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 When you have a project to work on, what tends to be your pattern in terms of getting it done? Do you jump in right away or do you wait until the last minute to get started?
Some of us really do work best under pressure and enjoy the excitement and challenge of pushing through any barriers to get something finished at the last possible moment! We may even need the accountability of a short deadline to motivate us and help us to structure our time. But, for a great deal of us, putting things off is a habit that does not serve us well and causes more stress and anxiety than it does challenge and excitement. Of course, procrastination and resistance can be tough patterns to break if we don't focus our efforts. This month's Tune-Up looks at how to get started with turning around procrastination once and for all!
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Does putting things off raise your stress level?
Most of us can relate to the dreaded school assignment hanging over our heads like a giant dark cloud. Looking back, we may remember how much time we spent worrying about how we would ever get it done or where to even start. When we finally began to work on the assignment at the proverbial 11th hour, the stress had reached an all-time high!
For those of us with a serious procrastination issue, the stress and anxiety of it can really prevent us from enjoying life and being present. The more time we spend worrying about what we're not getting done, the less time we spend living in the moment. Furthermore, the anxiety of anticipating the project can even get in the way of the project itself. It truly can cloud the creative thinking that allows good work to flourish.
Although resisting and putting-off behaviors are common to many of us, there are different ways these behaviors manifest themselves. A good place to start is taking a look at your own patterns of procrastinating to notice how and why it happens for you.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- When you get ready to start some work, do you always find ways to distract yourself whether it's the Internet, phone calls, TV, or some other activity?
- Is resistance to work and/or authority something you've struggled with quite a bit in the past? If so, can you pinpoint the origin of this feeling?
- Does a pattern of perfectionism keep you from starting projects for fear that they won't come out "exactly right"?
- Are you always willing to work on the "margins" of the project such as organizing yourself, sharpening pencils, etc., but avoid the actual direct work?
- Are you an "all or nothing" sort of person? Do you feel that the only way to do a large project is in one sitting but then you never seem to have enough time to set aside for it?
Once you know what your procrastination style is and where it comes from, the approach to making a change will become clearer. Together with good friend or other support person, take a close look at how your procrastination tends to happen. The challenge will be to begin to build new behavior patterns by repetition starting with very small actions that bring you outside of your comfort zone.
For example, for the perfectionist, one small action could be to do a part of the project more quickly than usual, allowing mistakes to happen along the way (they can always be fixed later on). The distractible person might try out moving to a more neutral, distraction-free location to work.
In order to make a change stick, repetition of these new actions and getting lots of support are key components that need to be in place. Our resistance and procrastination habits were not created overnight and they won't change overnight. That said, here's an important idea to keep in mind: As growing, changing beings, we are never be expected to stay in one place for very long. We are all works in progress! |
