Let’s face it - procrastination can wreak havoc on our productivity.  It can cause us to miss deadlines or fail to complete our most important tasks.  When we wait to the last minute to get our work done, we often rush to get it done, forsaking quality and exhausting ourselves in the process. 

But did you know that procrastination can also negatively impact your well-being?  It increases feelings of overwhelm, helplessness, frustration and anger, all of which increase our stress response.  In a study conducted by The American Psychological Association, 94% of people indicated that procrastination has a negative effect on their happiness and 18% indicated that this effect is extremely negative.  

When we continually procrastinate and make it a habit, the results can lead to dissatisfaction in life, depression and burnout.  So as Charles Dickens once said, “never do tomorrow what you can do today.  Procrastination is the thief of time.”  I’ll add I think it’s a thief of your well-being too!

On that note, I’d like to bring your attention to the fact that today is Fight Procrastination Day.  It’s a day to face your procrastination habits head on and bring awareness to the silly, weird or wacky ways you defer your productivity and well-being.   

One way to fight procrastination is to understand why you procrastinate in the first place.  There’s really no way to tackle it head on if you don’t understand why you do it.

So for this blog, I’m taking inspiration from psychologist Linda Sapadin’s book called “How to Beat Procrastination in the Digital Age.” In her book, she names six different types of procrastinators.  Understanding your type (or types) can help you pinpoint the right way to fight procrastination.  

The following is a summary of the 6 types:

Perfectionists 

Perfectionists are afraid of failure and, because of this, they aim to deliver perfect work.  Because of this, the task becomes daunting and causes overwhelm, which can shut the perfectionist down and delay them from getting started.

Worriers 

Worriers procrastinate because they are not comfortable with change.  They may not trust their intuition, abilities or decision-making when needing to do something new or different.  You might hear them say “what if X happens?” or you might find them asking others for advice or reassurance to help them move forward.  Without that external guidance, they can delay moving forward from fear of the unknown.  

Pleasers 

Pleasers find it all-too-easy to say “yes” to everyone and everything.  Oftentimes, this is due to a fear of not living up to the (perceived) standards of success that are set by themselves or others. Because of this, they overcommit and find themselves with too many competing tasks on their to-do list.  And since they don’t know how to prioritize those tasks, they also don’t know where to begin, so they procrastinate.

Crisis-Makers

These are people who wait to the last minute to get their work done because they believe they perform better under pressure.  They need the “time crunch” to feel motivated to perform.  But this can present a different challenge - oftentimes they don’t budget enough time to get the work done, and the quality of their work suffers because of it.  

Dreamers

No surprise here - dreamers are motivated to dream up new ideas and possibilities.  They are big picture thinkers.  Consequently, they can struggle with the details.  They don’t always know how to translate big ideas into action and so they procrastinate. 

Defiers

Defiers feel like the things on their to-do list are there because others are telling them to do it.  They often don’t understand why they need to do the work that is assigned to them.  This can cause them to feel powerless because they feel they don’t have control over how their time and energy is spent.  So procrastination arises as a way to defy the perceived authority of others.  

Now that you understand the 6 types of procrastinators, take a moment to reflect on which kind(s) of procrastinator you are.  What are your reasons for not doing what you need to do?

Who Am I?

It won’t surprise anyone who knows me that I’m a perfectionist.  Always have been.  I pride myself on delivering the highest quality work I can.  When I sit down to complete a new assignment, I see the end result - sitting there so beautiful in its perfect perfection.  But I also see what it will take to get to that perfection and the path feeling daunting. The need for perfection makes the work feel bigger than it really is - the work becomes artificially inflated.  A moment of anxiety swells in my chest and that overwhelm can shut me down.  But I’ve learned to manage those responses over the years and my Stress-Less Success System is part of that.

I was surprised to see that I also resonate with the defier.  This is something new for me and I think it’s arising for two reasons:

1. As I navigate peri-menopause, I’m finding I often have the spirit of a defiant teenager trying to rage against the machine - I resist being told what to do.
2. In becoming a solopreneur, I ‘m able to make my own decisions.  I’m my own boss. And because of that, my spirit has been set free to soar.  But I still have a day job where the work is assigned to me and my priorities are set by others.  That creates a tension and I’m finding defiance is a way I cope with that tension.  I also recognize this response is NOT productive, so there’s room for improvement.  

So…How Can We Overcome Procrastination?

I’m going to introduce you to one of my superpowers.  And I’ll be honest - I didn’t know it was a superpower until a former supervisor - a VP of Operations in fact - brought it to my attention.  When I gave notice and decided to leave the organization, she said to me:  “Lisa…one thing I will always appreciate about you is what you taught me about managing the scope of work.  I learned a lot from you.”  That’s the day I learned that scope management was my superpower.

It’s a project management practice aimed at defining a realistic workload that allows you to achieve your goals within whatever constraints you have.   And it can help you manage procrastination - regardless of what category from above you fall into.  Here’s how:

• Perfectionists: Scope management helps you manage your perfectionist tendencies by helping you proactively define what “good enough” is.  It helps you set realistic and fair expectations about the quality of your work. 
• Worriers:  Scope management is all about creating a feasible and realistic plan for getting the work done.  It helps you create a clearer picture of the knowns you’re working with and helps you reduce the unknowns, so that you can feel at ease moving forward.
• Pleasers and Defiers:  Scope management helps you sort through your work, understand where the ask is coming from and why, so that YOU can choose the work that best serves you.  It’ll help you “right-size” your to-do list by helping you say “no” to things that don’t serve you well. It puts you back in the driver’s seat of your own work and gives you more control for how you manage your time and energy.  
• Crisis Makers: Scope management may not change your desire to wait until the last minute to get your work done - but it will help you budget a fair amount of time so that you can make sure you get quality results.  
• Dreamers:  Scope management helps you think through the who, what, where, when, why and how necessary to get the work done, which helps you translate your big ideas into actionable goals and tasks.

No matter what type of procrastinator you are, scope management can help you.  And you can enhance your scope management “know-how” through my Stress-Less Success System.  

Check out my "Supercharge Your Productivity and Well-Being" course to get access...and join me in the "I Willown My Stress-Less Success" Community of Practice to put your scope management skills to use!