Turning Procrastination into Pro Action

For most of my life, I have been a chronic procrastinator. I would procrastinate about everything and anything.

Big areas of procrastination for me would be any form of cleaning and any school work. The more I wanted to or needed to do the work. The less I would be able to convince myself to start. Everything became an unmanageable mountain before me.

The more I put off my work, the worse I felt and the angrier I would become at myself, making the job of starting even harder.

After much experimenting, I found some techniques for sidestepping around the procrastination monster. These are some of the pro action ideas that work for me:

1. Set a timer

I found I could make a start if I knew that I only had to work for a limited amount of time. I often promised myself I could have a break if I just worked for a set time.

At my worst, I would even set my timer for 2 minutes while cleaning. I could, with practice get myself to do several timed sessions which would often lead into me get into the task and want to keep going.

Timing myself also helped to keep my self-talk positive. Instead of saying to myself “the work you’ve done so far is terrible!” I could say to myself “Wow, you’ve been at this task for forty minutes, well done!”

Confession: I still use a timer today for cleaning!

2. Break down the task into smaller chunks

This is where I would write down a list and break down the steps in any task into smaller, easily achievable chunks I could easily cross off when done.

The task of writing an essay can creatively be divided into a range of chunks including writing a plan, the first sentence of the introduction, the first paragraph of the introduction and so on.

3. Imperfect is better than not done at all

Having done something is better than doing nothing at all. In some mythical world, I could write a better a sentence to start my essay, but having something there is 100 times better than having nothing to show.

4. Be kind to myself

Part of my struggle with procrastination was becoming aware of the way I talked to myself. I tended to be very critical and mean of my work, which discouraged me from continuing and fed the procrastination monster.

I learnt to speak kindly to myself and encourage myself. This is a part of a much bigger journey.

5. Uncovering the psychological reasons behind the need to procrastinate

Starting therapy with a qualified psychiatrist for depression and anxiety led to an unexpected breakthrough: I uncovered reasons behind my chronic procrastination. These reasons included identifying the voices and messages of my family that were extremely critical and shaming. At some point, I made an unconscious decision that I would be criticised no matter what action I took, so the safest option, as a child, was to take no action. No wonder I had so much trouble starting things!

Since becoming aware of my beliefs and challenging the critical messages I received as a child, I have found procrastination has become much less of the monster it once was.

I still find myself procrastinating every now and again, but I am easily able to look into my toolbox of procrastination strategies and get those jobs started and done!

Procrastination can be a monster, eating your time and confidence and giving you nothing to show for it. Keep going, try all the strategies you can, and take control of your tasks!