When I think about procrastination, I usually picture unnecessary naps, Netflix binges and that little voice inside my head that says “maybe I should grab a snack before I start…” but when I really dug deep and paid attention I found a lot of my prime procrastination-inducing actions are actually positive ones. I have certain good habits that are perfectly fine in moderation but I tend to abuse them into bad ones. Whether it was an hour too long or a fine-tuning gone too far, these habits in their excess form were holding me back. Curious to hear what they are and see if you’ve got them too?! Here are three positive things I do that lead to procrastination as well as what I’m doing to rein them in…
Plan, Plan + Plan Some More
I have lots of grand plans – if you don’t believe me, just check out my Pinterest boards. 😉 I love planning and visualizing and scheduling and brainstorming but too much of those good things seems to significantly slow me down. I caught myself making more plans than I was taking action and realized that all that planning was kind of an excuse not to do things that I was either afraid of or not looking forward to and it was working. I had a lot of detailed to-do lists with nearly none of them all done. Not only was my surplus planning fueling my procrastination, it made me feel like a failure each time I didn’t accomplish some superfluous something. To combat this, I’m trying to be more mindful of over-planning and unnecessary planning because it’s usually a sign that I’m avoiding something that I should be starting instead of scheduling.
Acquire ALL the Knowledge
You know the saying “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”? Well, I’d like to propose the following: Those who aren’t, are probably holed up somewhere taking yet another e-course on that thing they’d really like to do. As much as I love to learn about things I’m passionate about or want to accomplish, I realized that I have to draw the line when I find myself listening to someone talk about the same thing for the sixth time in an effort to avoid trying it myself. I’ve also caught myself being really critical about my current stage because I’m so deeply aware of how things “should” be. It’s kinda like I jumped into a time machine, saw the future, and came back to the present with tons of new knowledge but instead of putting any of it to good use, I’m stuck worrying about all the ways I could screw things up. My current objective? Learn what I need to know right now rather than twenty-seven steps from now and then go and do.
Tweak, Check + Perfect
Confession Time: I want things to be perfect. I just do. I know they’ll never be perfect and I’m acutely aware that I’m probably not the person who can make them perfect but that hasn’t stopped me from really wanting things to be a certain way. Unfortunately, that desire leads to a lot of delays because I spend so much time modifying, proofreading, undoing and redoing – sometimes to the point of not doing at all. As this perfection/procrastination cycle seems to happen because I don’t think things will ever be good enough, I’m making an effort to focus on doing the best I can with the knowledge, tools and time I have at any given moment. After that, I’ll have to let what I’ve created fly out into the universe instead of sitting on an already hatched egg in hopes that I can further incubate it into unobtainable brilliance which would probably just result in whatever it is I’m using this baby bird metaphor to reference being smothered by my perfectionist hindquarters. So now, I simply say to myself that it may still not be “good enough” but it will either be a success, an opportunity to learn (aka a forward fail) or something to build upon in the future.
As much as we view procrastination as a bad thing, I think the act itself is a good opportunity to do a little evaluation of our fears, motives and even our current level of self-discipline. The reason why we feel the need to watch an entire season of a show in a single day is far more important than the shame we feel over fact that we just clicked “yes” on the “are you still watching…” message for the fourth time. Don’t feel bad about procrastinating. Instead, figure out what it looks like for you, why you’re doing it in the first place and what you can do to nip it in the bud when you feel it coming on. Also, don’t feel bad about a well-deserved Netflix binge because we all need one once in while.
What’s one positive thing you do that leads to procrastination? What are your tips for putting a stop to it? Let me know below! xx
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