The Little Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism and Blocks (free ebook)
The Little Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism and Blocks is a substantially revised and expanded version of Part III of The Lifelong Activist (Managing Your Fears) that now offers important new material, including about the “false” solutions many people futilely employ to solve their procrastination problem. Of course, it also discusses the true – i.e., effective – solutions in detail!
Other topics discussed are: perfectionism, negativity, hypersensitivity, coping with fear and panic, time management, determining your authentic mission, and leading an empowered and joyful life.
Charles Dickens called procrastination “the thief of time.” (It was Macawber, in David Copperfield.) Here are some characteristics my students have associated with thieves: sneaky, stealthy, duplicitous, exploitative, and “doesn’t fight fair.” Maybe you can add to the list.
Dickens’ definition offers us an important clue as to why we have so much trouble beating our procrastination problem. Many people assume they can’t overcome their procrastination because they’re flawed, weak, or lacking some crucial moral or spiritual quality like willpower, discipline or commitment, but they couldn’t be further from the truth.
The reason we have trouble overcoming procrastination is that procrastination is a sneaky, stealthy, doesn’t-fight-fair adversary. As you will see, it is expert at disguising itself and its effects, and at misleading you into trying the wrong solutions.
Steven Pressfield, in his insightful and entertaining book The War of Art offers a similar view of procrastination. He calls it, “Invisible…internal…insidious…implacable…impersonal…infallible
…universal.”
Here is my own, somewhat more functionally-oriented, definition of procrastination: you get bumped off the path (or plan) you had intended to follow for the day.
Most of us start the day with at least a vague plan: say, to wake at 7; be washed and dressed and breakfasted by 8; at our desk by 9; work super-efficiently for three hours; exercise during lunch and then eat a healthy salad; work for four more hours; come home; eat dinner and relax with our family; and then curl up in bed with a good book.
Procrastination is when you don’t follow the plan. Maybe you don’t wake up at 7, but at 8 or 9…or noon. Or, maybe it takes you not one, but two or three hours, to make it to your desk. Or, maybe, once you’re there, you don’t get right to work but spend an hour or three drinking coffee, reading headlines (on paper or on the Web), making personal or business calls, or sending personal or business emails. Then, when lunchtime rolls around, you don’t exercise and instead of a salad eat a giant pasta meal – and then spend the rest of the afternoon half-asleep.
Every day, we are faced with dozens or hundreds of moments when we can choose to either stay on our path or get knocked off it. As the phrase “bumped off” implies, usually we leave our path unintentionally and unwillingly. This is true even when we appear to be making a wholly volitional choice. Many people procrastinate who would rather stay on their path, and later look back on their “choice” with remorse.
If this sounds like an addiction – like an alcohol or food addict wishing they had stuck to their abstinence – it is. Procrastination is, as you will see, a kind of addiction.
Chapter 2. Why We Get Bumped Off Our Path: The Triggers
The process of getting knocked off usually involves two steps: an initial trigger that pushes us off the path, and a follow-up panic reaction that makes it much harder to recover and get back on. There are dozens or maybe hundreds of triggers that can hit in the middle of any writing session, including:
Physical. You feel tired, sick, hungry, or maybe hyper. See next section for more info on physical triggers.
Lack of resources. You are missing information, equipment, or other support you need for the project.
Lack of support, mentorship or guidance. This is a very common reason for procrastination across the board, but graduate students and other academic writers are uniquely susceptible to it, in part because the academic world often provides the illusion of support, so they don’t recognize the lack.
Project-related problems and feelings. You may feel lost in your writing project, sick of it, overwhelmed by it, or alienated from it.
Workplace-Related Problems and Feelings. If you’re procrastinating on a writing project related to your job, it might be because you don’t like the project, your workplace, your job, your boss. E.g.: “Why am I the one writing this proposal when proposal-writing is part of my boss’s job description, not mine! And this proposal stinks, by the way – it will never get funded! And if it does, then that’s another problem – the project is ridiculous and will be impossible to succeed at.” Or, you can’t write because your workplace is chaotic (in which case, you’re probably not getting the support you need, and have been given conflicting priorities or inadequate instructions). Or, maybe your boss is undermining or abusive.
