Making Peace with Procrastination: A New Perspective on Productivity
Unraveling the True Potential of Procrastination in Our Work Life
Procrastination.
That word leaves me in a cold sweat.
Endless hours staring at a blank piece of paper. Full work days lost to YouTube. Anything at all to avoid doing the one thing I should do.
Procrastination, and it’s sneaky cousin perfectionism, strangle our drive, create fear and halt our progress.
For years I was afraid of it.
I feared it would destroy my career.
But is procrastination something we should be afraid of? Or is it misunderstood? And could it be a useful signal to get creative?
Analysing the moments I procrastinate unearthed something interesting.
I separated those moments into three categories:
Stuff I REALLY don’t want to do (paying bills, taxes, etc)
Stuff I’d like to do but don’t feel qualified for (writing a book)
FOMO
In category one, procrastination comes from the pain of the task, rather than fear of perfectionism.
Here, procrastination isn’t a signal that something needs to be different because I can’t avoid doing my taxes. And for that, I’ve developed an anti-procrastination technique — which I’ll be teaching as an online course (coming very soon).
So, instead, let’s discuss categories one and two — stuff I don’t feel qualified for and FOMO.
Stuff I don’t feel qualified for
Procrastination at this level might as well be called ‘fear’.
Fear of failure
Fear of looking like a dick
Fear of hurting someone (or myself)
We've been told to fight procrastination tooth and nail. A monster lurking in our lives, a defect we must vanquish.
But let's challenge this belief.
Is it possible that this supposed defect could be a helpful messenger?
Could it be whispering, "Hey, this task ain't worth the hassle," or "Hold your horses, you're rushing into this," or even "You're biting off more than you can chew."
Rather than fighting it, what can we learn from it?
Procrastination could be a natural red flag that waves when we're about to plunge into something soul-sucking.
Perhaps it’s a signpost to conserve energy to do the stuff that really counts.
In this light, procrastination doesn't seem so monstrous, does it? Maybe it's more of a guide that helps us streamline our lives and work.
FOMO
Sometimes procrastination strikes because we’d rather be doing something, anything, other that what we’re forced to do.
FOMO is the voice in our head telling us to chase shiny things.
To combat this, I remind myself that the voice in my head is not me — I'm the one who hears the voice. And therefore I don’t have to listen to what the voice is telling me to do.
Every time FOMO strikes I try to focus on my breath. If the voice is loud, I repeat a mantra for a few minutes to quiet it down.
The mantra I often use is “AYAM”.
Or you can use “I am not the body, I am not even the mind”. Or, if that makes you uncomfortable, you could just repeat the words “I can handle this” until the voice is quiet.
How do we create a productive environment?
A productive environment should resemble the one we’re wired for.
When we feel off, often it's not us, but our surroundings that are mismatched. Battling our innate habits is like forcing a fish to climb a tree - futile.
The key?
Strike a balance.
Sync your nature with your habitat.
Consider this: Are we really meant to work 40-hour weeks, 9 to 5? Or is it a relic from the industrial revolution that stifles creativity?
We've journeyed through procrastination, unmasking it as a messenger, not a monster. It waves red flags at tasks that drain us, coaxing us to focus on what really matters.
We could reframe procrastination as a road sign, rather than a roadblock. A sign guiding us towards a work environment that sings in harmony with our rhythm, where productivity is easier to achieve.
A thought to chew on.