Overcoming procrastination so you can create your chic life

Procrastination is something that derails a lot of us, me included.  We want to do things, or add helpful routines in our life, but we don’t.  We put it off, do other (usually unhelpful) things, or do the opposite of what we think we want.  Why do we do that?  It is all to do with the way our brains work.  Humans, like other creatures, are hard-wired to simultaneously seek pleasure and avoid pain.  It’s instinctive.  So by procrastinating, we are avoiding the pain of that task we know needs to get done, and seeking pleasure by doing something we think is more fun instead.

It’s so simple when you have it explained like that, but what’s the answer?  How do we overcome that instinct?  What I’ve found out is that we don’t have to overcome it, because that sounds hard and boring and like it might not even work (surely that is worth procrastinating on).

What we need to do is link pleasure to the thing we want to do and pain to not doing it, basically the opposite to what we’re doing now.  Say I have a long and boring few hours ahead of filing, admin work and bill paying at work (I procrastinate a lot on these dull tasks).  Putting it off doesn't logically make sense, because it will still be there later, it won’t disappear.

Instead, thinking ahead to the end, and about how good I will feel when everything is organised and dealt with is enough to get me started.  And getting started is often the hardest part I find.  Once I get started I’m actually quite happy to keep going.  If I start flagging or looking around for something more fun, I’ll keep waving the flag at the end line – ‘Look Fiona! Over here! This is what your desk will look like if you keep at it, you’ll feel so good when it’s all done!'

I've brainstormed all my other procrastination tools below.  I find it helps to have many different options, to tackle something from all angles.  You might find one that really is the key for you.  I love it when that happens.  Sometimes it can literally be one sentence I read in a book that unlocks a block for me.

fiona’s top tips to overcome procrastination

• Change your words from ‘I have to’ to ‘I choose to’
• Just start – that is often the biggest hurdle
• Divide your task down into chunks and start with the easiest one
• Tell yourself you’re not going to do the whole lot, just one part to start with (you’ll probably feel like carrying on, if not, you’ve started at least)
• Ask yourself ‘how would my ideal self handle this?’ or ‘what would an elegantly organised woman do in this situation?’
• Start something whenever you take the notion, even if it is at an odd time.  I find that the energy is strongest then, and I often complete something I’ve been dithering on
• Go in sideways or start in the middle – there is often more than one way to approach things
• Write a list of everything you’re procrastinating on and pick the easiest/quickest/least painful item to start with
• Keep the end result in mind.  Don’t think ‘housework’, think ‘my home will look so good’
• Give yourself permission to only to ten minutes on that task.  Worst case scenario is that you do ten minutes, best is that you do the whole thing
• Reward yourself afterwards. This makes me complete something quicker so I can get to the good stuff.  At work sometimes my husband sometimes says ‘you may as well go home early tonight’.  I can’t tell you how that lights a fire under me to get all the loose ends tidied up before I go!
• Channel someone else – Martha Stewart, Audrey Hepburn, your favourite celebrity, your super-organised friend – whoever inspires you to be an onto-it person
• Reframe the way you think about yourself.  Don’t say ‘I’ve always been a procrastinator’.  Words are so powerful so use them wisely. Instead, tell yourself ‘I find it easy to get things done’ whenever you have the old thought.  It sounds too simple, but it retrains our brain.

You might think 'yeah, yeah, I've read all these before'.  But have you actually taken action on any of them?  Crazily enough, they all work well when you do that.  I seem to reinvent the wheel over and over and then, when I take action, everything's okay, procrastination averted.  Doing things to get things done, who knew!

What if it’s fun stuff you’re putting off though?  What if you imagine yourself regularly attending live theatre but never go?  What if you want to take dance lessons but have never researched it?  Is there is a project you’d love to tackle but you just can’t gain traction?

Firstly, ask yourself do you really want to do it?  Sometimes we hear what we think is a good idea but deep down don’t really think we’ll enjoy it.  The two options, therefore, are to not seek out a theatre experience and just forget about it, or make a note in your planner to start researching.  Even better, do it right there and then – open the newspaper or pull up shows online and book one, even if it's months away – strike while the iron is hot!

It’s the same with a project you think you’d like to do.  Ask yourself why you’re dithering.  Does it seem like it would be hard, or take more time, money or energy than you feel you have to give right now?  If you think you’d be very happy to have that particular project completed, reframe it to yourself, saying ‘I am choosing this project, it will be fun and easy and I’ll be finished it sooner than I thought’ and then imagine the outcome, how cool it's going to be.

All of these tips have helped me, and I promise you I used to be a very proficient procrastinator.  I still am sometimes, but I don’t want to identify with that, so I say ‘I used to be’.  Nowadays, I prefer to identify myself as someone who completes tasks with ease and pleasure.  It’s a much better way to think.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and I’d love to hear how you handle procrastination.  Please note any blog post requests too, I love receiving them!  And… what are you going to complete – or even start – this weekend that you have been procrastinating on?