Robyn Pearce: Strategies to overcome procrastination

Some people are masters at putting things off, to the point that they're actually positively reinforced. In the end, someone else does the task, or it goes away. Photo / Thinkstock

I thought I knew quite a bit about procrastination, but I learnt some new distinctions a couple of weeks ago. I was interviewing Canadian productivity consultant Ann Gomez for my weekly Chicago-based www.webtalkradio.net podcast.

Why do people procrastinate?

1. From a psychological perspective, some people have a short-term bias - they want instant gratification. For example, knocking out a bunch of emails feels as though you've achieved something. If you couple that with the increased distractions we're surrounded with, you can see that it's easier to take the distraction than to focus on whatever more significant task you're 'getting round to'.

2. Companies are constantly streamlining and there are fewer resources, but the pace of business and life is faster. People don't just go home tired; they arrive tired. If we think not just of managing our time but also of managing our energy, we can see why tiredness is a big problem.

3. Some people are masters at putting things off, to the point that they're actually positively reinforced. For example - if they regularly put off tasks they don't like and someone else sorts it, or it goes away. (They might have been allowed to get away with said habit as kids and teenagers, and their poor future employers and colleagues suffer the consequence.)

How prevalent is procrastination?

According to Gomez, 95 per cent of us will procrastinate to some degree, some of the time. However, only about 20-30 per cent of the adult population are chronic.

Interruptions are part of the problem. Many workers, and especially those in noisy open plan offices, live in a constant state of distraction. However, it's not just because of other people. 44 per cent of interruptions are self-imposed. Watch the number of times you're working on something but allow yourself to break pace by diving into your email.

Research shows that, on average, knowledge workers are interrupted every 5 minutes in the workplace. Email alerts are a major source. The problem is that, by accepting these interruptions (which is our default setting) we never get to the concentrated deep thinking. Then we work late into the evening, or on weekends, to do our real work - stealing time from our personal lives and loved ones.

Another factor is perfectionism. If we're hard-wired to turn out perfect work, no matter what the task, we'll appear to be procrastinating when in reality it's just that we took too long on the prior task.

There are two major categories of procrastinator - arousal and avoider

Arousal procrastinators wait until a deadline is imminent. Their due date is the start date. They're optimistic, love the adrenalin rush, and think they can fit more into the day than they really can. However, this last minute rush doesn't give them time to be reflective. I still have to fight this one myself - I used to be a master of procrastination and still easily can slip into the deadline-driven state, especially when I'm very busy.

The other major category is avoiders. They're driven by a concern about what others think. Generally they'll prefer to let people think they ran out of time, rather than risk being seen as incompetent.

Solutions

• Turn off your email alert - hardly anyone needs to know they've just received yet another epistle.

• Make projects achievable. Almost all projects have multiple steps. Break a big task into small steps and focus on the next actionable step, rather than getting bogged down in complexity. Research shows that small steps increase productivity.

• Set yourself timelines - deadlines do work!

• If you're a perfectionist, practice stopping at an earlier point on the tasks of lesser significance. If you notice yourself doing it, hard as it is, go back and undo the 'overkill'. An easy place to start: when you notice you've written too long an email, go back and delete the unnecessary words.

• If you struggle, seek help. Try giving someone else permission to hold you accountable. You might ask a colleague (or boss) 'Could we meet at .... to review ... project?'

• Give yourself a reward. Celebrate milestones.

If you're at the receiving end of a procrastinator's bad habits

In another of my podcasts

Dr James Brown

, who for many years was a senior project manager for NASA and worked on the space shuttle programme, shared this simple strategy. He called it 'bird-dogging'.

Before the deadline, call the person from whom you're expecting something. 'I know you'll be working on ..... for next Tuesday. I'm just checking in to see if there's anything extra you need in the way of help or information from me.'

He said that people hardly ever missed his deadlines, and yet he hadn't nagged.

If you're a parent, start NOW

• If it's your kid you're trying to train, don't do their work for them, no matter how much faster and better you would do the job. Let them feel the consequences of their own actions (or lack of them). Do not run around making life easy for them!

• Even at age 5 or 6, don't let them walk out the door until they've made their bed, tidied their room, put any belongings littering the rest of the house back in their bedroom, put their dishes in the dishwasher and returned all their food to the fridge or pantry.

Some of you are thinking, 'Is she joking!?'.

No, I'm not and I speak from the experience of raising six kids and actively contributing to the lives of seventeen grandchildren. (The oldest, aged eighteen, is living with me at the moment.)

We can conquer procrastination and we're never too young to start being taught good habits.

Robyn Pearce (known as the Time Queen) is the MD of GettingAGrip.com, an international time management and productivity training company based in New Zealand. Get your free report 'How To Master Time In Only 90 Seconds' and ongoing time tips at www.gettingagrip.com