Book Brew 34: The Battle Against Procrastination

Procrastination—oh, your song is so sweet, and we all fall for it now and again (some more often than others). But how do we combat your siren song?

Tools from The Now Habit

A few months back, I read The Now Habit by Neil Fiore and found some useful tools to address the procrastination habit, some of which coincide with time management techniques I have used and that we recommend for our clients.

Tracking Your Time

1. The first step is to get a log of your daily activities so you can truly see where your time is being spent (this step is so important—if you don’t know where your time is going, then you can’t take steps to fix it).
2. Then, categorize them into three categories—most important, important, and least important. This is similar to Dan Sullivan’s categories in The ABC Model Breakthrough (irritating, okay, fascinating).
3. From there, find ways to improve the flow of your day by eliminating/delegating the least important things.

The Procrastination Log

Fiore also recommends using a Procrastination Log, which allows you to keep track of activities in which you procrastinate. You document:

• The date/time
• The activity and its priority level
• The justification you gave yourself to procrastinate
• The feelings/thoughts you have around the activity and procrastination
• Your attempted solution
• Your thoughts and feelings once you implemented your solution

Rinse and repeat until you see patterns, and work on them.

Language Matters

Fiore and others recommend changing the language we use to ourselves. Instead of saying “I should” or “I have to,” use phrases like “I choose to,” “I decide to,” or “I will.” The best summary phrase around all of this is “Don’t should all over yourself.”

Methods to Tackle Procrastination

Some other great methods to tackle the procrastination beast that Fiore mentions are:

• The Unschedule: Plan your leisure activities first to ensure you have guilt-free play built into your schedule, which allows you to recharge, boost productivity, and maintain motivation.
• The Reverse Calendar: Plan backward from your deadlines to ensure you allocate appropriate amounts of time to each task/project. It also helps visualize the time available in your calendar for other things.
• Dealing with Perfectionism: Perfectionism and procrastination go hand in hand, and Fiore talks about aiming for progress rather than perfection.

Insights from Effortless

In Effortless, McKeown also discusses ways to tackle procrastination: “All too often, we procrastinate or struggle to take the first steps on a project because we don’t have a clear finish line in mind.” That statement covers two important pieces in addressing procrastination—just starting and knowing where you are going. If you don’t know the end goal, it is really challenging to make progress, resulting in being overwhelmed and procrastinating. It also makes taking that first step (which is the most crucial, by the way) nearly impossible.

Business Applications

Most business owners want their projects/tasks to go smoothly, be completed in a timely manner, and be fun. Yet many struggle because they wear too many hats, do not know when to delegate or bring on someone to help, and ultimately procrastinate the day away. My recommendation to you: take just one of the above recommended actions and take that first step.

Ponder This

1. What are the main causes of procrastination in your daily routine, and how can you address them? 
2. Which methods from Fiore or McKeown can you implement to improve your productivity? 
3. How can changing your language help reduce procrastination in your business? 

Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

Books

• The Now Habit - Neil Fiore
• Effortless - Greg McKeown