The Dark Art of Procrastination: Why Productivity Tools Just Don’t Cut It and What You Can Do Instead
Jul 08, 2023You can’t “Pomodoro” your way out of a habit that is deeply rooted in keeping you safe.
Did you know that fear is procrastination’s underwear?
If you thought procrastination went commando you’ve got it all wrong. That’s why productive anti-procrastination practices don’t always work.
Let’s go into the changing room…
First things first what the fudge IS procrastination?
You should know that procrastination is neither laziness nor disorganisation… Although you might be both lazy and disorganised!
- It prevents you from failing (by preventing you from succeeding)
- It prevents you from succeeding (by not letting you be productive)
- It prevents you from being productive (by distracting you from working)
And it can show up in a number of guises…
It’s not just that you find yourself using distraction such as doing other “stuff” like putting the kettle on, scrolling through Twitter, and discussing it with your cat.
(*guilty expression — except I don’t have a cat, but I do have a kettle and Twitter)
It also shows up as “busyness” with doing all sorts of things such as writing to-do lists, organising a Notion database, brainstorming ideas, deleting emails instead of writing an article, etc.
(*more guilty expressions)
Worse still it can show up as something really important such as learning new stuff so you end up doing another course, reading another book, or signing up for another free masterclass.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for education. We should be learning and improve our knowledge, our skills, and ourselves throughout our lives. And it may be the case that you do actually need to learn new stuff in order to take on a new task or achieve a new goal. It’s knowing when to draw the line. When to stop telling yourself you don’t know enough, when actually you know plenty.
Then procrastination sometimes puts its innocent angel face on and shows up as perfectionism!
(the darn curse of perfectionism! *wails uncontrollably)
And at its worst and meanest it spins a tornado of overwhelm around you, and you’re Dorothy on her way to Oz, except you can’t get out of the tornado, and you burn out!
Whatever the reason, procrastination can be a tough habit to break.
Do any of these sound familiar?
“But, I’m not ready.”
“But, I don’t know enough.”
“But, I might fail.”
“But, I don’t have enough time.”
The “but” is a clue that you are procrastinating.
You need to kick your “but” in the butt, then get off that same butt and take action.
Realise that you are using a “but” as an excuse not to take action and put yourself out there, which is when you actually get the real boots-on-the-ground experience.
(does that sting? good.)
You will never be ready. No one ever is. And if you’re not ready because you, or whatever you are working on, needs to be perfect, needs to be perfect then you are procrastinating my friend. You’ll never be ready, and you’ll never be perfect.
You will never feel you know enough, and your addiction to education will keep you forever learning and never actually achieving your goals.
Yes, you might fail. Then again you might succeed!
And if you do fail, you learn from that failure, and you avoid the same mistake. If you fail again, you learn another lesson. If you keep failing and not learning though, that’s a different story, and you need to have a chat with yourself!
And if you think you don’t have enough time, you won’t have enough time. And if you blame time (a virtual concept) then congratulations you just made yourself a victim to it, and a master excuse-maker.
So you see, procrastination goes deep… it is the symptom of something way more sinister.
(maybe that’s a bit too dramatic)
Procrastination is actually a form of self-sabotage that not only keeps us from meeting deadlines but if not wrestled to the ground stops us from achieving our goals, and ultimately living our best lives.
It’s your very own shadow-self disguised as a cozy blanket that whispers sweet “do-nothings” in your ears, that you wrap yourself in and refuse to let go because it warm and safe.
Quick fixes to beat procrastination in the short-term
There are of course some practical strategies that can help to get you going and potentially save your ass from being fired:
- Setting clear goals and priorities (hello Sense of Purpose!)
- Getting rid of distractions (goodbye phone in other room…)
- Breaking tasks into smaller chunks (I’ve got you now, Big Task)
- The Pomodoro Method (25 minutes on, 5 minutes off — easy peasy)
- Self-bribery (such as chocolate at the END of the task — train yourself like one of Pavlov’s dogs!)
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
However…
These strategies are a little like putting a bandaid on a wound. No matter how many fancy productivity tools you have, or how many courses you take, if you don’t face what’s blocking you deep down you will always stay in a cycle of productive and stuck.
