Procrastination Round-up: Do More Good Work
Photo by Domenico Loia on Unsplash
When you’re in a position for a long time or if you face a particularly daunting task, it’s easy to put it off. The ask is boring. The task is frustrating or ambiguous, and maybe downright terrifying. No matter. Your reputation depends more on the work you do rather than the perfect-ness of your work. Knowing this is the case, why do we humans continue to shoot ourselves in the foot by not actually getting stuff done? It’s part science (thanks, brain!) and part, mind over matter.
Read a roundup of some of our favorite articles from the likes of HBR and our thought leaders on how to get more good work done, so you can excel in your career and in life. Learn to identify your own procrastination habits and then use strategies to combat the put-things-off monster. Your future self will thank you later.
Overcome the Procrastination Monster
The Harvard Business Review analyzes why humans procrastinate and what to do about it. Figure out the triggers that cause you to put a task. Is it boring, is it difficult? Maybe it’s different depending on what needs to be done. Think about your laundry, for example. After you’ve identified your particular why, take steps to mitigate the issue. Think about the task-at-hand differently, break up the assignment or amount of time you spend at work, or gamify it. You know it doesn’t make sense that you put important tasks off. Now you can figure out what to do about your procrastination problem (or maybe you’ll just put off doing something about it).
Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash
Just Get It Done
It doesn’t matter why we put things off if we don’t do anything to fix it. Inc. Magazine suggests four strategies that can help you complete undesirable tasks—a lot of it comes down to how you structure your day. Do the things you don’t like first, allot appropriate time to actually complete the task at hand, and avoid interruptions at all cost. And, finally, if you can’t rearrange your life to get it—whatever it is—done yourself, delegate it. You don’t have to be able to do everything, but everything needs to get done. By assigning a dreaded task to someone else who’s likely more excited about it than you are is better than holding onto something and then not getting it done.
Do the Things You Say
Our very own thought leader, Blake Barthelmess, Director of Business Development at CBHA, shares his best advice to get help you get more work done. When we don’t actually do the task we say we will, it causes (often) unfortunate consequences. Good communication, meaning transparent and consistent communication, goes a long way to mitigate issues caused by our procrastination. Like a reputation for being unreliable. But, communication only goes so far if you don’t actually do the work you’re supposed to. Your options are to dig in and do it, or use one of the strategies above (hello, delegation!) to keep yourself on track. With a little grit and get-after-it, it’s possible to get more good work done.