Operations & Capacity

Positive Procrastination

Procrastination. We all do it and we all feel guilty about it. For some of us, it’s our worst enemy. But is it always a bad thing?


I want to show you the positive side of procrastination. Let’s chat about opportunities that present themselves when you find yourself avoiding certain tasks or projects, and how that time you’re “wasting” might just be working in your favor.

I perfected procrastination while I was an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago.

During my first years at school I was so amazed that I could write a paper the week that it was due. That week turned into writing a paper the day before it was due, which became the night before it was due, and finally, I reached the pinnacle of my procrastination when I wrote a paper the morning that it was due.


While I got faster at writing…this approach left me stressed, frazzled, and sleep deprived.


Years later I now have a way of understanding and dealing with procrastination that turns it into a positive rather than a negative.

1. Procrastination has something to say

The problem with procrastination is that we view it as a flaw and we focus on changing ourselves. We beat ourselves up for procrastinating.


This quote from Carleton University perfectly sums it up:


“You know what you ought to do, and you're not able to bring yourself to do it.”


It's that gap between intention and action.


But what if our procrastination is actually communicating something to us? Maybe instead of us changing and fixing this “flaw” in ourselves, it’s our tasks that should change?

2. Is procrastination the problem?

Procrastination is not a flaw in you.


You heard me.


I’m going to argue that you should embrace your procrastination as your body or your mind telling you that something you’re doing needs to change.


It's not you that needs to change, it’s what you're doing that needs to change.


Almost every time I've managed a team and a team member comes to me and says, “I'm really not getting this done. I don't know what's wrong,” 90% of the time I answer them that we really shouldn't be doing that at all.


The reason why it's giving you so much grief is we were on the wrong track. Let's eliminate it altogether and figure out what we should be doing.

3. Ways we deal with procrastination

Now, let’s talk about some ways to break down what you’re doing and understand what might be wrong with what you’re choosing to do.

3.1. Expectations & accountability

According to The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin, there are basically four categories of how people deal with expectations.


Take the quiz to find out your tendency.


How we deal with expectations is a big key for how we handle procrastination.


Some people work well when they hit right up against a deadline. Other people do not.


For example, if you’re an Obliger (according to Rubin), it means that you don't want to let others down, but it's okay to let yourself down. Obligors do really well with another person holding them accountable to the things they actually need to do for themselves.


I am a Questioner, which means I have to have a really good justification for what I'm doing and if it makes sense to me, then I'll actually do it and there won't be a procrastination issue.


Oftentimes when there's procrastination, it's a sign that people are mismatched with how they hold themselves accountable.


Once you know how people respond to expectations, you can know how to set them up to succeed.

3.2. Step by step

Try breaking down the task you’re prastinating into smaller, bitesize steps.


This is especially helpful in a couple of scenarios:


1. The project or task you’re working on is way bigger than you initially thought.

2. You’re overthinking the project or task.


Breaking down the project in writing will help a large, daunting, overwhelming task feel much more manageable.


It will also help assuage your fears and worries that you can’t accomplish it. Define what “done” is for the project and work backwards.


Regardless of how you do it, getting your task or project written out in some way will help you clear the procrastination hurdle.

3.3. Delegate or delete

It’s quite possible that what you’re procrastinating doing, you just shouldn’t be doing at all!


It’s not your forte, you’re no good at it, you don’t enjoy it. I have a tool to help you figure this out.


The Accountability Optimizer is a simple tool for delegating, systematizing, and automating the things you're doing by prioritizing what is in your zone of genius, what you can do, and what is not your forte.


Read more about these categories and how to optimize them here.


When it comes to things that are not your forte, you need to get these things off your plate at almost any cost.


The first and most obvious solution would be to delegate these tasks. This can be difficult, especially if you lead your organization.


Maybe you can’t delegate the entire thing, but break it down and delegate pieces. Determine the area of the project or task that is tripping you up and delegate that to someone else’s zone of genius.


I used to procrastinate on creating my slides for my weekly micro-trainings. Then I realized that I don’t hate creating the slides, I just hate creating the intro slide.


I wasn’t happy with how it looked and I avoided it every week.


Then I realized that our Communications Manager loves to create graphics and I employed her help in creating the intro slide every week.


Now I create my other slides without that bit that was tripping me up and I no longer struggle with procrastination on this task.

4. Do what you love

Lastly, I want to encourage you to give yourself permission to do the things you love.


Even if you have judged that they're not as important for your organization, I'm going to challenge you to say that that is a misconception.


The things that you love doing the most in your organization are probably the most important things that you can be doing, even if they feel too good and too easy to be true.


If you'd like to talk about procrastination, delegation, or anything related to running your nonprofit, I would love to chat. Apply for a free consultation with me today.

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