The #1 Annoying Reason You Aren’t Getting the Important Stuff Done
How messy are your drawers?
How many excuses do YOU make when you’re avoiding doing something you know you need to do? Trust me, I get it. I may be the Queen of Implementation, but I’m also sometimes guilty of taking up the scepter for the Queen of Procrastination—weirdly, even with tasks I enjoy doing.
For example, I enjoy writing my blogs. But, as soon I started to write this blog, I felt a burning desire to address other, more “important” things, like:
· Cleaning my keyboard with Q-tips and rubbing alcohol
· Googling “how to clean a keyboard”
· Remeasuring the area where I want to hang new art
· Sorting and organizing my dozens of colored pens and markers
What the heck just happened?!
It turns out, there are actual biological reasons behind why we behave the way we do.
Why We Procrastinate
Our lower brain, which is the most primitive part of our brain, is constantly reminding us that if we didn’t get eaten by a saber-toothed tiger yesterday, then it was a good day, and we need to do exactly the same thing today. This type of thinking keeps us stuck in the past, in survival mode. Our brain isn't able to think about thriving because we’re still protecting ourselves from the stress of a possible attack. Procrastination is the result. We delay what we consider a stress-inducing task.
Procrastination can take many forms. No matter what I do, I call these distracting, mundane tasks “cleaning out the paperclip drawer,” which is something that rarely, if ever, needs to be done. Your procrastination tasks might be something else, but similarly as useless and unproductive.
Here are a few ways my clients tell me they procrastinate and the excuses they use:
· Excessive use of social media. “I just need to see how many ‘likes’ I have.”
· Excessively checking email. “I’m waiting for an important message from a client.”
· Cleaning out their email inbox. “Maybe I missed an important email from a client,” or “Now is the time to unsubscribe from a bunch of newsletters.”
· Organizing photos. “My brother’s birthday is next month…I want to find that funny photo when he _____ so I have something to post on FB.”
· Excessive exercising. “I need to work off the calories from the extra piece of pizza before I can work on my project.”
· Binge watching TV. Um, yeah. (And soon, we won’t even be able to use the pandemic as an excuse!)
How to Overcome Procrastination
Fortunately, there is a solution to overcoming “paper clip drawer” distractions, setting aside our excuses, and getting serious about crossing our to-dos off our list. It starts with baby steps:
· Define exactly what the task is, and write it down
· Identify why the task is important, and how you will feel when it is complete
· Determine the first step to get started
· Schedule the time in your monaplanner© <———— Click to check it out!
· Take action—do that first step—remember action begets action!
· Celebrate your accomplishment!
In addition to the above, it’s important to Plan Weekly and Focus Daily. Click the link for more info on that practice.
Tell me, what are YOUR biggest distractions that lead to procrastination?
