We all struggle with procrastination, avoiding those tasks we know we SHOULD be doing. And for many of us, it is one of the major ways we self sabotage and prevent ourselves from reaching our big goals.
When we procrastinate we often don’t get the results we want, in our work and our life. We don’t feel productive and feel like we are spinning our wheels instead of making actual progress towards our goals.
In this post, I want to help you get to the bottom of WHY you are procrastinating so that you can overcome this bad habit and get out of your own way.
Here are some of the most common reasons you might be procrastinating and what you can do about them.
1. You are stressed out
Did you know procrastination is a form of stress relief? I learned this from reading Mel Robbin’s book The 5 Second Rule. When we are stressed out our brain is looking for a way to relieve that feeling. One way to relieve the feeling of stress is to engage in some activity that will give us a quick hit of dopamine, a quick reward to feel good. Even if its only for a few minutes.
We end up doing mindless activities like watching netflix or scrolling through social media because they give us that instant gratification we are looking for in order to relieve the stress we are feeling.
In general, our brains have evolved to place higher value on immediate rewards than future rewards. When we put off activities we know we SHOULD do in order to get a future reward, it’s usually because we are chasing some immediate reward.
Take a break
If this is the reason for your procrastination, then you need to take a break. Yes, this may seem counterproductive, but trust me it isn’t.
The thing is, we can’t work 24/7 so at some point we have to take a break anyways. If we don’t intentionally make time for rest, we end up taking a break against our will. We binge watch Netflix when we really “should be working” and then end up feeling guilty about it.
So the question becomes, do we want to take a break that we feel guilty about or one that we feel really good about? That sounds like a no brainer, huh.
Since, one of the reasons we procrastinate is because we are stressed out, to deal with this we need to do something to lower our stress i.e. take a break. Scheduling in intentional times for rest will ultimately boost our productivity in the long term because we return to our work feeling recharged and ready to go.
If you are struggling with the idea that you deserve to take a break I have two podcast recommendations for you. Listen to The Robcast Episode 204, Menuha and The Goal Digger podcast Episode 298, The Secret to Rest and Why It’ll Make Your Business Better.
Regardless of if you feel you deserve one or not, you are going to have to take a break anyways…. So you might as well take one on purpose and enjoy it.
2. You are scared
Fear of failure is another common reason we put things off. Think about it, what are the types of tasks you are procrastinating doing? If you are anything like me, they are likely the tasks that are the scariest. For me, I’ve been putting off things like reaching out to prospective clients, setting up sales calls, doing FB lives.
What do all these tasks have in common? They are scary AF. There is alot of inherent risk in these tasks. Risk of rejection, embarrassment, public humiliation, and just overall failure. Sometimes even the risk of success and being seen in a bigger spotlight is scary.
But guess what, you can’t fail if you never start. So my brain, as a form of self protection, finds ways to avoid doing the things in my business that are scary so that I avoid my fear of failure.
Sometimes this form of procrastination can be exceptionally deceptive because it doesn’t always look like laziness. I will keep myself busy doing all the little, “safe” things in my business. Things like designing my website, taking online courses, perfecting my pinterest strategy. I keep myself busy, but I’m avoiding doing the REAL work that will actually move the needle in my business.
It’s important to be especially aware of this form of procrastination because it can be super sneaky.
Forgive yourself
In order to overcome this version of procrastination you first need to forgive yourself. I know that sounds lame, but this is scientifically based. A 2010 study by The Procrastination Research Group shows that self-forgiveness for procrastination on a given task reduces the likelihood of procrastinating again on that task in the future.
By forgiving ourselves, we are able to stop feeling so bad about ourselves and move on with our lives. So lets start here.
Forgive yourself for procrastinating. Acknowledge that you are likely attempting to do something really difficult so, OF COURSE you are feeling resistance and trying to avoid that thing. You are probably putting it off because it is really hard and out of your comfort zone. It makes total sense. You are scared and so you avoid your fears instead of facing them. That is so normal.
