This is part 2 of the Procrastination series.

In part 1 we discussed the following 5 steps:

1. Become aware of the things that you are putting off.

2. Eat the frog in small chunks by getting started.

3. Get more information about what you are delaying.

4. Outline a clear process to proceed forward.

5. Reduce your anxiety and discomfort or delegate.

You can read the part 1 here. I am going to continue with step 6 in this post. If you are more visually inclined, please scroll down for the SlideShare version!

 6. Great Expectations and Creative Procrastination

“You may delay, but time will not.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

Having expectations that are impossible to fill is a quick and easy way to get stuck and procrastinate. 

You may be setting standards that are too high to fulfill for yourself. Or perhaps someone else has very high standards for you.

I have no problem with high standards! In fact, having high standards is not a bad thing at all and makes all sorts of wonderful things possible.

But when the standards are so high that we end up procrastinating, it may not be beneficial for us. Instead of feeling the emotions of letting yourself or someone else down, you just put it off for later.

The problem with that approach is that the feelings of expectation intensify as you keep putting things off. The best approach is to lower your expectations to the point that you have nothing to lose to take action.

If you have expectations so high that you are unwilling to take consistent action, experiment with dropping your expectations a bit. Dropping impossible expectations is often followed by a great feeling of relief and immediate action.

Be creatively procrastinating! Follow the 80/20 rule. According to Brian Tracy in Eat that Frog, apply the 80/20 rule to everything. The rule or Pareto principle as you probably know is that 80% of results come from 20% of effort. Tracy says that we should be creative about doing the maximum impact tasks and put off the least impact work for later.

7. Do you Feel Inadequate?

“Be careful not to mistake insecurity and inadequacy for humility! Humility has nothing to do with the insecure and inadequate! Just like arrogance has nothing to do with greatness!”― C. JoyBell C.

Do you feel like at some level that you are not good enough? The feeling of inadequacy may filter through into your work and make you procrastinate.

If you begin seeing yourself in a different light, like you are good enough for this world, you may be able to change your approach.

Feel adequate and like you really deserve the best in life. When you feel better about yourself, you will be less inclined to put things off and feel bad as a result.

Begin your day by feeling great about yourself. When you take an action that you have been procrastinating, reward and encourage yourself.

8. Feeling Guilty and Ashamed

Is guilt and shame preventing you from taking action? You may be feeling guilty or you may feel ashamed of being caught as “a fake.”

When you feel guilt about a certain action, you may be inclined to take action but it may cause a lot of resistance.

 Shame will outright stop you dead in your path because you feel a deep sense or void in your life that you are feeling personally responsible for.

According to Dr. Brené Brown, author of The Gifts of Imperfection, people who feel guilty are able to distinguish between themselves and the action that made them feel guilty. Hence they can auto-correct and make amends.

However, people who feel ashamed about something attribute it as a character flaw and cannot distinguish between the action that caused the shame and themselves. Hence, they portray themselves as being deficient in their own minds and get stuck from taking action to auto-correct. 

The best approach is to recognize these counter productive states and coming to terms with them and slowly begin to let them go from your life.

Usually when we procrastinate, we feel guilty. And if we consistently put things off, the feedback from others may eventually make you ashamed of yourself.

But the more you feel ashamed, the more you are prone to procrastination. If you feel guilty about putting things off, begin by doing some of those tasks and do not allow the guilt to accumulate.

Do it or let it go.

9. Constant Worry

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.”― Mark Twain

Do you constantly worry about getting things correct and as a result do not take action? Do you worry about feedback and about performing well?

If you are procrastinating because of worry, you may have to recognize that chronic worry is keeping you from taking action.

Worry causes problems to appear a lot bigger than they really are and amplifies them in our minds. 

We are slowly feeding the monster of worry that becomes bigger and bigger in our minds.

Tell yourself that regardless whether you worry or not, the outcome will not change. The only way to change an outcome is to take action or step back and allow things to happen.

Worry does not provide any relief, both mentally and physically.

10. Fearing the Outcome

“Procrastination is not Laziness”, I tell him. “It is fear. Call it by its right name, and forgive yourself.”― Julia Cameron, The Prosperous Heart

Fear is False Ideas Appearing Real. Fear stops you from taking acting. If you are afraid of the outcome, you may put it off to not experience the fear that it brings.

The problem with fear is that the more you feed it, the larger it gets. And eventually, fear will significantly reduce the quality of your life.

The best remedy is not to think too much about it and take very small actions and condition yourself to slowly do the things that you feel fear around.

Small actions and small fears are approachable. Trying to take big actions and feeling massive fear will make you quit. So take one small action towards the task or project that you are procrastinating.

11. Feeling Angry and Shutting Down

If you are angry around something, you may put it off just to make a point and show to the world that you have a point to make.

However, the world seldom cares about your anger, instead it construes your inaction as a character flaw.

Having unsorted anger makes it challenging to take action. The best way out of it is to recognize that you are angry and come to terms with it so that you can proceed with taking action.

If you cannot come to terms with your anger, it may be best to get help and delegate what you are putting off.

12. Not Saying No…Overwhelm and Trying to Do Too Much

When you take on too much, you have no choice but to procrastinate on some tasks. Your best defense against overwhelm and possible procrastination is the simple word “No.”

It may be difficult to say no but being realistic about the amount of time that you have is very important to avoid overwhelm.

Instead of taking too many tasks and getting overwhelmed, it is best to take fewer tasks and excelling in them.

Getting overwhelmed will prevent you from taking action.

Assess if you are getting consistently overwhelmed. If you are, you may want to dial back on the number of tasks that you are taking on.

Here is the total list of tools to bust through procrastination:

1. Become aware of things that you are putting off.

2. Eat the frog in small chunks by getting started.

3. Get more information about what you are delaying.

4. Outline a clear process to proceed forward.

5. Reduce your anxiety and discomfort or delegate.

6. Lower impossible expectations and take action.

7. Transform inadequacy and feel great about you.

8. Let go of guilt and shame. Either do the task or let it go.

9. Is worry of the outcome making you stop? Unlink yourself from the chronic worry patterns.

10. Come to peace with your fears. Take tiny actions that do not scare you as much.

11. Processing your anger and letting it go may free you up to take action.

12. Take on fewer tasks and say no to doing too much and overwhelm.

Do you put things off till the last minute in your life? Please leave your comments below. I would love to hear from you!

Photo Credit: Simon Hayhurst via Compfight