Ep131: Still procrastinating? Cut yourself some slack and get curious!

00:51 Welcome to Unfrazzle, a podcast for solo business owners with a big vision who are ready for a kinder more sustainable approach to productivity. I'm Louise Miller and each week i share bite-sized insights to help you step away from the hustle stop faffing and stay focused so you can make your brilliant ideas happen and make a bigger impact in the world Before we dive into today's episode, if you enjoy what I'm sharing here on Unfrazzle and you'd like to support the podcast You can buy me a cuppa by going to BuyMeACoffee.com slash Louise Miller and making a one-off donation. I'll pop a link to that in the show notes Okay grab yourself a cuppa and let's get started According to our old friend Google procrastination is defined as the action of delaying or postponing something

01:38 But according to Tim Urban, a more accurate definition is the action of ruining your own life for no apparent reason. That might be a little overdramatic but I know from my clients and my community that procrastination is a huge productivity stumbling block that not only stops them from making progress in their business but also stands in the way of enjoyable and guilt-free rest So at best procrastination is something really irritating that causes tasks to take longer than they need to, eating into time we'd rather spend doing something else whether that's actually getting something done or sitting taking a break held up with the book on the sofa.

02:15 But at worst, procrastination can lead to really debilitating anxiety. Feelings of failure and self-judgment all of that really unpleasant insidious stuff that if left unchecked can really start to damage our self confidence and our self esteem as with so many things in life we just want to be told the answer We want to know the quick fix that will solve the problem in one fell swoop So we can crack on and achieve all of the amazing things we know would be capable If only that procrastination monkey would let us take the wheel for a change. But there's no single solution that with a wave of a magic wand is going to work for everyone and we know that don't we? And I'm not saying this to be defeatist but because i want you to cut yourself some slack

03:00 If, despite your very best efforts procrastination is still getting in your way that doesn't make you a failure it makes you human. So of course I'm not suggesting that you give up that there is nothing you can do about it so you might as well admit defeat That's not what I'm saying at all. What i want for you is for you to get curious, to get curious about your own procrastination patterns and what does and doesn't work for you when it comes to getting that pesky procrastination monkey away from the controls! And if you're wondering why I keep talking about a monkey? I will put a link to Tim Urban's brilliant TED Talk about procrastination in the show notes –it's really really good highly recommend– So in this spirit of experimentation

03:39 I'm going to share three very different ideas that you could play with to help with your procrastination. So number one, lift the lid right? Often procrastination is a symptom of something that's going on under the surface. Are you struggling with imposter syndrome? Is there some fear involved in the thing that you're procrastinating about maybe there's a lack of clarity around what you're doing and why is there a deeper mindset issue at play that's causing you to reach for Instagram or LinkedIn when you should be working So the first thing you can do is to just take a step back for a moment and see if you can get to the root of what's underlying that procrastination. What is it that actually going on? And when you know that, you can then start to bring some tools into play to counter whatever it is that's coming up for you. That's the first idea was to lift the lid on it and get under the hood poke around see if you can figure out what's going on

04:31 The second suggestion I have for you is to change your environment. So this is a more practical approach, it's just something you can perhaps do right now and it may sound really obvious but what if you could remove your procrastination tool of choice from your environment? When you're curious about your patterns you'll start to identify what you reach for most frequently when you're in procrastination mode whether it's your phone maybe you open up loads of tabs on your browser maybe you end up in YouTube Maybe it's something else, maybe you get up and go and do the dishes or something. What is it that's coming up for you when you are in procrastination mode? And what might you do to change your environment so that doesn't trip you up anymore? So simple suggestions could be to put your phone into flight mode, put it in a different room set something up on your laptop to limit you actually going onto the sites that you're using when you procrastinate

05:30 I've been experimenting with actually turning off the internet on my computer. I do a lot of my work just in Word docs, so that can be quite old school! And i've turned off the internet before now and I just keep noticing myself clicking over to LinkedIn to see what's going on over there because maybe I'm starting to feel a bit bored or I'm struggling to focus... So by turning off the internet that option is not available for me It could just be you create some extra steps and barriers that get in your way Reaching for your procrastination tools. So let's go back to that example of doing the dishes, for instance if that is something you might find yourself doing when you're procrastinating

06:08 What barriers can you create between you and doing the dishes? So it might be that you close your office door, you close the kitchen door so there are those moments of pause where you can think do I really want to be doing this. You could hide the washing up liquid! I don't know just think creatively what can you do in your environment that will make it harder for you to reach for those procrastination tools that stop you from getting your work done And the third suggestion I have for you comes back Tim Urban's brilliant TED Talk, Unleashing the Panic Monster It often doesn't show up unless there's a deadline or some sort of negative consequence to protect you from. So what if you could unleash the panic monster before the situation becomes dire? What if you could set, you know lots of small deadlines maybe getting some accountability if you know that accountability works well for you... What can you do to try and unleash that panic monster but in a way that's not going to completely fry your nervous system? Getting that balance between it helping you get the thing done

07:19 But without sending you into a massive kind of overwhelmed panic mode. And I wouldn't suggest using that one all the time because it can end up making you feel frazzled, which is the exact opposite of what we're aiming for here but it can be just a useful thing to keep in mind if you're finding yourself procrastinating What can you do to unleash that panic monster but in a way that feels good? Another thing to think about maybe a different way of thinking about this panic monster idea Quite often if I'm running a masterclass or workshop or something like that, i'll talk about the difference between a marathoner, sprinter and procrastinator. And what I sometimes see happening is that people who work best when they're in sprint mode confuse themselves with procrastinators They think they are procrastinating because they are leaving things to last minute When actually for them leaving things to last minutes or turning it into a sprint where there's deadline involved Actually how they work best

08:19 So what if you could think about it that way? Does that help, if you can think that actually you're not procrastinating. You're just creating the conditions where you work best and for you that involves a little bit of pressure Not the amount of pressure that's going to send you into an absolute tailspin but just enough to help you feel that kind of spark in that fire to get the thing done I know you know there is no quick easy fix to procrastination but if you can get curious and figure out what's going on, maybe make some practical changes in your environment. Maybe think about deadlines and how you can unleash that panic monster in a way that's not going to send you absolutely Into a spin, but it all stems from getting curious right and maybe having a play with some of the ideas I've shared with you today. So whether it's taking that step back to take notice of what's going on in your head when you're procrastinating What's really going on under the surface? Whether it's about eliminating your procrastination tools of choice just so that you don't have the option of procrastinating or whether it's about introducing just the right amount of pressure to keep you moving forward

09:21 I hope there's something here that helps for you to play with and i look forward to seeing you again soon. Thank you for listening to Unfrazzle. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who needs a dose of calm productivity in their life and I'd love it if you could leave me a rating and review as that will help more people discover this podcast. If you would like to hear more from me to help stop faffing and take back control of your time, you'll find the link to join my mailing list in the show notes and I would really love for you to join us! So thanks so much for your support and I look forward to seeing you next time