In the Thrall of Procrastination

Long a devotee of Costco, I can always find a number of items not on my shopping list that I simply must have. Most recently it was a box of clothes hangers; they offered a simple solution to the challenge of the small closets that are endemic to houses built in the early 1900s. But having bought them they sat in their boxes seemingly mocking my impulsive purchase. Not being able to stand it any longer I sat myself down to see if I could figure out what might be at the heart of my procrastination. It didn’t take long to realize that transferring my clothes from the old hangers to the new ones was only one of many tasks. It was the long list of things that would result from re-hanging my clothes that had me stuck.

When I contemplated swapping over the hangers my mind rebelled because this simple act actually represented a series of tasks that I either hadn’t thought about or didn’t want to deal with. Inevitably I would encounter a piece of clothing that didn’t fit, was no longer fashionable (or might never have been) or something I never liked in the first place which would involve a series of decisions. Throw it out? Save it because I just might want to wear it someday? Give it to a charity? Should I send it to a consignment store? Perhaps I should look into donating things to Dress for Success but how do you do that? And what should I do with all the old, but perfectly good wooden hangers that would be left? Too many decisions and too many questions when all I wanted was skinnier hangers in order to make more room in my closet.

Procrastination haunts even the most productive among us. We’ve all found ourselves avoiding or dodging tasks. Too often we chastise ourselves and think how much better off we’d be if only we weren’t procrastinators. In his book, The Now Habit, Neil Fiore suggests that we procrastinate to cope with the anxiety of starting or completing a task or to deal with tasks that are overwhelming. I’d like to add a couple of additional ideas that might help you understand procrastination based on my enlightening experience with the skinny hangers.

How many tasks on your to-do list are like my hangers and are really projects in disguise? We are often far too ambitious when we create our to-do lists, adding tasks such as “Revise business plan” and then wonder why we never get it done. Productivity-guru David Allen calls this a project because it takes more than 1 action to complete. Our brains quite rightly rebel when they encounter projects on to-do lists knowing that they require multiple actions, none of which has been articulated when we list “Revise business plan”. So in others words, the to-do list is not telling us what to do – it’s just causing confusion.

A lack of clarity about the successful outcome can often get us stuck. Just as athletes use images of themselves winning races to improve their performance, imagining what we want to achieve as a result of completing a project or task can help us get into action by making sure it’s the right action. If you can’t see yourself doing it, you likely can’t see what you should be doing.

Take a look at your to-do list. Just as I went through all the items in my closet take a look at the actions on your list – are they ‘doable’? Do they mean anything to you? Are you clear about what it would look like if you had completed the task? Have you captured all the actions that need to happen? Do you need to break them down into more manageable chunks or perhaps it’s no longer a task worth doing.

IDEAS YOU CAN USE

1. Separate the projects from the tasks: If you find yourself growing numb to an item on your to-do list, chances are it’s not an action but a project. When I took a close look at swapping out the hangers I realized I had a number of actions and decisions to make in order to strike it off my list – the hangers were a project not an action. Projects, using the David Allen lexicon, require more than 1 action to finish and can usually be completed in 6 – 12 months. You can’t ‘do’ projects but you can do next actions. Writing an email in most cases is an action but writing a book chapter is a project.
   
   
2. Is it really an action? Start each item on your list with a verb. For example, “Create outline for mgt. meeting slides from previous minutes and agenda” rather than listing “management meeting presentation” or “Call Angela to set date to review workshop proposal               (432) 873-3867         (432) 873-3867. Not only does this make it easier to tackle your list because the thinking has been done, it also helps you make the most of those blocks of time when you are waiting somewhere with 20 unscheduled minutes. Pulling out your list of calls is simple and you’ve already done the thinking. The discipline of thinking on the front end is one of the most effective ways to improve your productivity.
   
   
3. Explore the yuck factor: Pay careful attention to your thoughts and feelings as you review your list. If you aren’t attracted to an item is there something about it that’s actually repelling you? It might be because you haven’t got enough clarity about what the next, doable action really is. If you have “Call Frank” on your list but you know it’s going to be a difficult conversation, then the next action might be to create an outline for the call to organize your thoughts. Conversely, perhaps the ‘yuck’ factor is because the task is best handled by someone else, or it’s no longer something you should spend your time on. Anytime a task doesn’t attract you, take a few minutes to understand why. Chances are you won’t get around to doing it so it’s best to figure out what really needs to get done rather than ignoring it.

Getting clear about what you need to do can help you avoid being caught in the clutches of procrastination. Digging even deeper into the reasons you might be stuck will have you well on your way to accomplishing all you set out to do.

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