You're Actually NOT a Procrastinator: Why You Delay and How to Overcome It.
[00:00:00] Hello, welcome to the Productivity Genius Podcast. I'm your host, Kelly Fifield, and I help you master your schedule and achieve extraordinary results. today we're diving deep into a topic that we probably all struggle with, at least at some point, procrastination. First, let's talk about why we procrastinate.
The reason people procrastinate is because of the instant feeling of relief that comes from the decision in the moment not to do what we planned. now I'm guessing that this is a new idea to you. I know the first time I learned this, I was kind of surprised and a little skeptical.
It doesn't really feel like or seem true that procrastinating results in relief. Because most of us find the idea that we procrastinate to be kind of a painful thing. But in the moment, we're talking about the actual moment when you decide to procrastinate, you get a feeling of relief.
We [00:01:00] procrastinate to avoid a negative emotion.
So what happens is when we consider doing a task that we procrastinate on, we think something about the task that causes a negative emotion. so maybe something like this is annoying, or this is going to take forever, or I don't know where to start. And then that causes a negative emotion.
But when we decide to not do the thing, we feel immediate relief. And then each time we avoid a task, we just reinforce this cycle. Now you may be thinking, well, I'm actually just wired that way, But hang on for a moment. I agree that there is a biological aspect to this.
There is something that's very natural about it, but you weren't born a procrastinator. You've just been repeating this dopamine loop that you've practiced over and over again. So that is amazingly fantastic news because that means you can unlearn it.
Now, if you're still kind of telling yourself, well, okay, so [00:02:00] maybe I wasn't born with it, but it actually kind of works for me. I actually work really well under pressure. But let's be honest here. I think we all know that procrastination has its costs.
You don't want to lie to yourself and tell yourself that procrastination is useful, or the way you do things. It's not a problem. It actually works better for you, et cetera. The truth is that procrastinating has many negative effects. One of the biggest negative effects in procrastination is it deteriorates your relationship with yourself.
You tell yourself you aren't going to wait to the last minute this time, you're going to get it done as soon as you have some time, but then once again, you find yourself in the final hour, cranking out the work, cramming to get it done. And since self confidence comes from trusting yourself and knowing that you're going to do what you tell yourself you're going to do, naturally, your self confidence takes a hit each time we do this.
Now, even if you've tried hard to break the habit of procrastination in the past [00:03:00] unsuccessfully, that doesn't mean it's not possible. It just means you didn't have the knowledge and the awareness to overcome it at that time.
Now, If you do tell yourself that it's really not a problem, that's likely just a way you're trying to make yourself feel better. But rather than lying to yourself to feel better, how about we get honest about it?
Now I'm not chucking it from the cheap seats. I totally used to be a champion procrastinator. I would think I would receive a gold medal in procrastination if there were such a thing. I believed it was just how I operated. I believed I needed the pressure of the impending deadline in order to focus.
I thought that's how I worked best.
And I also believed at the time that it worked for me. I did really well in lots of areas, so I just thought that was the system that was best for me. But what I didn't recognize or maybe realize was that there are many areas that didn't have hard deadlines like [00:04:00] relationships, health choices, relaxing, professional goals, all of those things.
If there wasn't an externally set deadline, I didn't have a system to make sure that those things got the attention that I wanted to give them. So only things that had external deadlines or were required by other people actually got my attention.
Once I did a lot of learning about neuroplasticity and the brain's ability to change dramatically, I decided to become a master of time management, which included overcoming procrastination. All right. So let's get into the nitty gritty.
Now that we understand why we procrastinate, let me give you some tools to help you overcome procrastination. You can use one of these or you can combine them, whatever works for you. Here's some things you can do. Okay. Tool number one in your toolbox is notice your thoughts and feelings. What are you thinking and feeling? when you're about to procrastinate, is there something you procrastinate on regularly? Like, for example, [00:05:00] one thing for me is doing my taxes. Okay, so why do I procrastinate on it? Because of my thoughts.
Here are some of my thoughts about doing taxes. I might owe a ton of money. I might be embarrassed to not know the answer to some financial questions that my accountant might ask me. I have a thought, I hate paying taxes.
I think, oh my gosh, it might be so much money. Now thoughts like this cause feelings like panic, dread, confusion. These are not fun emotions. So my brain comes to the rescue and offers tons of other ideas. I should wait until I get everything in the mail. I should do it later. I'm hungry. I should definitely eat right now.
I should work on something else that's due this week.
Let me just make sure there isn't something else I should do first. So I'll go check my email. And then what happens when I make that choice? Let's say I do decide to go check my email, I get immediate relief. I'm no longer feeling dread or panic or anxiety or confusion. So procrastination does a [00:06:00] beautiful thing. It saves you from a terrible feeling. So, it totally works in the short term and it makes sense that we do it. That feeling that's created by that alternate thought, I'll do it later, or let me, Just check my email. That feeling that gets created by that thought is better. It's a better feeling than whatever was created by the thoughts about the thing you're procrastinating on.