Acknowledge your human tendency to run in the other direction from fear and forgive yourself for it. Write it down, say it out loud, or better yet say it out loud while looking at yourself in the mirror. “I forgive myself for……”.
3. You are overwhelmed
Another common reason people procrastinate is overwhelm. This is a little bit different than stress relief. When it comes down to it, the feeling of overwhelm is the perspective that you have so much to do you have no idea where to start.
When you tell yourself you have no idea where to start, it is alot easier to avoid starting entirely. Hence the procrastination.
But staying in that feeling of overwhelm is a choice. As Jen Sincero says in her book You Are a Badass At Making Money, “Overwhelm is when you make the unhelpful decision to stop breathing, lose perspective and forget that you are in control of your life.”
Do a brain dump
The good news is, I have a super simple solution for overwhelm that works every time: do a brain dump. Get out a blank piece of paper and write down every single thing you can think of that is stressing you out. Get curious and ask yourself the question “why am I feeling overwhelmed right now” and then go crazy writing down everything that comes to mind.
This can include things you are worried about, things you need to get done, or any thought that is swirling around in your mind. The key here is to get it all out of your head and onto a piece of paper.
Usually once it is all out on paper you will feel instantly relieved and a sense of clarity on what to do next. If you don’t quite have that clarity than take out another piece of paper and write at the top- “what is the next thing I need to do to really move the needle on this project”.
Being able to step back, get all the crap out of your head usually clears up the space to identify your next right step. If that doesn’t work, check out my blog post all about identifying your next right step.
4. You are waiting until you feel like doing it
Waiting for the motivation to strike is a common problem that leads to procrastination. We, as a society, are not good at doing things when we just don’t feel like it. Sometimes that motivation comes when the pain/ pleasure scales tip. When we hit a time crunch and suddenly the pain of NOT doing something becomes more than the pain of just doing it. This propels us into action.
We put off eating healthy and working out until our sisters wedding is 2 months away, and then it’s really crunch time so we finally feel motivated to make some changes (speaking from experience here).
But usually, it takes time for the motivation to really hit us. And that time is generally spent in agony, dreading the thing we know we should do and feeling guilty that we haven’t already gotten started. Do we really want to spend all that time waiting around in misery? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just get started.
The fix here can be a little more complicated and involves really looking into your pain/ pleasure associations so that you can intentionally tip the scales in your favor. This is something a life coach can help you dig into!
Another thing that can help is just being aware of the fact that often the pain of NOT doing the thing is much worse than the pain of actually doing the thing. And then also realize, that you don’t HAVE to actually feel like doing something to get started. Watch Mel Robbins famous Ted talk and use her 5 second rule to override the part of you that “doesn’t feel like it”.
5. The task just really sucks
To put it bluntly, some of the things we have to do as part of being an adult just really suck. Things like paying our bills, filing our taxes, and running errands. If you are in a place in your life and finances where you can outsource some of those things you procrastinate like the plague, I would definitely look into that option. Because seriously, how much would you pay to never have to do that thing again?
If not, I’ve got some other solutions for you. For me, I personally hate running errands, and especially grocery shopping. So there are two things I do to force myself into action. One, I ask myself the question “what is the result or purpose of this task and how will it bring me joy or satisfaction once it is complete?”
Yes, I hate wandering down the aisles trying to read foreign food labels and carrying my heavy groceries 5 blocks. BUT, it feels sooo good to have a fridge stocked full of fresh food. I love waking up in the morning with all my smoothie ingredients ready to go instead of having to stop at a convenience store for breakfast on my way to work. I love coming home to my pre prepped meals and not having to worry about dinner. It is sooo pleasant having all the food I need for the week right there in my apartment. So keeping the pleasure of this end result in mind always helps motivate me to get to stepping to the grocery store.
The second question I ask myself is “how can I make this task as fun, joyful, easy or pleasant as possible?” Maybe that is going to the grocery store with a friend, taking a cab home so I don’t have to carry my heavy groceries, making a list in advance so I’m not aimlessly wandering the aisles, etc. When you ask yourself this question you come up with new ways to do this otherwise dreaded task that makes it infinitely more bearable.
