Procrastination is one of the most pernicious roadblocks to progress, it seems. And it's self-reinforcing - the more you put off something, the worse you feel about it, so the more you put it off.
Procrastination has a variety of causes, and each different cause requires a different solution. So, for instance, someone who procrastinates because they're an adrenaline junkie and love that last-minute rush, would need to fight it using different methods than someone who's avoiding their book-keeping because they're worried about money.
One thing you need to remember is that procrastination is a learned habit, and it's reinforced by your glands. When you're sitting facing a teetering pile in your In Tray, and wondering what things are going to blow up in your face if you start delving, your body is busy producing stress chemicals, increasing your heart rate and blood pressure, and so on. So simply deciding to stop procrastinating won't work (and will in fact probably only make you feel worse, if you scold yourself about it).
Ask yourself a few questions, like:
- Do I procrastinate on everything, or just some things?
- How do I feel when I face something I should be doing?
- What do I do instead?
- Am I thinking about the whole project before I do it?
- Do I have a Next Action, and if so, could I do it within 10 minutes?
Well-defined Next Actions will help somewhat, as they remove the "I don't know what to do" problem, and also work with the "I see myself doing the whole project and it's all too much" problem.
There's a whole lot more that I could write (procrastination is one of my hobby-horse subjects
), but for now that's a start.
