Some days the only way to face our procrastination is with a little humor.
Yep. This about covers it.
Is procrastination a problem for you?
Oh, my, it can be for me! Even my husband notices when I’m deep-cleaning under the sofas or recesses of seldom used closets or nit-picking the placement of knick-knacks, I’m hip-deep in procrastination mode on something of vital importance.
The good news is I’ve learned to recognize the difference between useful forms of procrastination versus procrastination that just keeps us stuck in the quagmire of our thinking and doing.
We’ll explore that in a future post. For now, take a moment for a useful form of procrastination and enjoy a chuckle with me courtesy of Pleated-Jeans. 🙂
And feel free to share what some of your common procrastination issues are in the Comment section below.
I totally get this! Even though I’m a professional organizer now, I wasn’t born organized. I still have to adapt to my tendencies toward clutter and disorganization. Procrastination is partly caused by fear — we are fearful that we don’t really know what we’re supposed to do, that we will displease someone, that we aren’t as competent as others believe. Even if all that has some truth to it, the key to overcoming procrastination is GET MOVING!
Thanks for the post; I’ll be sharing this with my clients!!
Hi Brenda!
Delighted this resonated with you. Appreciate your additional comments. I agree that procrastination is partly caused by fear!
Thanks for sharing with your clients.
It gave me a chuckle. I believe the “writer’s block” has been invented by procrastinators to put the blame on something they pretend not to be able to control.
I agree with Brenda… GET MOVING. Inspiration always finds writers when and while they write 😉
Hi Massimo,
Get Moving <-- That's so important. So many people, especially wanna-be-published newbie writers think they can't write unless (or until) they feel inspired. But while waiting for inspiration works fine for hobby writers, though of us who write for a living would go broke or get fired if we always waited for inspiration to begin. As you point out, inspiration comes to those who start. Thanks for sharing. Hope you'll be back again soon.
I didn’t name my “writer’s block” as procrastination but I guess it could be. For me it was avoidance, oh wait that is what procrastination is isn’t it? Avoiding something and often the avoidance is actually creating what we didn’t want whereas if we did it we’d be well off. Love the picture from pleated-jeans, it’s spot on. 🙂
Hi Michele.
That procrastination is a tricky devil. 🙂 Thanks for adding your feedback. Hope you return. I’m looking forward to your feedback on how I distinguish useful procrastination versus the bad-boy kind.
Hi Kathy. I love this graphic! It can be the story of my life some days. My biggest procrastination is getting on the phone for followups. I don’t like to talk on the phone that much anyway, and some days I’ll do just about anything to avoid it. Not good! Thanks for this.
All the best,
Leslie
Oh, I hear you, Leslie. I don’t mind the phone, especially if I’m coaching a client, but I spent so much time using it back in my Ma Ball telephone operator days, and later as a advertising sales executive selling Yellow Page advertising that I shy away from it other times.
Let me know if you’d like to chat sometime about that follow-up phone avoidance issue of yours. Might be able to help. At least we could provide a little phone call fun for each other. 🙂
Hi Kat,
I totally know what you mean, my procrastination pattern resemble yours.
Not too long ago I’ve learn of eating that frog first and do less important things later and it helps a lot.
Hi Sylviane. “Eat that frog first” is such an unforgettable image and inspiring advice. Is there anything in particular that triggers you to procrastinate?
Hey Kathy,
Okay, so I use to be able to say that I’m really not a procrastinator but I’ve really been questioning myself a lot lately. I’m not sure if I’m nervous, scared or not sure of what I want to do next which is why I’m holding myself back and basically doing a heck of a lot of procrastinating. Yikes!!!
I really don’t think I’m that bad though, for the most part! lol…
Loved that image, priceless girl.
~Adrienne
Adrienne,
I think the key for you is that you are accomplishing so much, so my guess is you have occasional periods of procrastination that have you temporarily spinning your wheels. Other procrastination likely falls into the what I referred to as “useful forms of procrastination.” Went through one of the “useful” periods back in August and the “Oh, that’s why” of it didn’t become clear until last week.
Love it when you add your feedback! Come back again soon. 🙂
I Love this Kat!
WOW Procrastination is really a part of my life sometimes!
Learning to recognize when it is procrastination or the excuse it is is Key.
Being able to tune into the feeling and recognize it as an expansive feeling or a contracting feeling is great. If we look at something and feel contracting feelings that it is not done yet…Yup Procrastination. A trick I use is asking myself “How am I feeling right now?” “How do I want to feel at the end of the day?” and “What needs to happen for me to feel that way?” “What or who do I need to help me with that?” Sometimes, that “Deep Cleaning” is what is necessary to feel empowered enough to “Eat the Frog” 🙂
Thanks for the post! The Graphic is really fun!
Hi Karen,
Thanks for sharing the tip about assessing expanding or contracting feelings. And I see you are another “Eat the Frog” fan. 🙂 Looking forward to hearing more about you initiate your own “Deep Cleaning.”
Kathy,
I do procrastinate but not really very often. When I do though I will do chores that maybe do not need to be done right then but it is not cleaning my house usually. I will clean off my computer or work on something on my website that really does not need to be done.
Maybe I should clean my house because that is something that probably needs to be done.
I feel like I am working though if I am doing something on my computer. While I do get stuff done that needs to be done it is not the priority that the stuff I am avoiding is.
I look forward to the next post.
Dee Ann
Hi Dee Ann. There’s definitely a difference between ‘busy work’ and actively working on a task truly serves our needs and efforts to move forward. Looking forward to your feedback on the next post scheduled within a few days.
In the meantime, did you happen to check out this post about multi-tasking?