In a n a 2014 YouGov
poll, 22 per cent of
millennials admitted
to being late to work
at least once a week.
One of their top
reasons was ‘I don’t
get penalised.’ That’s
not entirely true.
Lateness can breed
resentment in all
your relationships
and ever-simmering
anxiety in you.
‘One of the most
predominant issues
people have with
time is that they
constantly lie about
it,’ says Lauren
Handel Zander,
author of Maybe It’s
Yo u and chairwoman
of the Handel Group,
an executive- and
life-coaching company.
We spend too much
energy coming up
with fibs to justify
our lateness. Time
to get real about how
your traits, moods
and attitudes might
be setting you back.We’re all guilty of a little
procrastination, but not
every single person is a
diehard procrastinator.
Joseph Ferrari, a professor
of psychology at DePaul
University and author of
Still Procrastinating?, notes
that when you’re postponing,
waiting or just delaying,
you’re often still gathering
information in order to best
achieve your goal (read: still
being somewhat productive).
Procrastination, on the other
hand, is actively avoiding
making any decision, putting
you at an absolute standstill
until the very last minute,The Wild
Procrastinator
The
Commitment-Phobe
often causing you to be late.
Yes, you get everything done
eventually, but in the mean-
time, your stress levels, and
chance for error, skyrocket.THE FIX Take small steps
to move forward. That huge
adrenaline rush you get from
being in a time crunch? It’s
not actually giving you super-
productive powers. In one of
Ferrari’s studies, people who
procrastinated performed
worse under the pressure
than people who didn’t. In
the case of life skills, such as
cooking, break the goal down
into smaller steps. Buy yourfood one day, do prep on
another, and cook on day
three. You can also build in
rewards for yourself and set
certain restrictions. Maxime
Taquet, a Harvard Medical
School researcher, says, ‘If
you’re working on something
that doesn’t really make you
happy, doing something else
that you enjoy may actually
be the right way to get your
mood back up so you can
continue with that project.’
Stuck halfway through a
work project? Indulge in a
walk outside or make a cup
of tea. Clear your mind for a
few minutes.‘I’M BETTER UNDER PRESSURE!’
‘I JUST CAN’T BE TIED DOWN BY SET PLANS’
Zander says these free spirits- or f lakes – fear being locked
into a reasonable schedule
just in case something better
comes along. ‘They feel stif led
by concrete plans and wait
until they’re “in the mood for
it” to do something – which
leaves a great many things
undone,’ she says. Meaning
they’re rarely anywhere on
time. ‘If you’re waiting for the
day you enjoy commitment in
order to start, it’s not coming.’
Best learn to deal.
THE FIX Communicate and
stick to a plan. Being the
f lake may feel empowering,
like the world revolves around
you, but it can wreak havoc
when you’re the one who’s
f laked on, says productivity
expert Julie Morgenstern,
author of Time Management
From the Inside Out. So just
imagine what it’s like to be
the other people who are in
the scenario at hand (friends
or family members), who are
simply trying to nail down aplan. Rather than stringing
others along, be up-front and
vocal about your intentions.
If you are feeling even the
least bit lukewarm about
making a commitment, say
something like, ‘Hey, I like
the sound of dinner, but I
may need to bail, so please
make the reservation without
me and I’ll let you know if I
can make it.’ This way you’re
not giving anyone any false
expectations and if you can
make it, it’s a bonus. >1
2
I
ISTOCK
COSMOPOLITAN June 2017 61
body