Anne Riches Do you Procrastinate?.........
Give me an organisational challenge or a difficult managerial action, I’m on it! But simple things like deciding what to
cook for dinner or what to wear? I can mess around for ages on those.
More importantly, I can definitely make big business decisions but in some areas I simply procrastinate, eg: writing
articles like these!
Do you have something that turns you into an expert on finding ways to avoid doing it? With my writing, I will start
and then get willingly side-tracked, distracted, busy doing anything except writing. Then I get frustrated for not doing
what I intended to do.
I know I am not lazy, inefficient or lack drive. So why do I find myself running in search of anything else to do rather
than the thing I should be doing?
Fear of not being perfect: Some authors suggest that procrastination is a time management issue. But I think it comes
from fear, e.g., fear of failure, fear of success, fear of loss of autonomy, fear of attachment.
Fear is the common thread: For me, it is the fear of not being perfect. Isn’t that ridiculous? Yet my perfectionism has
been (and still is) the biggest personal challenge in my life. It stops me doing things.
And as one person told me: The terrible outcome of being a procrastinator is it means your mind is going 24/7 and this
leads to high anxiety and endless stress. She continued: I don't think I fear failure as I am happy to try new things and
give things a go (which always risk failure!). But I never seem to be able to complete things and I think fear of success is
exactly what it is - because deep down I don't believe I deserve it.
Where does it come from? In a nutshell, it’s our amygdala in our brain’s limbic system. It’s what I call The Almond
Effect®.
Our amygdala is there to keep us safe from things that could harm us. But our brain’s ‘risk detector’ does not
distinguish between non-life threatening risks and purely psychological risks. So e.g., the fear of imperfect writing is a
risk in that it gambles with our ego.
Procrastination (i.e., avoidance) is one of the fight or flight mechanisms we use to deal with perceived threats. For
example, who have you avoided this week because you thought it would be a hassle if you saw them?
How to stop procrastinating: Now some of you reading this article will likely belong to the ‘socks’ school of thought
i.e., just pull your socks up and get over it. Easy to say if you’re not a perfectionist! If only it worked like that.
Behaviours built up over decades don’t miraculously change overnight.
In my experience, the best way to deal with it is to just start. I love the phrase: ‘feel the fear and do it anyway!’ Or just
think of the Nike slogan ‘Just Do It’ designed by adman Dan Weiden over 25 years ago. That phrase has become so
common that its application is universal in a whole range of situations not just sport.
What about at work? Encouraging others to stop procrastinating during change: The best strategy is obvious but
rarely used: coax, encourage, support and acknowledge.
Set up the opportunity for resistors, recalcitrants, doubters and procrastinators to try out the new ways of doing
things in the development stage before you fully implement the changes. It can work wonders. If you encourage,
support and recognize their achievements you usually turn your most reluctant participants into advocates. Just do it!
With over 25 years’ practical experience of leading change, Anne Riches CSP shows
managers and leaders worldwide how to plan, communicate and implement change
that works. As a result, leaders nationally and internationally, have minimized
interruption to productivity, prevented costly budget and time blowouts and
decreased time consuming resistance to change
http://www.AnneRiches.com | +61 412 509 289 | [email protected]