Avoid procrastination - procrastinate less, get more done

First of all, it should be said that procrastinating is completely normal. We all do. Some more, some less. But we've all postponed a meeting, just missed a deadline, and then asked ourselves, "Why did I wait so long to start the task?".

However, too much procrastination is not good. After all, uncontrolled procrastination can ultimately have a negative impact on mental health and cause a lot of stress through uncompleted projects and work jams. This is especially true for women entrepreneurs and prospective founders, whose economic success depends heavily on their ability to motivate themselves and often also on their ability to avoid procrastination. Fighting procrastination is a matter of acceptance, understanding, and most importantly, personal approach.

What is procrastination anyway?  

Procrastination is generally understood as putting off a task until shortly before or even after the due date, even though you actually have enough time and know for sure that this will lead to a stressful situation later.

A distinction is made between normal and chronic procrastination.

Normal procrastination

We speak of normal procrastination when we find a task difficult or annoying or because we don't know how to start. We are hesitating because we think we will have enough time later and this task is not yet urgent. Sometimes we simply wait for a suitable time to carry out this task, even though we know deep down that it will never come and that we are not doing ourselves any favours.

Chronic procrastination

Chronic procrastination occurs when regular procrastination becomes more prevalent, becomes rampant, and negatively impacts work, mental health, and perhaps even leisure and social interactions. When the procrastination has progressed so far, it is high time to deal with the problem and look for the cause.

Why do we procrastinate?

In certain cases, the procrastination is based on a serious mental illness. In the following section we will focus exclusively on the external factors of procrastination, which we can actively influence by changing our behavior.

Unrealistic goals

Entrepreneurs or founders in particular may set goals before they have even thought about how to achieve them. If these goals are too ambitious - for example an unrealistically high turnover in the first financial year - this can lead to the tasks associated with achieving these goals being constantly pushed back.

Dates are set far in the future

If an appointment is far in the future, this can help you to get something done at your own pace and without stress, but it can also lead to that little voice in the back of your head constantly knocking and telling you that you can still do it soooo long time and it's not that urgent yet. Many people become most productive when they are under pressure. And distant deadlines don't offer that. It can therefore be helpful to put yourself under some pressure, for example by setting your own deadlines in a timely manner.

Past and future me

«I'll take care of that tomorrow », have you ever said that to yourself? Ok, admittedly, this solution is very satisfactory for the moment and, above all, extremely fast. But, the future self is usually not very enthusiastic about it. Above all, we like to postpone administrative work and leave it to our future self. But why do we have the feeling that we will be more interested in these annoying tasks in the future?

So remember: Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Fear of decisions

The so-called "decision phobia" describes the fear of making decisions. Or rather, the fear of making wrong decisions. But not everyone who shies away from making decisions suffers from this phobia. Decision-making phobia is particularly dangerous for entrepreneurs. After all, those who run a company have to make decisions almost every day. Failure to make these decisions can hinder growth or slow down the work of other stakeholders.

Perfectionism

From an early age we are all encouraged to do our best in whatever task we are given. The problem with this advice, however, is that it can manifest as a message about perfection - that if we don't give 100%, it's not good enough. Artists and creatives often suffer from perfectionism, which can even prevent them from showing their work to others. Perfectionists procrastinate by constantly making corrections, changes, or additions to finished work.

Fear of failure

Similar to perfectionism, the fear of failure is an extreme form of procrastination that often results in not even getting started. The procrastinator, afraid of failure, focuses on imaginary catastrophic consequences rather than the task at hand. Suddenly the first small step is a whole flight of stairs that leads into nowhere.

Overcome procrastination

The reasons for procrastination are as varied as the approaches to overcoming them. We've put together a few techniques and tips to help you get tasks done faster in the future.

1 Understand procrastination

First of all, you should be clear about what type of procrastination you are. Because only those who know why they regularly postpone upcoming tasks can also develop tactics to fight against them.

‍
2. Build confidence

Procrastination is a form of self-sabotage. Even the most cocky active procrastinator makes things difficult for himself and self-sabotage, which likely indicates underlying confidence issues. In a presentation to the American Psychological Association, Dr. Ferrari that non-procrastinators, people who don't procrastinate to the extent that it interferes with their lives, have a "stronger personal identity" and don't care what others think of them. Of course, building self-confidence is not a task that can be done overnight. But a good start would be to set yourself small tasks, complete them, and then praise yourself for them. This is how you create many small success stories for yourself.

‍
3. All or nothing  

The all-or-nothing approach is mostly found on diet and exercise blogs. Nutritionists and exercise columns encourage their readers to give up the all-or-nothing approach to dieting and exercise because rigid calorie and exercise schedules put too much pressure on us. We are human and we give in to temptation on a regular basis. We shouldn't get punished for that. The same goes for fighting procrastination. Because if you give yourself the choice: "all or nothing", you are more likely to do "nothing" than "everything".

4) The Pomodoro Technique

Francesco Cirillo's Pomodoro Technique has remained a popular time management technique ever since Cirillo invented it as a student in the 1980s. Using a tomato-shaped stopwatch (hence the name "pomodoro," Italian for tomato), Cirillo set 25-minute intervals during which he worked without a break and alternated with short breaks. The technique consists of six steps:

1. Deciding on a task that you want to do

2. Set the timer

3. Work on the task

4. When the Pomodoro timer rings, stop work and take a short break (~5 minutes)

5. Return to step two until three Pomodoros are completed

6. After the three pomodoros, take a fourth longer break (~25 minutes), then return to step two.

This technique works because it adds urgency to the task through the use of a timer. But the sense of urgency isn't stressful because there's no outside pressure - just your determination to work during the duration of each interval.
‍

5. Avoid distractions  

We live in a world of endless distractions, and the biggest of those distractions are our phones, which we carry with us at all times of the day. An easy way to minimize distractions is to keep the phone out of reach when using the Pomodoro technique outlined above.
‍

6. Daily planning

Precise daily planning helps to avoid procrastination. It is best to write down a schedule for the coming week in which you set several small goals for each day. In this way, you can celebrate a sense of achievement with little effort and waste less time thinking about which task to do now.

Findings

Procrastination can be normal or chronic.

- There are many reasons why we procrastinate. When we understand each and every reason, we can better assess and combat procrastination.

- There are several useful techniques to prevent procrastination.

- Despite these techniques, there is no quick fix for procrastination. It's an ongoing process.

‍