Do you procrastinate? Good!!!

It means that you are getting feedback. Jump for joy and give a giant fist pump. Because if your feedback receptors are intact, success is within reach.

Do you hate your procrastinating?

I used to berate myself every time I caught myself procrastinating. And guess what? Yes, you got it: it did not work.

The harsh self-disciplining did not make me work harder, it only made me feel worse about myself. I’d feel guilty, worthless, inadequate, you name it....

Please do not put yourself through such self-torture. Whatever negativity you feel about yourself, STOP IT! Stop it and replace it with something positive.

If you are dissatisfied with your performance, that’s OK. But rather than being your worst enemy and feeling bad about yourself, focus on being productive in ways that agree with you.

When you procrastinate, rather than wasting your energy on feeling guilty and procrastinating more, pay attention to the message procrastination is sending you.

Talk with it!

Start a dialogue with your procrastination and figure out where it’s coming from. It will inspire you!

But to be on talking terms, we have to let go of misleading assumptions. Procrastination is typically perceived as a bad habit, weakness, a waste of time. Thou shalt jump out of bed, flex a muscle or two, smile, and devour the 2do list for breakfast…

Well, as usually, things are not that simple.

What if the tasks on your list are not the right tasks? Or are not in the right order? And your procrastination is merely telling you that you ought to review your strategy. That’s not bad, is it?

Give yourself space…

Unless you have an absolutely deadly deadline, or you must follow a certain task sequence to make things fit together, it’s not important in which order you do your daily or weekly tasks.

What counts is that you get them done.

Thus look at your list, pick a task YOU want to do right now and knock it out of the park. It will motivate you and move you to the next task, and the next one... Before you know it, you will be crushing the most unpopular tasks like a champ.

The key is that you start with the task YOU WANT to work on, not the task you think you SHOULD work on. Grab the inspiring moments, get on a roll and take advantage of the snowball effect.

And if you are still overwhelmed, try this...

What else can procrastination do for you?

Paradoxically, it can propel you towards tackling the pesky business.

Many high performers use procrastination to get themselves into the state of action readiness. It seems that they are doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing, but they are actually getting ready to move swiftly and effectively, to achieve more in less time.

Even a few minutes of ‘procrastination’ can help you in a big way. When I was working on my PhD dissertation, I got into the habit of starting my day with a few rounds of solitaire on my computer. Is that a recommended morning activity for PhD candidates? No. But it helped me focus, streamline my thoughts, and get the writing done.

Another example: have you ever noticed that when you give yourself an hour to write an unpleasant email, it takes you at least an hour to finish it? And leaves you feeling tired and demotivated?

But if you linger a few minutes, do something you “shouldn’t be doing”, and then attack the email, you will get it done much quicker.  And you’ll feel in control and energized afterwards.

And that’s enough for this procrastination break. Please do go back to whatever you want to get done and get it done!

Last but not least, have fun! Life is too short not to…