Defeating Procrastination: Tips for Growing Your Business
Reality check: we ALL do it!
According to a 2020 survey from IBM, 54% of respondents said, as a result of the pandemic, they would now prefer to permanently work from home, and 75% said they would like the option to work remotely part-time. With this shift, it’s important to offset temptations for procrastination.
As a small business owner, even saying the ‘p’ word fills me with all sorts of yucky emotions like guilt, frustration, boredom, resentment, and self-doubt - I could go on, and perhaps you could think of some words to add to my list, I certainly can!
Putting off tasks can be seen as the enemy - it's a real danger for us. It gets in the way of us doing the work we’re meant to do, meeting our goals and growing a sustainable business. We have things to accomplish that will help move our lives forward, and we don’t want the big ‘P’ to stand in our way.
Why we delay & knowing your triggers
Overwhelm
For me, I recognise overwhelm as a big factor for postponement. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, but I also love to learn, and I can become easily distracted by taking in new information that I believe will be relevant for my business. This combination of wanting to do my best but with too many options to follow can lead to playing for time = overwhelm.
You’ll have your own triggers for dilly-dallying - read on for some tips that might help you, or at least help you to recognise your triggers and, in turn, identify patterns. The great news? Knowing your triggers and patterns means you’re halfway there to overcoming them.
For any word lovers out there (yes, me!), procrastination comes from the Latin verb procrastinare, meaning to put off until tomorrow. It also comes from the Greek word akrasia, meaning to do something against our better judgment.
It’s about avoidance
Because if you think about it, the very act of stalling is communicating something to you.
We all have those tasks within our business that we hate and will try to avoid at all costs. I dislike bookkeeping and accounting (anyone else?). I know this task has to be done regularly, but I often find myself avoiding it. Knowing that we are avoiding something within our business is good information; it’s a clue - I’ll talk more about this later on.
You’re not lazy
Our brains are constantly looking for ways to reward ourselves - to self-soothe and self-comfort. Any sniff of discomfort and we find ourselves seeking out a feel-good alternative. That might show up as eating junk food, binge-watching too much TV, and buying stuff we don’t need, etc.
We’re all familiar with the ‘feel-good’ hormone dopamine, but did you know that it doesn’t have a stop button? I know!
Once we climb into that rabbit hole and begin Googling something like ‘office chairs’ (a true and recent story) on the internet, we can find ourselves ‘forgetting’ what we set out to do. Dopamine doesn’t have an off switch - it’s there to get us to seek something out, but it has no off switch. That’s why we need to get really clear on the outcomes that we want to achieve (see above).
It’s all about fear
Often, emotions have a basis of fear around them. The thought of carrying out a particular task might bring up feelings of insecurity, self-doubt, resentment, uncertainty, even anger - well, you can see why you would try to avoid that! These feelings then have a knock-on effect, and we find ourselves losing motivation - we don’t want to risk experiencing the same negative result.
“In delay there lies no plenty.”
It’s a strange reality knowing that completing a task would make us feel better, but we still avoid it, even though putting it off makes us feel worse.
There are other triggers too, such as lack of confidence, exhaustion, etc.
Tips to help you beat putting tasks off in your workday
Useful tips to consider before starting on a task and whilst in the middle of a task:
Have a clear outcome for what you want to achieve.
It’s hard to focus if you don’t have a deeper motivation. Use an external motivation if required and get into the ‘flow,’ says Leo Babauta of Zen Habits.
Don’t focus on the arduous task ahead. Instead, focus on how good it will feel to reach your goal. Can you imagine yourself reaching your goal? Really paint a picture of how this will look and feel.
Get on board with your end goal. If you don’t like it, change it!
Forgive yourself when you find yourself stalling. There is evidence to suggest that self-compassion can lead to other positive emotions and enhance self-worth, such as being kind to yourself.
Change the language - James Clear says: Replace a ‘should’ with ‘I’m going to’, or ‘it’s time to’.
Reward yourself at various stages. Perhaps use an accountability partner.
If it’s appropriate, delegate and use your strengths elsewhere.
Struggling in the moment?
We all need a little help, and here are some suggestions that could get you over the hump and move you forward:
Leo from Zen Habits says to ‘catch yourself’ when you’re about to feel distracted. How do you feel? Feel the emotions, ie, boredom, fear, insecurity - sit with them a moment or two. How does your body feel? Are there any other emotions? Honour all these feelings.
Struggling to maintain focus and commitment? James Clear suggests that you: Only do [THING YOU LOVE] while doing [THING YOU ARE PUTTING OFF].
Return to your task - just complete the next step or break tasks into smaller steps.
Set a timer and do some of those tasks that you’ve not wanted to do - give yourself 5-10 mins. Just one task. Be committed.
James Clear believes that with some practice, you will start to trust yourself, that you’re okay and that you don’t need to follow a trail to distraction. I agree.
Gretchen Rubin suggests ‘distancing yourself from the distraction by creating a little frustration or anxiety, ie, removing apps, etc. By doing this, you’re adding friction to the cycle and making the reward value of your temptation less immediate. Here’s more from Gretchen with her 8 tips to stop procrastinating.
Temporary ADD. Try a ‘brain dump’ and write down what’s on your mind. I do this with my journal in the morning, but the article suggests you create a quick to-do list to unclog your brain and get back to focusing on your task.
According to an article in The New York Times by Dr Brewer, if we’re to outwit postponing, we have to ‘…give our brains what Dr Brewer called the “Bigger Better Offer”. In other words, we have to find a better reward to continue with the task than to avoid it. Plus, the solution must be internal and only dependent upon ourselves.
Resources - TED talks, book
Book - I’d recommend Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Don’t you love a good TED talk?… Here’s a couple:
Click the video above for ‘Inside the mind of a master procrastinator’ by Tim Urban.
Click the video below for ‘The real reason you procrastinate’ with Adam Grant.
I agree with Leo from Zen Habits, as time passes, you’ll continue to stretch your procrastination muscle, and you’ll develop self-trust. You’ll know when to push through and when to hold off and to examine your goals and outcomes.
I hope this post has been helpful, and please leave a comment below to share how you combat this issue in your business.
*An affiliate link for a book that I own and would genuinely recommend.
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