Why do we procrastinate?
A good procrastination should feel like you’re inserting lots and lots of commas into the sentence of your life. Ze Frank.
So how many commas have you inserted into your life today? One? Three? Uh-oh, maybe more? Experiencing remorse over those commas? Rethinking your choices and perhaps contemplating change? It’s ok, we can learn from it.
Contrary to popular belief, procrastinators are not lazy or disorganized. As a fair-weather procrastinator myself, I like to think we just like to do the enjoyable things first and put off performing the mundane. Can you identify with that? I love writing a great blog post on baby skunks for a client but delay my accounting functions until my accountant is red in the face and telling me I have to do it or suffer the consequences! Yikes.
Tools for procrastinators.
Alarms, sticky notes, Franklin Planners, Outlook tasks and reminders go off all day, but the power of the snooze is mighty. You mean I can hit snooze and it will leave me alone for a while? Sweet.
Not so sweet. Trade that euphoric feeling of snooze for the power of a check box. Check it off as done, completed, finished, and ahh sweet success.
No tools needed.
Creation takes time.
“You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.
What mood is that? Last-minute panic.”– Bill Watterson
We see that last-minute panic quite a bit. We collaborate with clients to create a map of their projects with deliverables and due dates. That map is important to keep the project on task and hit their deadline for release.
Writing and designing takes forethought, timing, discipline, and so many other traits required to deliver creative works. As a result, that ‘right mood’ needed to create can be a slippery one to hold on to.
Create your mood in advance. For example, when I have a large writing project, I make sure I have eaten, I set my Spotify to a favorite playlist, pour a large, ok an extra-large cup of coffee and begin. It is my time in my environment, no last-minute panic at all.
Be deliberate.
Rise from that office chair, sofa or maybe beach lounge and say out loud, “I am going to get this done today!” whatever “this” is. Do it. You will feel better and checking that box feels super-fantastic.
Truth be told, it took me a day and half to write this. I delayed my time set aside to instead deal with accounting, on-boarding new clients, and walking my pug Izzy late in the afternoon when it is a bit cooler. But I did it, and so can you.
Need help? We are here and we are skilled at converting project procrastinators into full on leaders and doers.
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