Resource Constraints. The computer’s broken – or the printer is. Your office is uncomfortable or too crowded or noisy – or too isolated. You don’t have information you need to proceed, or someone who agreed to help you hasn’t done their part.
Personal Moods and Problems. You’re distracted by feelings of sadness or fear related to your personal life. Or, maybe you’re distracted by happiness, such as during a a new love affair. Or by events, good or bad, in your personal life. Maybe you, or someone you care about, is going through a hard time.
Geopolitical Problems. You’re affected by the bad economic and other news.
Emotional/Cognitive/Learning Issues. You’ve got ADD or ADHD or another learning difference, or are suffering from depression or anxiety. These are root problems that should be addressed promptly, and with professional help.
There are a couple of things to remember about these triggers:
They are all reasonable. It is reasonable, and even empowered, not to want to work when you’re sick, tired, sad, or worried; if the project is badly designed and you expect a poor outcome; if you don’t have the resources you need to succeed; or if you’ve got personal, family or other problems weighing you down. Procrastination can even be a useful coping mechanism in such cases, provided that you don’t use it too often (or that they don’t occur too often). But it is a poor long-term mechanism because, as you know doubt no, it leads to severe under-productivity and consequence unhappiness.
Some of the triggers are “good” (you’re in love!), while some are “bad” (you hate your job). but from an anti-procrastination standpoint it really doesn’t matter whether a trigger is good or bad – an obstacle is an obstacle. The point of this work is to be able to sit down when you plan to sit down and do your writing, regardless of the nature of the trigger. This does not mean that you ignore the bad triggers, by the way: it means that you work to solve them while at the same time not letting you use procrastination as a way of “tolerating” them.
Please note that what was NOT in the list of triggers: laziness, lack of willpower, lack of discipline, lack of commitment, etc. They are not listed because they are not triggers. They are, however, harsh insults (“character flaws”) that we use to try to coerce (shame) ourselves into working– almost always unsuccessfully.
What procrastination is, is a habit caused by fear. It also happens to be an affliction of ambitious and sensitive people – and is actually a direct result of their ambition and sensitivity. It therefore merits not shame and self-contempt, but the same compassion, empathy and understanding we’d show to anyone else who is afraid.
And, when that compassion, empathy and understanding are applied, procrastination becomes a very solvable problem.
Hillary Rettig helps ambitious and creative people from all walks of life use their time better, create more rewarding careers, and overcome procrastination, perfectionism, fears, and blocks.
The Little Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism and Blocks (free ebook)
The Little Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism and Blocks is a substantially revised and expanded version of Part III of The Lifelong Activist (Managing Your Fears) that now offers important new material, including about the “false” solutions many people futilely employ to solve their procrastination problem. Of course, it also discusses the true – i.e., effective – solutions in detail!
Other topics discussed are: perfectionism, negativity, hypersensitivity, coping with fear and panic, time management, determining your authentic mission, and leading an empowered and joyful life.
Chapter 1. Procrastination Defined
Charles Dickens called procrastination “the thief of time.” (It was Macawber, in David Copperfield.) Here are some characteristics my students have associated with thieves: sneaky, stealthy, duplicitous, exploitative, and “doesn’t fight fair.” Maybe you can add to the list.
Dickens’ definition offers us an important clue as to why we have so much trouble beating our procrastination problem. Many people assume they can’t overcome their procrastination because they’re flawed, weak, or lacking some crucial moral or spiritual quality like willpower, discipline or commitment, but they couldn’t be further from the truth.
The reason we have trouble overcoming procrastination is that procrastination is a sneaky, stealthy, doesn’t-fight-fair adversary. As you will see, it is expert at disguising itself and its effects, and at misleading you into trying the wrong solutions.
Steven Pressfield, in his insightful and entertaining book The War of Art offers a similar view of procrastination. He calls it, “Invisible…internal…insidious…implacable…impersonal…infallible
…universal.”
Here is my own, somewhat more functionally-oriented, definition of procrastination: you get bumped off the path (or plan) you had intended to follow for the day.
