Procrastination: Why Delay? Start Today!
(Forgive me for the title, it was too good to pass up.)
Hello everyone, my name is Matthew. I'm 30 years old, and I am a recovering professional procrastinator.
I say professional because this isn't a habit I see myself relinquishing anytime soon. And honestly, why should I? I've worked hard to get to this level of indifference when completing a task. Since the seventh grade, I've honed and perfected my craft in this industry to:
Recognize stressors that may hinder me from completing assignments,
Find convenient distractions to center on instead of the bigger goal in mind,
Enhance my creativity with giving people, and myself, bullshit excuses to deflect from taking accountability, and
Just not do what I'm not ready to do.
I mean, how could I ever let go of 15+ years of commitment like that?
At this point, you're waiting for the catch; some point where I drop a "but…", that's not happening here, though. It's also wherein the difference lies between myself as a professional and where you, the reader might stand: I accept this about myself, do you?
Most long-standing procrastinators will disparage themselves with negative judgments in hopes of changing their ways. Calling yourself lazy, irresponsible, wasteful, or mindless isn't going to help kickstart your efforts to finish something. In fact, it's just going to make you feel crappier and invalidate the aforementioned qualities that make us who we are. We acquired these skills to help cope with the multitude of stress we're facing, and we can use them to get us back to work as well.
A professional procrastinator does their best to identify the goal or objective they wish to complete, and determine the best route of getting there without self-deprecating, trying to take on everything at once, or avoiding things even more until those last golden minutes of hope before the deadline.
How do we do that? Well:
Clearly identify what the task is. 'Finish my paper!' Okay reader. There's a huge difference between completing a paper v. completing an outline for a paper. Even after reading this statement, I'm sure you became more relaxed after seeing me implement step number two:
List objectives that help advance you to the larger goal. Yeah, that term paper is worth 80% of your grade. How the hell can you expect to complete it if you're not planning out the smaller steps to get there?
Stop and take a breather. No one said you had to do the first two steps right now; we're procrastinators dammit. Hell, I'm already feeling anxious, and because of that, I'm going to identify what's making me nervous and validate those concerns. Talking to some friends, journaling, or speaking aloud might help.
Clarify your intentions relating to your goal. There's a reason why it's important to accomplish that objective, and only you can determine that. Focus inward to uncover what those reasons may be. Looking to others may be more conflicting, so just do you.
Schedule those important dates in your planner. Doesn't have to be everything all at once, just the due date. Then, you can set up different intervals of time to measure your own progress. When do I want to have my outline done? Or, this grouping of pages read by?
Plan your breaks. Don't try to force yourself to be productive all in one shot. You know that old proverb 'all work and no play makes (insert random name) a dull (insert gender)'? That applies here. Every fun thing you used to do to shirk away your responsibilities? Do that here, and then,
Stay consistent with your scheduled work/play times. If you need a few minutes extra for either, perfectly fine. If you run over, that's cool, too. Now you've got data and information to apply for the next go-round.
Monitor those self-defeating thoughts. You're not stupid, dumb, worthless, or anything of the sort if you didn't finish what you set out to do for the day. Try to notice what messages you convey to yourself during these moments. If they're hard to identify, or if you're stuck trying to reframe or challenge them, consider finding professional help from a counselor or therapist. You might find you don't need to do either, just accept a varied perspective.
I hope you found these tips and this blog entry suitable for your needs - I'm happy to provide more feedback for anyone who'd like a sequel. But, for now, I'm gonna go take a long break because I typed all of this in one-go and my hand is tired…
A special thanks to Amanda N. and Katie L. for the inspiration.
