Something that comes up a lot when I work with my clients is procrastination. And when I'm talking to people, and I know that it's a place that we easily go to - “I am a procrastinator”!
I've got some questions for you to really delve into this idea of being a procrastinator, because it gets in the way. It gets in the way of you doing what you want to do, if you're succeeding, if you're putting new products out there, if you're launching your website, if you're writing your about me page, if you’re ringing up that certain client, you think you might work with. Those tendencies to procrastinate can really stop us in our tracks and we build a wall of procrastination in front of where we want to be.
Firstly, are there any areas in your life where you don't procrastinate? Are there things that you do and you're in the flow and you just get on with them and you enjoy them? Because if there are those areas in your life, when you aren't a procrastinator, that means that you're not a procrastinator.
There are certain things that you're able to get on with and do. And so if we're not a procrastinator in all of the areas of our life, then how do we bring that ability to get on with the tasks in this place, to our business.
So, if you've got to go to the supermarket and you've got to get in your car and you've got to drive there, are you procrastinating about that task?
If you've got to get your kids to school in the morning, are you totally procrastinating about what to do about that? Try and think of areas in your life when you just get up and do, and you just do them. It might be habitual things. So it might be some element of habit. They're things that you have to do and you start creating those habits.
The next thing I want to ask you is, what do you gain? What are you gaining by telling yourself that you are a procrastinator? If you tell yourself you're a procrastinator, does that mean then that you never have to finish your website because you're a procrastinator?
So it kind of gives you a hook and a handle to not finish things. If you tell yourself you are a procrastinator, does that give you a reason to not pick up the phone and ring that person that you know will make a big, positive outcome to your business?
I also want to ask you if you didn't believe that you were a procrastinator, what would you be doing? What would your life be like? What could you achieve if you believed “I am not a procrastinator, I don't procrastinate, I just get on with things that need to be done”.
How different would your life be?
And then how can you start to unpick all of those things around procrastination, and really dig into why you're doing it. Are you gaining stuff from it? Who are you when you believe you're a procrastinator and who are you when you believe you're not a procrastinator? And what have you got to gain? And there are the things that you can gain when you get rid of the term procrastinator, are they worth working on?
And obviously, there's all sorts of stuff we can do with mindset to dig into the procrastination. But I think it's really worthwhile not just saying “I'm a procrastinator, full stop,” but really digging into what that gives us, what that means for us and who we might be without those thoughts.
I believe there's three main reasons why we procrastinate. Well, apart from the gains that we have from it and the things we get from life. We start procrastinating when we're scared that if we do X, we might become successful. So if I ring that person that I need to ring, maybe they say yes, and then I get that work. And then I've got to get that work. And then I'll earn more money. And then my friends might think that I'm terrible, because I maybe feel like I'm getting above my station, I'm earning more money.
So actually the fear of success can stop us in our tracks and stop us doing stuff. Like what if I launched that website and then I start getting loads of clients and then my days are filled up and then I don't have any spare time for myself. The actual success of doing stuff can be a reason for us to stop.
The next one is failure. Now we're all used to that feeling of failure. If I do X, I'll fail. And so it's much easier to not finish your website, to not ring that person, to not write your about me page, to not launch that online course. It's much easier for you to keep procrastinating, because it's scary putting stuff out there. It's scary putting stuff out there and going, "Do you want to buy it? Is it good? Do you want to come to my website?"
But what's the cost of not doing stuff. What's the cost of always procrastinating and always putting in another thing in front of yourself. The cost is that you'll never know if you were going to be successful. The worst thing we can do in business is do nothing. The best thing we can do is to do something, keep testing, keep being curious, keep putting things out there, keep trying stuff.
And the third reason we might procrastinate really is we actually don't want to do it. We actually don't enjoy the task, it's something that we don't want to do. And so we keep putting it in the back burner and back burner and back burner. And maybe we just haven't admitted to ourselves that we don't want to do it yet. If that's the case, just say no to that project, say no to that task, say no to that person and get it out. Always thinking about stuff and procrastinating takes up mental space in our brain. And sometimes just saying, no, will free you up to let new things come in, new possibilities, new ideas.
Who could you actually be if you let go of procrastinating and giving yourself permission to try things, to be curious, to fail, or to let go. Just say no.
Did you see my latest blog about International Women’s Day? Check it out here.
