People tend to think of procrastination as resulting from poor time management or laziness, but research shows it stems from negative emotions that hijack your mood. Photo: File.
Travis Bradberry says getting into the right frame of mind to tackle a difficult project is not always easy. He suggests ways to counter the negative emotions that prevent you from getting started on the task.
Procrastination can strike everyone at times, and once it gets a hold of you, it can be difficult to shake off.
Even the types who can sit on the ground in a subway station with their laptop, still managing to get more done in an hour than you would in a day, can be hit by procrastination.
The difference is, they beat procrastination by using a calculated approach.
First, they understand why they procrastinate, and then they apply strategies that beat procrastination before it takes hold.
Research from Joseph Ferrari at DePaul University in the United States shows that procrastination is more complicated than most people think.
People tend to think of procrastination as resulting from poor time management or laziness, but Dr Ferrari’s research shows procrastination stems from negative emotions that hijack your mood.
Once you’re under the influence of these emotions, you can’t bring yourself to work.
Instead of being lazy or disorganised, people usually put things off because they aren’t in the right mood to complete the task. Doing so places you firmly inside a procrastination doom loop.
Since you’ve decided that you aren’t in the right mood to work, you distract yourself with other tasks — checking emails, or the news, cleaning your desk, talking to a co-worker.
Then you start to feel guilty for wasting so much time. As the deadline draws closer, you feel worse than you did when you first put off the task.
Beating procrastination is a simple matter of exiting the doom loop by taking control of your mood. The strategies that follow will help you to make this happen.
Work out why: When you aren’t in the mood to work, it could be something simple, such as you need to take a break or have something to eat.
It could also be something complex, such as you’re carrying the team on your back or you’re dissatisfied with your job. Whatever it is, instead of punishing yourself for procrastinating, take a moment to reflect and work out why you’re procrastinating.
Remove your obstacles: Take a moment to carefully consider the obstacles that might get in your way, then develop a plan to ensure they don’t. For example, you might have instructions for a task in your email inbox, and if you don’t do anything about it, you’ll repeatedly go back to your inbox to look at them, only to get distracted by other incoming emails.
In this case, your management plan should be to get the instructions out of your inbox before starting your work. By planning, you can maintain your focus and avoid procrastination.
Jump right in, no matter what: Sometimes it’s really hard to get started even when it’s something you love to do.
That first step is difficult, but once you get going your mood improves dramatically. When you focus your attention on how difficult and cruddy it is to get started, you discourage yourself from doing so.
When you dive right in no matter what, your mood quickly improves, which helps you to stay on task.
Cut holes in your project: We often procrastinate because we feel intimidated by the size of a project. To minimise this, try cutting holes in it.
For example, writing a proposal might require 10 hours of intense concentration, but you can spit out an intro in 15 minutes and develop a list of deliverables in 10.
Before you know it, these smaller tasks have cut serious holes in the project and it’s no longer intimidating.
Work in the right environment: Even if you do everything else right, working in the wrong environment can make you succumb to procrastination.
Keep yourself away from television, electronics, friends, and loud places. This doesn’t work for everyone, but you need to exercise discipline by working in the environment that’s right for you.
Enjoy small victories: There’s nothing quite like checking something off your to-do list.
To keep yourself from procrastinating, you need to experience this sense of accomplishment by tracking your progress carefully.
Sometimes, crossing a few easy things off a list is all it takes to build up the mental strength to tackle something big.
Remember, it’s not about doing small tasks to avoid big tasks; it’s about including small tasks in your daily checklist to build your confidence and momentum.
Get real: Setting unrealistic goals for your day is a great way to become discouraged and succumb to the negative moods that fuel procrastination.
Setting realistic goals keeps things positive, which keeps you in the right mood to work.
Take control of your self-talk: Saying to yourself, “I’m not going to procrastinate. I will not procrastinate” virtually ensures you will procrastinate.
The trick is to shift your attention to something completely different (and positive). Instead of telling yourself not to procrastinate, think about what you will do and how great it’s going to feel to have it done.
This way, your mind fixates on the action you want to take instead of the behaviour you’re trying to avoid.
Focus on results: Chances are you don’t enjoy going to the dentist, but who does? You go because the pain of having someone pick at your teeth for an hour is nowhere near the pain of getting a cavity filled, a tooth pulled, or a root canal treatment.
The same mentality applies to a challenging task. While it may make you anxious to get started, don’t focus on that.
Just think of how great it’s going to feel to get things done and how much worse you’ll feel if you wait until the last minute and don’t give it your best effort.
Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the bestselling book Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the co-founder of TalentSmart. His books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. He can be contacted at TalentSmart.com. This article first appeared on the TalentSmart website.
