Written by: Sallie Wagner, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
According to research, 20% of us self-identify as people who chronically procrastinate. The most common reason we give to explain our procrastination is distraction (48%). The next most common reason we give is that we feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start (40%).
Of course, those aren’t the only explanations. We come up with lots of other reasons for why we procrastinate:
We’re not good at time management or organizing things
We don’t have enough motivation or confidence
We don’t have enough time to finish it
We’re anxious
We’re afraid we’ll fail
We’re afraid it won’t be perfect
We tell ourselves these things, and all sorts of other things, that may or may not be true, to explain why we procrastinate.
Do any of those sound familiar?
You may be wondering, what’s the big deal if we procrastinate? A deadline slips a little bit here, a due date slips a little bit there, so what?
Sadly, when we procrastinate, it can have quite a negative impact on us. It affects us physically, mentally, emotionally – in every aspect of our lives. For example, when we procrastinate, we experience more stress in our lives. Stress can negatively affect our health – it predisposes us to inflammatory disease, causes our Mindset to slip, and on and on with snowballing effects.
There are also hard, dollar costs tied to procrastination. It has a huge economic impact on all of us. Studies show that a vast majority of people self-report that they procrastinate at least an hour each day – 80% for salaried workers, 76% for entrepreneurs.
Think about how much that costs, particularly if you’re running your own business. Calculate your hourly rate, multiple by the number of hours you procrastinate each day, then multiply again to come up with the annual cost.
Can you really afford to procrastinate? If, like me, the answer is NO, what can we do about it? After all, if it were easy, we wouldn’t procrastinate, right?
Let’s first consider what procrastination is.
For most of us, procrastination isn’t simply doing nothing. It’s doing something that’s low priority instead of doing something that is higher priority. In other words, if we think about it in terms of the Pareto Principle, procrastination is when we focus on the 80% rather than on the 20% that yields the greater impact and results.
If that’s the case, then procrastination may simply be the result of a lack of clarity and focus on what’s important. And we can address that through some simple strategies – asking the right questions, business planning, calendaring tasks, and the like.
However, there may be other underlying causes that need to be addressed. Like some of those things identified above – fear of failure, perfectionism, low confidence levels, lack of motivation. But are those things really true? That we procrastinate because we’re not properly motivated? Or we’re not confident enough?
Did you notice that startling statistic earlier? That 76% of entrepreneurs procrastinate. If that’s true, as they self-report, it would appear to belie the notion that procrastination stems from lack of motivation, lack of confidence, and so on. After all, wouldn’t we think that entrepreneurs are extremely motivated? Yet, clearly we business owners aren’t immune to the procrastination bug.
So what’s going on? Is it a lack of will power? A character flaw that causes us to procrastinate? Some people think so – 25% of adults believe that procrastination is a defining character trait for themselves.
But is that really true? After all, in many instances, it’s not what we don’t know that holds us back. It’s what we DO know, that’s NOT TRUE, that holds us back.
And frankly, I don’t believe that procrastination is a character flaw. I believe procrastination is a learned behavior. And if we learned it somewhere along the way, for whatever reason(s), we can UN-learn it and learn different behavior that has more utility for us personally. We can learn a new behavior that moves us forward in the way we consciously choose to go.
If that’s the case, there are some relatively simple strategies we can deploy to overcome that procrastination habit. We’ll talk about 3 of them.
1st, understand that will power is an illusion. It doesn’t exist. If you’re relying on will power to help you accomplish all those tasks, you’ve already lost the battle. Same with motivation. If you wait until you’re motivated and inspired, it may never happen. This may be a major Mindset adjustment for some. Just allow it to sink in.
2nd, instead of relying on that illusory will power and motivation, create a system that favors action rather than inaction. Incorporate specific steps into your daily activities that will get you moving on those projects that are languishing.
Don’t have time to finish that big project all in one sitting? Ask yourself, do you really need to? In most cases, the answer is likely NO. If that’s the case, give yourself permission to NOT finish it. Put it on your calendar for a certain amount of time each day. Break it down into manageable chunks of time – 5, 10, 15 minutes each day. And do it consistently, chipping away at it until you’re done. Do that with all of your projects and see how quickly you pick up momentum.
3rd, gamify your projects. Reframe the daily steps into something that brings you pleasure, or something that’s a challenge, rather than a chore. When you do that, you actually begin to look forward to the activity – you no longer dread it.
Example, folding sheets. Does anybody really enjoy folding sheets? Probably not, when you consider it objectively. However, when you turn it into a challenge, you can learn to look forward to it. I continuously hone my sheet folding skills, figuring out how I can fold the fitted sheet so that it’s perfectly aligned for efficiency – I match the corners so that I don’t waste time figuring out which way to position it the next time I make the bed with that set of sheets. I fold the top sheet so that it, too, is perfectly aligned for efficiency when I use it next. I fold them all together so that they fit into the linen closet with all the other sheets, so I minimize the time it takes me to use them the next time.
I know, it sounds incredibly boring, and perhaps a bit like a personality disorder. HOWEVER, I fold the sheets. I don’t put off an inherently tedious task, because I’ve turned it into a game, a challenge to see how well I can fold the sheets to set them up for maximum efficiency with the next use.
And we can do that with any task. Any project.
Begin by accepting the notion that procrastination isn’t destiny. It’s not a character flaw that represents a lack of motivation or will power. It’s a learned behavior that can be unlearned and replaced with a different behavior that you consciously choose.
When you break projects down into manageable, daily chunks of time and activities, when you reframe and gamify those daily activities, you’ll unlearn the procrastination habit, you’ll install a predisposition toward action. And procrastination will be a thing of the past.
When would NOW be a good time to start?
Sallie Wagner, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sallie Wagner – speaker, author, lawyer, real estate broker, What’s Next Strategist, and Life Alchemist! Sallie employs Emotional Freedom Techniques, evolved Neurolinguistic Programming, and trauma-aware modalities, so clients launch into action for rapid, concrete results, as they ditch unwanted habits, behaviors, fears, phobias, limiting beliefs, and decisions.
Sallie spent the majority of her law career in the corporate world. In addition to her other business initiatives, she currently provides broker and contracts compliance services to real estate brokerages throughout Florida. She also owns and operates a real estate school.
