| THE ARTISAN ARTICLE Expressions In The Arts Newsletter/Issue No. 2 June 2004 ~a creative forum~ Contributing Author: Rachel Minihan is a professional Life Coach and creator of the positive goal oriented web site. For more motivating articles go to Uexplode.com |
| Why We Procrastinate and What To Do About It by Rachel Minihan of Uexplode.com |
| As a young professional right out of college, I loved working. I left my house at 5 AM and I didn't return home until after 8 PM, on five sometimes six days a week. I didn't answer personal e-mails, I didn't eat lunch. I didn't have any concrete hobbies. I just worked, worked, worked, worked, and I enjoyed it. That's why I was so angry and hurt to receive negative comments from my boss during my first review. He sat across the table talking about this one, seemingly tiny task that I didn't get done - setting up a CD burner to test: I just didn't get what the big deal was. I kept looking at him with this sad face and saying, "But I work so hard! When would I have the time for that? That's not an important thing given all of the other things on my plate." |
| What I didn't understand until long after the fact, and what my boss already knew, was that the reason setting up the CD burner never made it to the top of my "To Do" list was that I was procrastinating on the task. What should I have done differently? What's the magic solution to the procrastination dilemma? First, you must understand why you are procrastinating. The underlying causes of procrastination fall into three primary categories: fear, lack of interest, and lack of know how. Once you are able to understand why you procrastinate, you'll be better able to figure out what steps are needed to complete the task. The Cause: Fear There are three types of fear that lead to procrastination: *Fear of success. This translates into worrying about the fact that people may begin to expect a certain level of achievement from you in other tasks down the road. You wonder, "What if I can't do this again?" *Fear of failure. You worry about not being able to achieve the goal in the first place. What will people think of you? How will this failure affect your job, your life, your relationships, etc? *Fear of finishing. This fear generally comes into play when completing a task brings you to the end: to the end of a project, to the end of a relationship. Here you start to worry about what your future holds. What will your next step in your life be? When fear is driving your procrastination, you must understand the type of fear and the related issues that you're facing. You can recognize these by engaging in a self-dialogue: ask yourself the questions above, and ones that are similar, to help you identify what is driving your fear. If you can't can't come to a realization on your own, consider asking a friend, family member, or professional for help in identifying the fear. Sometimes, just talking about a problem will help you to understand it better. Once you identify what is causing the fear, you can begin to take steps towards addressing it, which will thel then make the tasks that you are procrastinating on seem easier to accomplish. For instance, if I had made the mental switch from telling myself that I didn't have time to do the CD task to understanding that I was worried about the CD burning task because I was afraid of failing and looking "stupid" in front of my peers, I would have picked up a book or asked for help instead of making excuses about being too busy to complete it. The Cause: Lack of Interest There are two ways in which you can be disinterested in a task. The first is that you simply don't want to do it. For example, I hate doing the laundry, so it tends to pile up until someone needs clean clothes. The second is that you don't see the value in doing a certain task. My husband doesn't like to pick up the toys in the backyard after the kids have been playing because he doesn't see any benefit in doing so. It's a bit simpler to address this problem. You can remove the task by asking family members to pitch in, delagating it at the office, or soliciting a professional to take over. You can work at understanding the benefits of doing the task and then reminding yourself of these. You can apply basic and creative time management skills, such a s spending a few minutes a day on the task until it is done, or rewarding yourself for cmpleting it. The Cause: Lack of Know-How This cause is fairly self-explanatory. You don't know enough about how to accomplish the task. Perhaps your boss has asked you to step into a new position temporarily and you're unsure of the role. Or, you want to refinance your home, but don't know where to start. You do have alternatives for dealing with this type of procrastination. The first, and most obvious, is to learn how to do the task. If this is something that you will need to do on an ongoing basis, this is your best option. Once you feel comfortable with doing the task, you won't worry about it in the future. If this is a one-time task for you, you may want to call in a professional to get it done. Or, you may want to investigate related technology and on-line resources that can aid you in the task. If these aren't resonable options, let your planning skills tackle the task for you. Figure out what the most basic steps are for completing the task, decide when you will do each, and begin. You may find it useful to have a co-worker, family member, or a friend act as your "status check" whereby you update them periodically on how far you've come with the task. Over time, I have learned that procrastination is not such a horrible word. It doesn't make you lazy or incompetent, but if you want more success and peace of mind in your life, it is something to understand and confront. |
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| This article may only be obtained by permission from the author: Rachel Minihan of Uexplode.com |