The key thing to know here is that my taxes don't make me feel anything. It's my thoughts about my taxes that's causing me pain, and it's the new thought, for example, I'll check my email instead, that provides instant relief. And the loop gets reinforced.
Ironically, panic or anxiety is just delayed and maybe even increased due to the number of times I'll reconsider the task. should be doing this, but it doesn't matter so much in the moment that instant relief is what my brain is seeking.[00:07:00]
So one tool you can use is to look at your thoughts and feelings about the things you're procrastinating on. Another one, break it down. So if there is something that you notice you are procrastinating on,make the task manageable by breaking it into smaller tasks. Break it down until the steps are so small you don't resist it.
Like let's say you have to do something on your computer, you're going to write a report or something. You could break it down into super tiny steps like step one, open my computer. Opening your computer isn't hard. It's not something you're going to resist that much. So if you break it down into tiny little steps, you might resist doing it less.
Another tool, challenge your thoughts, question the beliefs that make you procrastinate. How can you think about the task in a way that creates a more motivating emotion? Another option, ask for help. Sometimes having an external deadline Or someone else holding you accountable can work wonders. There's no shame in asking for [00:08:00] help. If that gets you the result you want, then use that strategy.
And, oh my gosh, and here's something I would love for everyone to do. Stop calling yourself a procrastinator. Instead, you can say something like, I'm learning to get things done when I say I'm going to, or I'm learning to follow through on what I have planned.
And my last suggestion for you is to show yourself some grace. Don't beat yourself up when you procrastinate. As you've seen, procrastination makes total sense. Your brain is working beautifully when it does this. It's just taking care of you. It doesn't want you to feel this negative emotion. It doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you.
It means you have a kind brain that's trying to take care of you. So when you procrastinate in the future, you don't have to beat yourself up. Instead. You can thank that part of you that was trying to protect you and explore what came up. What were you thinking and feeling? What did you do instead? How did it feel to avoid starting whatever it was?
By the way, it's worth [00:09:00] mentioning again that while there is a biological component to procrastination, it's not genetic. I want to stress that there isn't a genetic component. You were not born with procrastination. You might have a genetic condition leading to lower dopamine's level, but I believe in the.
overwhelming majority of people, it's biological, not genetic. And what I mean by that is your lack of motivation in a given situation isn't because of the way you were designed, but it's because of what you have practiced. If you want to get something or do something like, let's say you're hungry and you're standing at a checkout line next to all of the candy.
This may have happened to me yesterday. And there's Sure, there's some chemical things going on. You're hungry, so your desire for food is increased. And then I look at that box of Swedish fish and the Snickers and I think, mmm, I love Snickers. Now, when I think things like that, [00:10:00] plus all of the subconscious thoughts I'm not even aware of, my dopamine levels rise.
The anticipation and the likelihood that I could have it makes my desire increase. there's that natural trough in the dopamine wave, and my body wants to get the dopamine level back up, and I'm convinced Snickers is going to do the trick. And by the way, it totally would.
Now, I noticed that urge and it's very uncomfortable. In this particular case, I did resist and and that feeling, that urge did dissipate, but it was pretty uncomfortable. Those thoughts about the deliciousness of Swedish fish or Snickers, or if you know me well, hot dogs or Taco Bell, create motivation.
And this is the opposite of what's happening with procrastination. While we may think initially, I want to get this done, it's followed up with a thought in the family of something like, ugh, I don't want to, or I'm tired, or I'm not sure what needs to be done, or this is going to be [00:11:00] hard, or this is going to take a while, I hate doing this, this is annoying, something like that.
So instead of causing a spike in the dopamine, which would make you feel motivated, this is going to cause your dopamine to go down, which feels awful, And the fix is doing something else, and voila, dopamine goes back to baseline. We reinforce that dopamine loop and we learn to become more of a procrastinator. Now, in addition to my earlier suggestions, those tools that I gave you for starting to work on procrastination, you can do physical things to increase your dopamine levels, like getting plenty of rest, regularly exercising, eating healthy, all these things will probably make you less sluggish and will make it easier to follow through.
But I've found personally that in addition to those things, managing your brain is the most important factor in overcoming procrastination.
Now, you can absolutely become a person who no longer procrastinates. There's so [00:12:00] many benefits, but my favorite is the calm that can come from knowing you can put everything on your calendar and then know that everything is going to get done since you always do what you tell yourself you're going to.
This will help you stop worrying all the time about all of those things aren't done since you know, they're all going to get done when the time comes. If any of this was surprising or helpful, I would love to hear from you.
Hop over to Instagram at productivity genius coach and send me a DM. I would be so excited to hear from you. Now that you're well on your way to eliminating procrastination, you're perfectly set up for the next episode where I'm going to give you the step by step process for planning any project.
Have an amazing week.
