The procrastination process.
We all have one. Don’t deny.
Some are easy to defeat like a little thumb war in your head and some are all out epic battles.
(Picture Mel Gibson riding his horse across the field screaming about why he needs his coffee and a shower before he heads into battle.)
Me too Mel. I feel your pain.
Mine are completely ridiculous. I know this.
Yet I battle everyday with it.
I will have something that I need to do yet I cant get it done because my procrastination process starts talking non stop.
Goes something like this.
I will have a contract to write and while I LOVE what I do , I HATE writing contracts.
(Yes definitely good thing I dropped out of law school.)
So I have this contract reminder on my lap top, in my face on a yellow sticky note……….Sit down to write it and GET RIGHT BACK UP.
- Oh first coffee…Sue. You must have coffee before you sit down. Silly girl.
- Back to desk …half way there…Oh you better get a second cup…be prepared !
- Walking back to desk …….oh well you really should clean your house……in case the neighborhood wants to come over. Or something. Cant have those 8 year olds seeing a messy house………………..My child will be scared for life.
- Oh yeah …….vitamins. Cant write without vitamins. And while your there, make a smoothie and some Fresh yummmy carrot juice.
- The puppy is barking . Maybe he’s lonely. Maybe he needs a training class.
- Sit down at desk …….Oh well now you messed up the perfect lines in the carpet walking all over them. REDO.
- You need a cupcake.
- They must be fresh baked right now. But you hate baking Sue. ( yes but you have to have cupcakes to write a contract)
- Oh wow your dishes are crooked. Must straighten every dish in every closet RIGHT NOW.
- Oh look its sunny out -I don’t want to get vitamin D deficient ……..maybe we should go sit in the sunshine with the cupcakes and coffee.
- Oh God its hot out here . Florida is tough. Don’t want to faint – maybe you should go do your hair and make up in case you faint and people need to come rescue you. Oh great idea! Then we can go to Starbucks for that coffee !
- Oh …well its already 130 – the kids will be home soon ( 430 ). I will just sip coffee and wait for them.
The list is never ending and speaking of the list …….if my to do list ins’t perfect I must rewrite it until it is.
Because who can actually do some all important task if it is not written PERFECTLY on the paper ? (Not me.)
I had a very serious problem with procrastination obviously!
As funny as it sounds, in business this is a deadly sin, so I knew I had to do something about it.
I began asking around and was SHOCKED at how many women reached out to me to share their procrastination conversations.
The messages I got made me laugh so hard I had tears running down my face..
Some of you guys are FUNNY!!!
I began testing methods and came up with one that works for me.
I call it giving procrastination the “ASS.”
- Acknowledge it. You have a problem and it needs your attention. Yes I hate contracts and I am AWARE all the things I think I MUST DO are just simply me avoiding doing it. Lets just ride face that big elephant in the room and ask it to leave.
- Silence all distractions. Get that coffee, put the phone in another room and get serious about progress.
- Share it. Get a procrastination accountability partner. Share your to do lists and make it a ” competition” who can get more done faster. You can even build in little rewards…….loser has to buy Starbucks !
Seems so simple ……but this little mini system has worked so well for myself and the other procrastinators I have shared it with, that I figured it deserves a post 🙂
Please comment below and share your procrastination super power.
You never know when the strange shit that you do will resonate with somebody and you may end up with an amazing accountability partner!
Love and Light,
