yourself feel bad if you’re in this mode, I recommend that you use it as a learning opportunity. Procrastination indicates that there’s something going on and it’s an opportunity to dig in, find out more, and possibly change things for the better.
First I want to say that there are many times when procrastination is actively helpful! So if you’re not motivated to work on something, I often recommend waiting because:
- Sometimes the problem goes away or changes substantially. The best result of waiting is when problems change or go away entirely and this does happen! A fan wasn’t working in my basement and I really didn’t want to deal with it so I didn’t. A few weeks later someone was turning on lights and found that a different switch had been in the off position and that impacted the fan. It was the best day. Another example that just happened is I was told a doctor of mine was out of network. I did NOT want to research finding a new doctor so I waited. A couple of months later I got a letter saying they'd made a mistake and she was in network. Problem vanished.
- It can be helpful to have time to percolate. Waiting on items gives you time to mull on them in the background, and sometimes this can yield an easier solution and/or an approach that you find less onerous. I had to put large boards across my backyard to prevent one of my dogs from attacking my backyard neighbor’s dogs. It was not a pretty picture, and I thought I should paint a mural or do something to make it look nice. But I didn’t want to do it, so waited, and waited. And waited. Out of the blue a maple tree sprung up. Which made me think about planting trees in honor of some deceased relatives. The trees are beautiful against the wood and very meaningful.
- It’s more motivating to do a task when there’s momentum. The degree to which you’re “in the mood” to do something can vary a lot based on what else is going on in your life. And things can come up which make doing an activity feel more meaningful and relevant, so I highly recommend waiting until a better moment comes along. If that moment doesn’t come, it may mean you just need to do it as it becomes urgent, or that item just needs to go away. A client of mine had a backyard gardening project he’d been wanting to complete for months. As his wife’s birthday approached, he decided to do an outdoor surprise party and for that he was excited to get the outdoor space spruced up.
It’s also important to ask yourself, without judgment, why you are procrastinating. There are so many legitimate reasons to procrastinate, so if you’re kind to yourself and try to understand why, you can use this as information to make better choices about how to proceed. Here are a few common reasons people procrastinate and how to work with it.
- It’s not urgent. So in my book, procrastination is ok. We’ve got so many things on our to do list, it’s ok to just tackle the critical stuff and push off the other stuff to be done later, especially if it opens up time for you to rest. Keep your “active” to do list as short as possible (which may mean handling only urgent items) so you can actually achieve these things.
- You don’t really want to do it. Sometimes this is a reason to not do it all or wait for the right moment. If it is really important and just unpleasant to do you’ll have to buckle down and do it at some point, ideally when you’re more in the mood. However, some items get on the to do list because it’s just an idea you had, something you think you should do. Perhaps these items can go to a separate list or even, gasp, be deleted?
- You don’t know how to do it. This is an opportunity to problem solve. If you greet procrastination with curiosity rather than judgment, you can actually take the time to figure out what you need to do to proceed. Do you need more info or more help? Do you need to break down the task because it feels to big/overwhelming to start?
Ironically, I’ve been procrastinating about posting this article even though I’m super passionate about the topic. It’s because it involves several steps and there was no specific deadline that made it ever seem like the right time. A long weekend presented the opportunity. Even though anyone who knows me knows how much I love to get things done, procrastination impacts us all, and there are good reasons for it!
Let’s face it, we’ve all got way too much going on. Our to do lists are endless. No matter how much we accomplish we feel like there is more to do, and we criticize ourselves for not getting enough done, or done well, or done fast enough.
I believe procrastination is a pretty effective coping mechanism for dealing with this overwhelming state. Rather than make yourself feel bad if you’re in this mode, I recommend that you use it as a learning opportunity. Procrastination indicates that there’s something going on and it’s an opportunity to dig in, find out more, and possibly change things for the better.
First I want to say that there are many times when procrastination is actively helpful! So if you’re not motivated to work on something, I often recommend waiting because:
- Sometimes the problem goes away or changes substantially. The best result of waiting is when problems change or go away entirely and this does happen! A fan wasn’t working in my basement and I really didn’t want to deal with it so I didn’t. A few weeks later someone was turning on lights and found that a different switch had been in the off position and that impacted the fan. It was the best day. Another example that just happened is I was told a doctor of mine was out of network. I did NOT want to research finding a new doctor so I waited. A couple of months later I got a letter saying they'd made a mistake and she was in network. Problem vanished.
- It can be helpful to have time to percolate. Waiting on items gives you time to mull on them in the background, and sometimes this can yield an easier solution and/or an approach that you find less onerous. I had to put large boards across my backyard to prevent one of my dogs from attacking my backyard neighbor’s dogs. It was not a pretty picture, and I thought I should paint a mural or do something to make it look nice. But I didn’t want to do it, so waited, and waited. And waited. Out of the blue a maple tree sprung up. Which made me think about planting trees in honor of some deceased relatives. The trees are beautiful against the wood and very meaningful.
- It’s more motivating to do a task when there’s momentum. The degree to which you’re “in the mood” to do something can vary a lot based on what else is going on in your life. And things can come up which make doing an activity feel more meaningful and relevant, so I highly recommend waiting until a better moment comes along. If that moment doesn’t come, it may mean you just need to do it as it becomes urgent, or that item just needs to go away. A client of mine had a backyard gardening project he’d been wanting to complete for months. As his wife’s birthday approached, he decided to do an outdoor surprise party and for that he was excited to get the outdoor space spruced up.
It’s also important to ask yourself, without judgment, why you are procrastinating. There are so many legitimate reasons to procrastinate, so if you’re kind to yourself and try to understand why, you can use this as information to make better choices about how to proceed. Here are a few common reasons people procrastinate and how to work with it.
- It’s not urgent. So in my book, procrastination is ok. We’ve got so many things on our to do list, it’s ok to just tackle the critical stuff and push off the other stuff to be done later, especially if it opens up time for you to rest. Keep your “active” to do list as short as possible (which may mean handling only urgent items) so you can actually achieve these things.
- You don’t really want to do it. Sometimes this is a reason to not do it all or wait for the right moment. If it is really important and just unpleasant to do you’ll have to buckle down and do it at some point, ideally when you’re more in the mood. However, some items get on the to do list because it’s just an idea you had, something you think you should do. Perhaps these items can go to a separate list or even, gasp, be deleted?
- You don’t know how to do it. This is an opportunity to problem solve. If you greet procrastination with curiosity rather than judgment, you can actually take the time to figure out what you need to do to proceed. Do you need more info or more help? Do you need to break down the task because it feels to big/overwhelming to start?
Ironically, I’ve been procrastinating about posting this article even though I’m super passionate about the topic. It’s because it involves several steps and there was no specific deadline that made it ever seem like the right time. A long weekend presented the opportunity. Even though anyone who knows me knows how much I love to get things done, procrastination impacts us all, and there are good reasons for it!
