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What I'll suggest will help you deal with procrastination when it arises, & it may reduce the frequency & intensity of your procrastination. Another disclaimer: you may have to work through the procrastination when it arises. It's not about simply remembering what I share here.
So how can you overcome lifelong procrastination? I'll deal with "lifelong" in a bit, but let's start with an important fact you need to know about procrastination. Procrastination is a SYMPTOM (or a coping mechanism). We resort to procrastination for a variety of reasons.
Why do we procrastinate? This is a simple breakdown: 1- We need CLARITY about what to do (activity) and why we are doing it (outcome) 2- We can experience APPREHENSION about the activity itself (e.g. anticipating boredom) or the outcome (e.g. fear of failure) https://t.co/xMKyPW7IJM
Experiencing lack of clarity or being apprehensive about the activity (or the outcome) can lead to procrastination. Sometimes (oftentimes?), it's a mix of multiple factors (the next action isn't clear AND we're afraid the outcome isn't what we want in our heart of hearts).
To avoid procrastination (i.e. avoid avoidance), we need to understand what we're avoiding in the first place, & deal to with that. The avoidance is NOT necessarily emotional! It could simply be not knowing what to work on next! This requires a better way to manage our tasks.
I tend to make a distinction between a POINT and a PATTERN: Why are you procrastinating RIGHT NOW? The answer isn't necessarily tied to a LIFELONG pattern of procrastination. Maybe I can't focus because I'm too hungry, which isn't usually the case.
It's important to be honest about the situation we are facing now, as well as ongoing patterns of procrastination. Resolving patterns doesn't mean we'll be able to properly address all cases of procrastination, so we should be aware of what's going on in the moment, as well.
Why are you frequently unclear about what to do? And what can you do about it? Why are you regularly running away from X emotion? How can you make peace with it? A single setup, action or realization can impact the rest of your life, so it's worth resolving unhelpful patterns.
WHY people procrastinate and HOW to resolve the underlying issues that lead to procrastination will be different for different people. You'll need to understand your own procrastination mix based on clarity & apprehension about the activity & outcome.
You will likely need to come up with and curate your own toolbox of tools you find useful for addressing the issues that lead to you procrastinating. How can you be clear about what to work on next? What level of detail will you need to avoid looking away from a task?
Are you juggling too many projects and too many commitments? Overwhelm will likely lead to a loss of clarity on what to do next and how to manage all your commitments. Would scheduling help? Body-doubling? Project management skills? A different PM tool?
And while it's tempting to want to resolve lifelong procrastination, we often need to balance between being more productive now (today or in this work session) than trying to set up the perfect productivity system that will forever fix our procrastination issues.
The pursuit of the perfect system often becomes its own form of procrastination. You don't want to direct all your attention away from WHAT you want to achieve while you obsess over HOW you should be doing things. You need to have a balance between the two.
I agree with @visakanv's application of the MVP model in this case. You don't want to get the HOW perfect BEFORE you start working on the WHAT (the actual tasks you want to get done towards the goals and projects you care about). https://t.co/rjSxuB1tdY
There's a lot I can share and recommend about what can go in your toolbox, but this is very personal and will be different to different people. I'll share 2 examples where I helped people overcome their lifelong struggles with procrastination over simple recommendations...
1- A friend was able to get very productive when I suggested using https://t.co/tTucrhhteU to body-double while working 2- Someone I know was struggling with having too many creative, but distracting, ideas. I suggested having a "backlog" of ideas to work on later (not now)
The person in the second example messaged me months after to say that my tip helped her be more productive on a daily basis. Body-doubling might not work for everyone. Distracting ideas might not be the issue you're dealing with. Your toolbox can and will look different.
Remember to consider the level of clarity you feel towards what to do and why, as well as how you feel about them, to address any emotions that get you to look away, or do something else (i.e. procrastinate). https://t.co/bNuz2YX9ZT