Your underlying fear (the underwear of your procrastination) will seep through…
(ewwww, seepy fear!)
Can we really get rid of fear though?
Well, fear does have a purpose…. It’s pretty handy when stopping you from jumping off a cliff onto a pointy object.
The fear centre of our brains, the amygdala, is ancient and designed to protect us from immediate danger.
However, most of us no longer have to be on alert for lions, tigers, and bears that might want to eat us, yet that part of our brains still gets triggered when we’re faced with anything that deeply scares us (such as failure, or putting ourselves out there) and puts us in to a “fight”, “flight” or “freeze” response.
So you see fear isn’t always rational or helpful. It can hold us back from pursuing our dreams, taking risks, and embracing new opportunities.
Understanding the nature of fear allows us to distinguish between genuine threats (eg. lions) and self-imposed limitations (eg. being terrified of giving a presentation).
The great news is you can get to the root cause of why you are procrastinating, and which fear you are harbouring.
(cool huh!)
There is a Smörgåsbord of fears to choose from (the Swedes have a much better word for a buffet than English speakers do so I’m using it!) — take your pick:
- Fear of failure
- Fear of success
- Fear of loss
- Fear of being judged
- Fear of losing identity
- Fear of losing control
- Fear of not having enough time
(dayum, that’s a lot of different ways to feel fear!)
And then you’re in a spiral:
You procrastinate and you feel guilty. You feel guilty so you feel bad about yourself. You feel bad about yourself so you lose confidence. You lose confidence in yourself soooooo… you got it… you procrastinate!
The 10 steps to befriending your fear to free yourself from procrastinating
(*cue dramatic music)
Time to get down to your undies, and get into the nitty-gritty of what the fudge your fear is really about.
And, make friends with it!
(*audible gasp)
“Procrastination is not laziness… it is fear. Call it by its right name, and forgive yourself.” — Julia Cameron.
Here are the 10 steps I used to befriend my fear, and you can too:
- Become aware of when you’re feeling fearful (clue: you’re not in the NOW AKA the present moment, and you’re imagining a future that doesn’t exist)
- Name your fear (I call mine Amy — short for amygdala. She wears military fatigues, is a badass warrior, a nervous wreck, a little trigger happy, and chews gum real fast)
- Put the kettle on and invite your fear for tea (go with green as it’s calming)
- Breathe deeply and understand fear has a purpose, and that is to protect you, to look after you, to keep you safe (now, doesn’t that come from a place of love?)
- Ask your fear, what’s up!? (it’ll be the first thing that pops into your head)
- Dig deeper, what’s that really about? What’s the worst outcome? What’s the best outcome? What’s the worst outcome of the best outcome? (have an actual conversation with yourslf — talk it out, write it down)
- Tell your fear you appreciate it for having kept you safe for so long (remember your fear is protecting you)
- Explain when it’s appropriate to go all guns blazing and when it’s not (a lion is about to eat you vs. you want to try something new)
- Be grateful for your fear, hand on heart, and thank it with as much love as you can muster (but re-iterate no.8)
- Now get up and dance, jump, do push-ups, run, whatever it takes to change and lift your energy (speaking in cartoon voices can work too)
Once you’ve recalibrated, and journaled the sh*t out of the experience, keeping yourself in the NOW (the present moment) is key.
Love your fear so much that you grab its hand, spin it around, tickle its armpit, tease it about the lack of lions, and tell it you are safe now. As in NOW. So put your knickers on and go and do that thing you’ve been putting off. Just do it imperfectly, and do it quickly!
Final thoughts
Sit down with yourself and get to the root cause of what you’re afraid of, give it a voice, hold space for it, and integrate it.
Fear doesn’t need to be overcome.
Fear does not need to be conquered or denied.
Fear just needs to be understood. It needs boundaries. The part of you that’s scared needs love.
(fear is here for the long run)
Accept that feeling afraid is a part of life and you can use it as fuel to propel you forward instead of letting it keep you in place.
Then when you do use those productivity tips, tricks, and hacks you will be ON IT! And you will be perfectly placed to achieve your goals and dreams even when you feel a bit scared.
If you’re not afraid you may just be a little too comfy in your comfort zone, procrastinating like a pro…
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