How to Overcome Procrastination
In this video and blog I’m answering a question I get asked a lot – how I overcome procrastination to get things done in my business.
Watch the video below or scroll down to read the blog:
Here are my key 9 anti-procrastination strategies:
1. Morning Planning
I always start my day with a cup of tea (usually two!) and I plan my day. It’s the first thing in the morning piece that is important here. I don’t have kids so if you are a parent you might need to do this when you arrive back to a peaceful house after the school run, or even the evening before. But in my case I find that early in the morning before I do anything else my brain is not yet fatigued or overwhelmed and I can generally see most clearly what the most important things are I need to focus on.
2. Journalling for Clarity
If I’m not clear about where to start, or I’m very overwhelmed or there are just too many priorities, I will journal, dump all the things down on paper and have a conversation with myself about what is objectively most important, and what is blocking me from achieving it. This takes longer but it’s worth it. I always get clarity by “talking it through” in writing even when it just feels like a big jumble in my head.
Some of the questions I ask myself during this morning process are:
What would have the biggest impact if I got this done?
What would I be most pleased I get done?
What would not be a disaster if I do this tomorrow instead, or next week, or never?
3. The Gift Question
What can I do today that will be a gift for future Catherine?
I recently came across this when I heard the comedian Jimmy Carr being interviewed on Stephen Bartlett’s podcast. He talked about how sometimes there are things that we do today that are not what we want to do, and are easy to put off, but we do them because the results they give us become a gift for our future selves.
I recently created the Stages of Business report to help people identify where they are at on my business from the heart pathway. It was a lot of work and I was getting up extra early in the morning to push through and get it done. It wasn’t easy, but I just kept reminding myself what a gift it would be to future Catherine when this quiz was complete, and working to to help me to build and grow my audience, and have people understand more clearly why what I help them with is so important.
4. Working with a Mentor
If you struggle to sort out these priorities for yourself, and that can be the case at an earlier stage of business where it can be harder to know for yourself the most high impact activity then you might decide to work with a mentor or guide who can help you make those decisions. Because working with a mentor can be a stretch financially for a very early stage business I also have a built in Vision & Planning process within the Business from the Heart Membership that members can follow in order to get clarity on their priorities and what order to do things in.
5. Use a Green Pen!
Once I’ve got clear on my priorities, I plan out the day ahead and I write my highest priority items at the top of the list using a green pen. I do this represent that they are my frogs. You’ll know what I mean if you are familiar with the book “Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy.
With this approach, you ask yourself what’s the task that feels the most difficult, the one you’re most likely to put off, the one that you’re going to procrastinate about doing? That’s your frog. Eat your frog first thing in the morning while your brain power and willpower is at it’s strongest – then the rest of the day all be easier! Ideally you will have one important high-impact task each do, and no more than three.
I also schedule in what time I’m going to do each thing during the day. It very rarely (more like never!) goes to plan that I stick to the schedule but planning it in advance really helps me to stay on track.
6. Do your high-impact projects FIRST
It’s important to do your most high-impact work early in the day, before your brain gets fatigued, and therefore confused about what is most important. My own brain is freshest from about 8.00am to lunchtime, and it’s all downhill after lunch! So I do stuff that doesn’t require as much intensive brain power in the afternoons. This might be spending time in my client Facebook groups, responding to my team in our project management system, dealing with any emails etc.
The ideal is that you do at least 2 hours on your most high priority tasks before you check any emails or messages. However, I’m willing to confess that I’m yet to be that disciplined! I prefer to check in on my emails and tasks for the day while I’m doing my early morning planning, this way I have a sense of what’s on my plate for the day and I can incorporate responding into my plan, but I don’t actually reply to anything then, other than some quick responses to team members so I’m not holding them up.
7. Have a Team (even a small one)
One of the things that has made the biggest difference to me in terms of procrastination is when I started paying for team support. It’s no longer just up to me to meet a deadline, there is usually someone waiting for me and if I don’t get it to them I will hold up the whole project and create unfair pressure for them. Even if you are only at the stage of having a VA for a few hours a week, having someone else to be accountable to (even if you are paying them) can make a huge difference
With that said some of the most high-impact activities in my business are done by me alone, and sometimes having a team has the opposite effect – in that I don’t prioritise the high-value tasks that sit will me alone as highly as I should. Sometimes I just wish I had a boss telling me what to do and chasing me for things!
Which brings me to:
8. Accountability Buddy
I recommend you team up with somebody else who’s also trying to achieve things without a lot of support or a boss setting the deadlines.
Check in in the morning, tell them what you’re going to do and check in again at the end of the day. This doesn’t have to take long or involve getting on a call – it can just be quick 3-5 minute voicenotes where you report on: “here’s what I did, here’s what I didn’t manage to do, here’s why I didn’t manage to do it”. It’s it’s a really useful process for helping you to identify the blocks and things that are getting in your way. Are they internal, subconscious blocks and fears, lack of confidence, or are they practical like a lack of know-how?
9. The Inner Work
I’ve left until last, but for many of us it’s the most important of all. Sometimes the reason that you’re procrastinating is because on an unconscious level, you are afraid. Becoming more visible might make you feel like you’re in danger. You might be afraid of success, it might make you feel unsafe, that you’ll be rejected by the people that matter to you.
So much of what causes us to procrastinate is actually unconscious. And unconscious is what it says on the tin – it’s not in your conscious awareness. So sometimes the most important work is shifting these fears and blocks at the unconscious level in order help your nervous system to feel safe about the activity that you’re taking. Sometimes the inner work is all it takes to dissolve the procrastination completely!
There are many different modalities that are effective at helping you to shift these unconscious blocks and fears and resistances but EFT tapping is one of my favourites.
I hope you’ve found this useful, and it’s helped you identify some things you can do differently to help you overcome procrastination and feel proud of the progress you are making!
STAGES OF BUSINESS QUIZ
If you’d like to take the quiz I mentioned in the video, and discover your stage of business, unique challenges you might be facing, and the next step for you to take to create your successful heart-centred business you can take the quiz here:
TAKE THE QUIZ https://catherinewatkin.com/stages-of-business-quiz