Most of us start the day with at least a vague plan: say, to wake at 7; be washed and dressed and breakfasted by 8; at our desk by 9; work super-efficiently for three hours; exercise during lunch and then eat a healthy salad; work for four more hours; come home; eat dinner and relax with our family; and then curl up in bed with a good book.
Procrastination is when you don’t follow the plan. Maybe you don’t wake up at 7, but at 8 or 9…or noon. Or, maybe it takes you not one, but two or three hours, to make it to your desk. Or, maybe, once you’re there, you don’t get right to work but spend an hour or three drinking coffee, reading headlines (on paper or on the Web), making personal or business calls, or sending personal or business emails. Then, when lunchtime rolls around, you don’t exercise and instead of a salad eat a giant pasta meal – and then spend the rest of the afternoon half-asleep.
Every day, we are faced with dozens or hundreds of moments when we can choose to either stay on our path or get knocked off it. As the phrase “bumped off” implies, usually we leave our path unintentionally and unwillingly. This is true even when we appear to be making a wholly volitional choice. Many people procrastinate who would rather stay on their path, and later look back on their “choice” with remorse.
If this sounds like an addiction – like an alcohol or food addict wishing they had stuck to their abstinence – it is. Procrastination is, as you will see, a kind of addiction.
Chapter 2. Why We Get Bumped Off Our Path: The Triggers
The process of getting knocked off usually involves two steps: an initial trigger that pushes us off the path, and a follow-up panic reaction that makes it much harder to recover and get back on. There are dozens or maybe hundreds of triggers that can hit in the middle of any writing session, including:
Physical. You feel tired, sick, hungry, or maybe hyper. See next section for more info on physical triggers.
Lack of resources. You are missing information, equipment, or other support you need for the project.
Lack of support, mentorship or guidance. This is a very common reason for procrastination across the board, but graduate students and other academic writers are uniquely susceptible to it, in part because the academic world often provides the illusion of support, so they don’t recognize the lack.
Project-related problems and feelings. You may feel lost in your writing project, sick of it, overwhelmed by it, or alienated from it.
Workplace-Related Problems and Feelings. If you’re procrastinating on a writing project related to your job, it might be because you don’t like the project, your workplace, your job, your boss. E.g.: “Why am I the one writing this proposal when proposal-writing is part of my boss’s job description, not mine! And this proposal stinks, by the way – it will never get funded! And if it does, then that’s another problem – the project is ridiculous and will be impossible to succeed at.” Or, you can’t write because your workplace is chaotic (in which case, you’re probably not getting the support you need, and have been given conflicting priorities or inadequate instructions). Or, maybe your boss is undermining or abusive.
Resource Constraints. The computer’s broken – or the printer is. Your office is uncomfortable or too crowded or noisy – or too isolated. You don’t have information you need to proceed, or someone who agreed to help you hasn’t done their part.
Personal Moods and Problems. You’re distracted by feelings of sadness or fear related to your personal life. Or, maybe you’re distracted by happiness, such as during a a new love affair. Or by events, good or bad, in your personal life. Maybe you, or someone you care about, is going through a hard time.
Geopolitical Problems. You’re affected by the bad economic and other news.
Emotional/Cognitive/Learning Issues. You’ve got ADD or ADHD or another learning difference, or are suffering from depression or anxiety. These are root problems that should be addressed promptly, and with professional help.
There are a couple of things to remember about these triggers:
Please note that what was NOT in the list of triggers: laziness, lack of willpower, lack of discipline, lack of commitment, etc. They are not listed because they are not triggers. They are, however, harsh insults (“character flaws”) that we use to try to coerce (shame) ourselves into working– almost always unsuccessfully.
What procrastination is, is a habit caused by fear. It also happens to be an affliction of ambitious and sensitive people – and is actually a direct result of their ambition and sensitivity. It therefore merits not shame and self-contempt, but the same compassion, empathy and understanding we’d show to anyone else who is afraid.
And, when that compassion, empathy and understanding are applied, procrastination becomes a very solvable problem.