Don’t Wait to Read This

By Debra Bruce

I procrastinated in writing this column. Many wise people have said that we teach what we need to learn, so overcoming procrastination is the topic for this month. Let’s start with why we procrastinate. Here are some common reasons:

It involves an unpleasant task.
We don’t know or are unsure about how to do it.
We know how, but it’s difficult.
The task involves a tough decision.
We don’t have all the materials or information we need.
The project is too big and overwhelming.
We underestimate the time required and have a lot to do.

What do we do to get past procrastination? In my coaching I find there are very few one-size-fits-all solutions. There are patterns and tendencies, however, so we experiment, and we understand that what worked yesterday may not work with a different project today. Here are some tips for your experimentation:

Swallow the big frog first. Pick out the ugliest, hairiest, stinkiest job on your list, and tackle it first. Get it over with and everything else today will be easy. If you have the discipline to do this with regularity, you are probably not a true dyed-in-the-wool procrastinator. Perhaps you should lighten up on yourself. Most of us apply this technique in crisis situations when procrastination has piled up a lot of must-do tasks.

Build momentum with small tasks. The opposite technique involves attacking a few tasks that can be completed quickly to give you a sense of success and build momentum. Once you’re on a roll, you can get a lot done.

Create bite-sized chunks. Break those huge overwhelming projects into smaller bite-sized chunks. Identify the next action step for each chunk. This also works for those projects we aren’t sure how to accomplish. Often we can identify the first action steps, and once we accomplish them, we can see the next step more clearly.

Ask for help. Why do we think we have to do everything ourselves? Are we reinventing the wheel? What a waste of time! Go back to the source of the assignment, go to a colleague, go to the library or the Internet. Ask for help, information, guidance or examples. Once you have help, the task won’t be so daunting and you can get moving.

Team up with someone. This is a corollary to the previous tip. Literally ask for teamwork in doing the job or trade off with someone. Misery loves company and two heads are better than one. When I was 12 and had to clean my room, I teamed up with a friend down the street. First we cleaned her room, then we cleaned mine. We kept each other moving, got it over with, and enjoyed the company enough to make the time fly.

Find a way to make it fun. Be as smart as a 12 year old. Do it with a friend, do it outside, do it with your favorite music on, or wear jeans to work to do it. Get creative. You won’t put off reading that 70 page Asset Purchase Agreement if it gives you an excuse to sit at a picnic table in the park on a pretty day.

Do it for 15 minutes. This is another way of creating bite-sized chunks. Sometimes we just can’t stomach doing the whole project, but we can muster up enough discipline to work on it for just 15 minutes. In four such episodes we can dispense with an hour long distasteful task. Sometimes once we get 15 minutes into it, the momentum will carry us through to completion in one sitting. Maybe it won’t be as bad as we thought.

Calendar it. We are much more likely to do those things we have set aside a specific time for. We don’t wait until we get a “round tuit.”

Plot backward. If we have a deadline, sometimes we don’t get started soon enough to do a quality job. Before calendaring it, we need to think it through and estimate the time required. Most of us then need to double that time estimate. Even if we didn’t underestimated the time required, did we allow for interruptions, equipment failures and emergencies? To decide when we need to get started, we also need to plot the other tasks to be accomplished in the same time frame. We may find we have less time available than we thought.

Promise yourself a reward . If we never celebrate our accomplishments, they just amount to preparation for the next job. No wonder we lose motivation and procrastinate! Maybe you get to take a 15 minute break and go downstairs for a snack when you get those answers to interrogatories completed. If it’s a big project, plan a big reward, like a day off, a shopping spree or a weekend getaway. During an average day, when you finish something you hate doing, let the next project be something you love to do. Have you noticed how much more efficient you get at the end of the day when you know you can go home as soon as you finish what you are working on?

Create a negative consequence. Sometimes we are more motivated by the whip than the carrot. I once shared a goal with my coach, but then put it off for 3 weeks in a row. She verified that I really did want to accomplish that, and that there were benefits to doing it. She asked me to sincerely commit to doing it this week. I did. Then she said, “If you don’t do it this week, you’ll send me your watch.” I gasped. My watch! I didn’t dare ask if she intended to keep it. I had just committed to do the task. If I was in integrity with her, that would be irrelevant. Even if she ultimately returned my watch, it would be a strain to manage without it. That week I scurried to get the task done before the next coaching call.

Get an accountability partner. As described above, this is where a coach really comes in handy, but a friend who isn’t afraid to hold your feet to the fire will work, too. Almost every week a client tells me, “I got it finished this morning because I knew I would have to talk to you about it this afternoon.”

Delegate it. If you keep procrastinating on the same kinds of tasks, most likely they require skills that are not your strong points. You’ll be more productive, and your clients will be better served, if you devote your time to doing what you do best. Believe it or not, someone actually enjoys doing what you consider grunge work.

Strike it off your list. If you have something on your list that keeps revolving to the next week and the next month and the next, perhaps it is time to get honest with yourself. However beneficial it might be, you don’t want to do it. Unless there are dire consequences, just take it off your list and get back into integrity with yourself and anyone else involved. Looking at that undone item every week is lowering your self-esteem, draining your energy, and affecting the quality of your work elsewhere. Fahgeddaboutit.

Good luck with getting into action. If having someone check up on you will help, email me your goal, and I’ll check back with you in a week.

Debra Bruce (www.lawyer-coach.com) practiced law for 18 years, before becoming a professionally trained Executive Coach for lawyers. She is a member of the Law Practice Management Committee of the State Bar of Texas, and the co-founder of Houston Coaching Network, the Houston Chapter of the International Coach Federation.