Overcoming procrastination is something every entrepreneur must deal with sooner or later.
While you can’t expect to fully banish procrastination from your life experience or business, you can become better at how you respond to procrastination when it does rear its ugly head.
One practical way to deal with procrastination is to use it as a self-development tool.
This unusual approach means honestly viewing procrastination for what it is: a direct reflection of how you’re viewing and interacting with the world when it comes to your work.
Follow this four-step framework to help you break through procrastination and make forward progress with your projects and assignments.
Declare your bout of procrastination.
You’ve freely commiserated with colleagues, openly complained to your friends, and downright admitted your procrastination on a work task.
But what about those times when you’re working alone? And when you’re the only one who knows which tasks you should or shouldn’t be working on?
The next time you find yourself procrastinating on a task, give it a voice.
You can jot down your thoughts in a notebook or even speak aloud your concerns. The idea here is to make the current status of your work fully known to yourself.
Determine the root cause of your procrastination.
You can’t properly solve a problem if you don’t know what the problem is. Whenever you find yourself procrastinating, ask yourself what’s behind your resistance to the work.
Generally speaking, there are several common resistors that appear when people are procrastinating.
Some of the most common include fear of success, fear of judgment by others, lack of confidence in one’s skills or knowledge, and lack of interest in a task.
If you’re feeling less than motivated to complete a task, ask yourself, “What aspects of this task make it unappealing to me?” Obviously, you know you don’t want to do it, but why don’t you want to do it?
Identify three to five reasons you don’t want to engage in the task at hand. Think about the resistors described above.
Is this something that bores you to tears? Are you resentful of the fact that the task has to be done? Do you think your skills are lacking in this area?
This exercise should give you some sort of indication as to how your resistance is manifesting in this particular situation.
Flip around your procrastination.
Now that you’ve acknowledged your procrastination, and identified where your resistance is coming from and why, you can take steps to neutralize it.
As the old saying goes, you can go over, under, around, or through a problem. You can do the same when it comes to procrastination.
Let’s explore a few ways you can break through those feelings of procrastination:
Go over the task.
This approach is most useful if you truly do not want to or cannot do the work yourself. Delegate this task to someone else, such as an assistant, or someone who is skilled and capable of doing this type of work in a satisfactory manner.
Go under the task.
This approach is most helpful if you feel your skills or knowledge related to the task aren’t where they should be. Ask an experienced person for some insight, watch a training video, take a course, read a book, or view an article. Do everything you can to hone your skills.
Go around the task.
This strategy is useful if you’re feeling fearful of something, be it success or failure or the approach. Get around a task by appropriately acknowledging your past achievements in a similar project or avenue. Another solution is to work on a task that somehow supports your original task, so much so that it pulls you forward in your work.
Go through the task.
This approach is the most direct as it requires you to roll up your sleeves and get to work. Choose a deadline for the task, set a timer, eliminate distractions, and get to work. If you’re really looking for some accountability, give yourself an ultimatum or some form of dissuasion to do the work in a timely manner.
Whether you’re battling procrastination for the fifth or 15th time, following these practical steps can help you improve your overall productivity and move forward with your work.
Overcome Procrastination in Your Work
Overcoming procrastination is something that everyone should learn if they want to be a better manager of their time and energy.
My time management guide can help you deal with procrastination, prioritize tasks, finish work in a timely manner.
If you want help overcoming procrastination, then check out my productivity consulting services. Book a strategy session with me today!
How about you? How are you going to use procrastination as a catalyst to help you get things done? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!
This article originally appeared on Inc.com.
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