The anti procrastination tool you don’t know about

Are you procrastinating right now?

Maybe you’re putting off doing something important by reading this. Maybe you’re folding every last piece of laundry in the house, reorganizing your junk drawer, or scrubbing down the stove…

For the second time this afternoon.

All of these things are usually attributed to procrastination—we’re doing something, just not the thing we’re “supposed” to be doing.

But that doesn’t actually make you lazy.

After all, it takes a lot of effort and energy to do things like laundry, cleaning and organizing.

So what gives? Why do we do other things that take a lot of effort and thought instead of the things we should be doing that take the same amount of effort and thoughts?

As with most things in life, it’s not a process problem. It’s a thinking problem.

Procrastination doesn’t mean you’re lazy—so what’s it really about?

Procrastination isn’t about laziness. It’s about something deeper. In fact, it has everything to do with your beliefs: beliefs about yourself, beliefs about your work, and beliefs about the world.

How do you figure out what those beliefs are?

You ask yourself questions.

Let’s say you’re putting off a work project. Ask yourself:

• What makes this project seem so awful to me?
• Is this project boring? Why do I think that?
• Am I scared to start this project because I might mess it up?
• Is there a lot riding on me to get this done?
• Will my reputation be impacted if I don’t do this project right?
• Is the project a waste of time in my eyes?
• Is there something really exciting I’d rather be doing than this project?

What do these questions do? They help us identify beliefs.

For instance, if you answered Yes to “Is there a lot riding on me to get this done?”, you might hold an inner belief about your own self-esteem. If you’re scared of starting a project because people out there expect a lot from you, then you’re unconsciously thinking: unless I satisfy everyone around me with my work, I’m not valuable.

Sometimes it’s that deep. And sometimes it’s not. Sometimes the answer to “What makes this project seem so awful to me?” is that it’s long, complex or full of annoying sub-tasks. Even so, there’s an unconscious thought here, too: since there’s so many annoying parts to this project, I’d rather put it off and do it later.

It’s a coping strategy. Procrastination is a way of dealing with a negative internal monologue—a series of beliefs that don’t help you do what you need to do: get the job done.

What procrastination tells us

Procrastination is such a valuable tool. It may feel crappy while it’s happening, but it tells us so many things about our current state that we’d do well to listen to.

The biggest thing procrastination tells us is that when it happens, it means there’s an underlying belief that needs to be challenged. Something isn’t right in our internal state, and that thing needs to be fixed—the belief needs to change—for us to get inspired again.

But sometimes there’s something else at play. Procrastination can be an indicator that something isn’t right for us altogether.

If you’re consistently procrastinating at work and don’t find your job exciting, is it possible that it’s not a fit for you? If you’ve been delaying committing to your current relationship, might you be experiencing some doubt?

This may not be the case, but it’s worth considering if the reason for your procrastination is because it’s not something you truly want.

How to stop procrastinating

If you’ve decided that the thing you’ve been procrastinating is really something you want to accomplish, what do you do to get out of the rut? Here’s a procrastination tool you can use right here and now:

Challenge your beliefs, then simplify things.

Once you’ve uncovered the limiting belief—whatever it may be—you can go ahead and face that belief head on. If a project is annoying, ask yourself: does believing it’s annoying help me get my work done? Or does the belief that I’m smart enough to make my work engaging help me get it done?

(You probably know the answer to that.)

If you’re afraid of being judged for doing poor work, ask yourself: does believing I’m going to fail at this make me any better than believing I won’t fail?

You see how it works.

Then, once you’ve effectively challenged the belief, simplify things. Procrastination withers under simplification. If it’s a multi-part project, start by doing the very first thing. It can be as simple as opening up a word processor or logging into your email account.

Just do that very first thing… and see where it takes you.

You can do this for every part of a project: keep breaking it down, keep making it simple, and keep challenging those little beliefs that pop up in your head to distract you from your goal.

And that’s it.

Don’t carry around beliefs that weigh you down.

Don’t buy into the excuses.

And don’t believe whatever task at hand can’t be broken down into simpler tasks.

Sound reasonable enough?

If so, you might be ready for the next step.