Stop Procrastinating … NOW
“The dread of doing a task uses up more time and energy than doing the task itself.”
- Rita Emmett
Have you ever been around a person who says, “I’m great under pressure”? Did you do a follow-up question and ask them, “Why were you behind in the first place?”
It’s those people who think that they can keep putting things off until the end, and then finish the project with seconds remaining, which in the long run will have a negative impact on the overall success of your company.
When procrastinator’s “come through in the end” it’s usually done half-assed. There is a huge difference between getting it done and getting it done right. If they had completed the project two days before the due date there would have been time to go back through and make their part was even better. But because they threw their PowerPoint file into your mail box as you were going to the meeting you had to go with what they sent.
Procrastination is something that we all have had to deal with in our life. We put off things we need to do, so we can do things we want to do. It’s the “Get To vs Got To Dilemma”, that I wrote about in Move or Die, being played out in our life.
We get an assignment and ask “when do you want this done?” Because most people are nice, they will say, “Get it to me by Friday.” You leaf through the assignment and think to yourself, “I can get this done in about an hour.”
You go back to your office with the assignment, sit down at your computer and begin … to read your emails. It’s only going to take you an hour, why don’t you do it then and there? Finish it. Maybe it will only take 30-minutes – maybe less! But you put it off and put it off, and then you forget about it. On Thursday the leader of your team asks about your progress on the assignment. “It’s going great” you say, “I’m just about done, I’ll get it to your first thing in the morning.”
You go back to your desk, and you pull out the assignment and look at it again. As you go through it you notice that, what you thought was going to take an hour, might take a little more. As you go through the assignment you can’t remember the specifications on how they wanted the assignment done. It was so simple you didn’t think you needed to take any notes. Now it’s too late to call your boss and ask them the questions you need in order to do this project up to their standards.
So, you begin to work, the hour turns into three hours. You decide you’ll finish it at the house. You come home in a crappy mood, blaming your boss for dumping this assignment on you. Somewhere around 3:00 a.m. you do the least you can to complete the project. You decide to get some sleep and read over it again before you send it. But then you oversleep. In a desperate act you send the assignment to your group leader.
You smile and say to yourself, “I work so well under pressure!” Until you show up to work and the boss comes to your office and asks, “What is this?”
This happens every day to some people, why?
Studies show the five top reasons for procrastination are:
· Lack of Motivation: The team member can’t see the big picture.
· Arrogance: The team member believes they “work better under pressure” and if they don’t get it done, they can handle the fallout.
· Distractions: Other things are higher on the individual’s priority list then doing the assignment. The distraction gives the individual a positive feeling now, which is seen as more desirable than the bad feelings that will come later, by being under pressure.
· Overwhelmed: A feeling of having too much work dumped on the individual that they don’t know where to start.
· Superiority: Feeling that the assignment is below them. They find the assignment boring so why waste my time right now.
I have always said that anyone can point out the problem, but it’s the great leaders who also have solutions.
Here are five responses to the list I just presented:
· Communicate: Help them understand the role they play and how this assignment will help the company be more successful. Then bring it down to how completing this assignment will benefit them in the short term and the long term.
· Accelerate: Speed the clock up. Don’t give future dates for completion. Tell them it is needs to be done by the end of the day. Know your team member. If they are arrogant about their work, give them shorter deadlines so you can “check their work”. When you feel you can trust them you can increase their deadlines.
· Cleansing: Get rid of all distractions. Tell your team members to reconfigure their offices so one can walk by and see what is work is being done on their computers. Also, cell phones are to be kept in their desks and used only for emergencies.
· Benevolence: Distribute the work load more evenly. When you have a great team member, don’t overload them. Make sure you have a line of communication with each member so when they do get overwhelmed, they will feel comfortable to come talk to you so they can get on with their work.
· Trust: Remind them that every assignment has value. The better work they do on the “easy” ones will raise your confidence in giving them more assignments of greater value.
What happens if YOU are the one that procrastinates? Here are a couple easy things that you can incorporate into your life to get your work done.
· Start NOW: When you get an assignment do it now. No matter how simple it seems, just get it done and off your plate. This way you will have time to check your work before you turn it in. Also, when you turn in assignments early, you will gain the trust of the people above you.
· Schedules: Make a daily schedule where you schedule your Got To’s and your Get To’s. When you know you have “dessert” (a preferred activity) waiting for you at the end you will work harder to get to that end.
· HELP: Ask for help from the people around you so they can help you stay on task. When you have people around you helping you to be better, you end up becoming better to show your appreciation.
· Movtivation: Give yourself a reason to get the work done. Treat yourself to your favorite snacks or activities when you get your work done early.
· Lifestyle: You may need to get professional help to understand why you continue to put things off. Once you understand your why, you can do something about it.
Procrastination is part of most of our lives. We may put off getting a haircut or mowing the lawn or saying thank you for an act of kindness. If we take an aggressive stance to this habit, and just do whatever it is that needs to be done we will live a less stressful life.
Have an amazing day.
