Stop Procrastinating

The procrastination habit harms your productivity more than any other bad habit. Unfortunately, it’s one of the most difficult to break. We learn to put things off as children, setting aside our school assignments and chores in order to play with our friends. For most of us, that habit continued into adulthood. We’ve become adept at postponing tasks that warrant our attention in favor or more immediately-gratifying activities. We procrastinate for many reasons. Some of us do it because we fear failure. We defer taking action because we don’t want to botch the job and look foolish to our bosses or peers. Others stall because they’re perfectionists (see Day 2). They fear turning in work that is imperfect, and so put tasks off indefinitely. Still others procrastinate due to the pressure they feel to perform. The pressure stimulates an aversion to whatever task is in front of them. There are, of course, other reasons we drag their feet on projects. Many of us have poor time management skills. We fail to plan our days properly and thus allow time to slip through our fingers. Left with little time to spend on the projects we’re responsible for, we put them off until later. Some of us are caught in the crossfire of an ongoing battle between our limbic system and prefrontal cortex. The limbic system is the part of our brain that’s drawn to shiny baubles. It will drop critical tasks without warning to attend to the most trivial distractions. The prefrontal cortex is the accountant of the brain. It’s where executive functions, such as planning, are carried out. These two areas fight for control of your attention. The outcome is influenced by your level of focus. If you’re completely focused on a task, your prefrontal cortex will gain the upper hand. If you’re bored or disengaged, your limbic system will win, and you can expect your productivity to take a hit.

How This Bad Habit Hurts Your Productivity

 Putting things off occasionally is fine. In fact, doing so is healthy if you’ve been working with your nose to the grindstone for an extended period. Setting the task at hand aside gives your brain a chance to rest and recuperate. The problem is, habitual procrastinators put things off as a norm. They do it as a matter of course from day to day. That habit has a profound effect on your productivity. First, it increases your stress level. When you initially set tasks aside, you experience less stress. That’s understandable since the delayed task is set aside for a more gratifying activity. But over the long run, your stress level rises due to the consequences of deferring action (you have more work to do with less time to do it). Second, you forfeit valuable time. You’re not going to allocate the time you earned by postponing work on task A to work on task B. If you’re like most people, you’ll spend the time doing things you enjoy, such as watching cat videos on YouTube. Third, you’ll miss deadlines. The tasks and projects you postponed won’t magically disappear. You’ll still need to address them at some point. The problem is, you’ll have less time to do so. Consequently, you may end up turning work in late, tarnishing your reputation - or grades if you’re in school - in the process. Fourth, habitual procrastination increases the likelihood that you’ll miss important opportunities. For example, postponing action on an assigned report for your boss requires that you spend time later to complete it. As a result, you may be unavailable later to contribute to a high-profile project that would give you exposure to senior partners at your company. Ongoing procrastination can also lead to self-loathing. The more tasks you put aside, and the more consequences you face (for example, missed deadlines and missed opportunities), the more you’ll wonder why you’re always found wanting. That kind of self-reproach can grind down your self-esteem. Below, you’ll find six action steps designed to help you clobber the procrastination habit.

Action Steps 

1. Modify your to-do list. First, make sure it’s not overly-ambitious (see Day 3 for more information). Trim items wherever possible. Second, assign a high priority to the most important tasks of the day.

 2. Develop a clearly-defined work schedule. Organize your day into time blocks with each block devoted to working on a certain task or group of related tasks. Choose blocks of time that accommodate your energy levels and work style. For example, I use the Pomodoro Technique. That entails working for 25 minutes, and then taking a 5-minute break (I follow a modified version to complement my workflow). You may prefer to work for three hours at a time followed by a 30-minute break. The important thing is to define the boundaries for yourself.

3. Find ways to stay busy. Ben Franklin once said “if you want something done, ask a busy person.” There’s wisdom in that quote. Busy people know how to manage their time. They don’t have a choice. As a result, they’re habitual action takers. The idea behind keeping busy is that you’ll force yourself to take action as more to-do items pile up on your plate.

 4. Break down large projects into bite-sized tasks. A common reason people procrastinate is because they feel overwhelmed. They’re confronted with a huge project and are paralyzed by it. It’s like standing at the base of Mount Everest and not knowing how to climb it. The solution is to break the job down into small, individual tasks. For example, suppose you’re responsible for producing a 100-page report for your boss. That’s a major project. Rather than becoming discouraged by its scope, break it down into small, manageable parts. List the types of spreadsheets and graphs you’ll need to create. List the types of data you’ll need for the spreadsheets and graphs, along with their respective sources. Once you’ve broken the job down, schedule due dates for the individual tasks. The project will seem less daunting and you’ll feel more in control.

5. Identify a reason for each task or project. Knowing why something needs to be done often provides the motivation needed to take action. Even habitual procrastinators can be prompted to take action when they assign meaning to projects they dread.

6. Seek accountability. Many people are more inclined to act when they know others are expecting them to do so. If you’re similarly motivated, you’ll benefit from having an accountability partner. This person is there to hold your feet to the fire. If you fail to do what you pledged to do, your accountability partner will ask the reason. The prospect of having to admit failure may be enough to spur you to action.