The solution to procrastination is not to be more productive

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Lifelong procrastinator Dana K. White believes procrastinators have a superpower: They can function within a mess. “We have an uncanny ability to ignore piles or leave tasks undone that would drive other people to the brink of a banana boat. This is our superpower and kryptonite all in one,” she writes in Procrastinators Get Stuff Done.

So stuff builds. And they fail to act. And then, when procrastinators start to sense the build-up, it seems too overwhelming. They can no longer function – particularly if they want to do things well. “Sometimes my desire to do things in the very best way backfires and I don’t do them at all. Not doing anything somehow feels better than doing a subpar version of the thing I want to do. Or need to do,” she says.

It feels better not to do anything until it ends up feeling worse. Frustration sets in and she does a poorer job than if she had not been paralyzed by her idealism.

The solution is not to become more productive. That is what non-procrastinators feel should be the solution and many procrastinators buy into. But she believes it’s a dangerous misconception. Adding “productivity” to your to-do list or internal critic’s harangue list will exacerbate your procrastination.

Instead, she advises to beat procrastination your goal must be progress. You must get started on the thing you need to do or want to do and continue to do that thing until it is done.

“Whether your goal is to make a career move or to catch up on laundry, the jump between being stuck in a state of inactivity and the spot where you dream of landing is too wide. The distance feels uncrossable. When the goal is progress instead of a corporate title, I get to count each email I send as success. When the goal is progress instead of a clear laundry room floor, I count every sock thrown in the washer as success,” she writes.

It’s not done. But you have made progress. When you switch your goal from productivity to progress, you can be successful immediately.

Many non-procrastinators believe that procrastination is a result of laziness and, again, a lot of procrastinators accept that verdict. But she says what appears to be laziness is often frustration over having previously failed at that specific task and the strategies to accomplish it.

“You’re not lazy, you’re stuck. You’ve tried (again) the strategies you were told would work. When they didn’t work (again), you assumed (or were told) that you must not have tried hard enough. Now, your calculations of how much effort you’ll need to expend feel completely impossible,” she writes. The resulting hopelessness causes emotional exhaustion, which can easily be confused for laziness.

A third misconception she tackles is that procrastinators put things off for no good reason. Instead, she argues, procrastinators look hard for the absolute best time to do the thing. They are idealists and believe their search for the best time justifies the procrastination. Indeed, examining their schedules and trying to figure out the best time feels productive.

She also warns that procrastinators can be seduced into three false starts. One is to make a big spend – to seek some solution through a purchase of a tool or a substitute who can take on the task. “I’ve made many of those purchases over the years and generally end up with regrets instead of results,” she says.

A second false start is a big announcement to everyone of what you intend to accomplish. Such accountability can work but can also backfire, if you put your energy into announcing when you could have put that energy into accomplishing. She prefers starting quietly.

A third false start is to come up with a big plan. But a plan doesn’t get you started. Instead, pick a small, quickly achievable part of what needs to be done and then make some progress. “Define your goal as progress. Count progress as success. Let the success you experience through progress motivate you to keep moving forward,” she says.

Quick hits

• When you’re on a good path, author James Clear says it’s only a failure if you stop. It’s a lesson if you keep going. But that’s reversed when you are on a bad path: It’s a failure if you keep going while it’s a lesson if you stop.
• Dealing with difficult customers takes a toll, even leading to burnout. Recent research into taxi drivers found it helpful to look back at three positive events from the day, allowing for a more balanced view of the work and a greater ability to deal with unreasonable demands from entitled customers.
• Ottawa thought leader Shane Parrish argues tolerance for feedback predicts your trajectory better than your talent.

Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.