7 Questions of Procrastination

Understanding the reasons for your procrastination

Mike Gardner – The Time Doctor

What’s the source of your procrastination?• The first thing you need to do is identify the problem. • There are many reasons that you might find yourself procrastinating.• It could be that you don’t enjoy your work, you have anxiety about

communicating with a particular person, or that you feel overwhelmed by a big project.• In this presentation you will find some of the most common causes of

procrastination and some possible remedies.

1. – Do you feel overstretched?• Sometimes we just take on too much, we overstretch ourselves. • Are you sure that it’s possible for you to meet all the obligations you

currently have? • If not, you may well have to accept the fact that you are going to have

to reschedule some things and possible admit to others that you can’t do what you promised. • It will cause short term pain but long term gain.

2. – Are you suffering low motivation?• Are you really motivated to do this task?• Is it something that is relevant to you personally or is it someone

else’s objective rather than your own? • If at all possible, identify a personal reward or relevance for achieving

the task. • What can you do to get yourself interested enough in the task to

complete it to a good standard? • If you really can’t get interested in the task, consider swapping with

someone else or become comfortable with the idea of letting it go.

3. – Are you lacking the required skills?• Does your skillset need improving in order for you to be capable of

completing the task?• When you start a new task, how do you feel? • Are you afraid of the unknown? • Do you find the required outcomes to be unclear or ambiguous? • If so, is there anyone who is more familiar with the process that can

provide you with support and guidance.

4. – Are you making poor estimations?• Are you guilty of thinking that the task will go away if you look the

other way for long enough? • Many procrastinators have a tendency to underestimate the time and

effort needed to complete a task or on the other hand they convince themselves that the task will be more difficult than it actually is. • If you suffer in this area sit down and write out all the steps that will

be required to do the task, prioritize them and do one step at a time.

5. – Are you a perfectionist?• Are you the type of person that has to have all the I’s dotted and Ts

crossed? • Do you let the fears of being less than perfect get in the way of your

productivity? • You have to get used to the fact that the perfect outcome as in

perfection, is usually an unrealistic expectation. • Sometimes good is good enough, that’s not an excuse to produce

shoddy work but often doing a task in a less than perfect way, is better than not doing it at all.

6. – Do you fear criticism?• Do you worry about how others may perceive your performance?• Does it really matter? • If you get criticized for the way you go about a task, in the overall

scheme of things how much impact will it have on your life? • There is no individual on earth who is able to perform at the top of

their game all the time, keep things in perspective. • Make it a goal that you will complete tasks to the best of your ability

and in a way that ensures you don’t suffer stress and anxiety.

7. – Do you dislike the task?• Sometimes we just have to do things that we consider are up there

alongside a visit to the dentist or completing your annual tax return.• Try to think of ways that you could make the task more pleasurable

or enjoyable? • If not try what Brian Tracey describes as eating the frog, get the

unpleasant task out of the way first thing in the morning and that way you can feel good about yourself all day.

Conclusion• Understanding the reason for your procrastination can help you to get

a handle on it. • For example, if you have a big project that’s paralyzing you it can help

to break it up into smaller pieces. • When you can attack a little at a time, you won’t feel the need to put

it off and you can build momentum.

Till Next timeMike Gardner – The Time Doctor

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