Productive Procrastination (Part 1) - using the power of preparation to finally achieve your goals

           Yes, I am giving you permission to procrastinate! If you are a serial procrastinator, this strategy is for you! If you are not a procrastinator but you have something you want to accomplish, learning productive procrastination will not only help get you there, but it will also be your guiding light along the way. It is the lighthouse when you are lost at sea, the north star when you are lost in the woods. Productive Procrastination is your GPS when you don’t know which way to go. 

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            It all started with one of my first coaching clients. She struggled with procrastination. Of course, she didn't call it procrastination. She called it, "need to get more done in my day". She would work a full 8 hours every day but have very few tasks completed by the end of the week. She would write reports, attend meetings both online and in-person and she always made her deadlines but, in the process, felt like she was treading water, just trying to stay afloat in the abyss of assignments. She wanted to accomplish more in less time so she could get ahead of her to-do list instead of chasing it. Achieving this would allow her the more peaceful and enjoyable quality of life she longed for. 

          She tried different solutions like getting up earlier, changing her schedule and adding a midday walk to "get the juices flowing". But the outcome was always the same. Another day gone by without finishing everything she needed to do.

          As one of my coaching services, I did an in-home session with her so I could make observations and see where we could streamline her process. She lived in a small studio in Oakland, California, where she also worked from home.  

             I was there first thing in the morning so I could see how she started the day. A practicing minimalist, her apartment was in immaculate order with peaceful design elements, so right away I knew that the enemy wasn't a chaotic space. She had no kids and no regular interruptions like visitors or phone calls, so I expected the signs to point to habitual behavior.

           The first couple of hours went by and, although she was "busy" the whole time, she still hadn't gotten a good start to her work. What I observed was that periodically she would stop to get something...either something that she needed to do the work or something that she wanted to be more comfortable while working.

           She would sift through a bunch of papers to find notes from the day before, rummage through a drawer in search of a pen and scan text messages for important information from a co-worker but then get distracted by fun phone things.  in seperate instances, she got up to put on a sweater, make a cup of coffee, and hand wash a couple dishes. 

           All these distractions and that doesn't even include the several minutes it took to "set-up" her desk which consisted of bridging 2 counters with a wooden tabletop for a (quite clever and aesthetic) make-shift desk to fit into her small studio.

           Before I knew it, it was time to go to an in-person meeting. She hopped in the shower, spending the next 30 minutes getting ready for the day. She drove a 1.5 hours round trip for the meeting and spent 1 hour in the meeting. At the end of all that, most of the day was gone and the only things she finished were a couple short paragraphs in her report and 1 meeting with a client.

           At the end of the day, we discussed my observations. When I listed all the breaks and distractions that interfered with her progress, she was quite surprised that there were so many of them. She didn’t notice that those little behaviors were so disruptive because she really liked doing them. We discovered that she enjoyed the busy work because it was a way for her to ease into the day. Wearing a sweater, sipping coffee and having a clean space made her feel comfortable and motivated. Cleaning the kitchen and setting up her desk every morning was necessary to create an office area, but she even valued that time because it allowed her brain to warm up before dedicating major focus to her work duties. Those leisurely activities were the self-care she needed to feel prepared to conduct business.

            The problem was, she was mixing this prep time with her work time. Without realizing it, she spent much of the day trying to get prepared to work AND do the work at the same time. Intermingling the two prevented her from fully focusing on either. It sucked the life out of her day and destroyed her motivation.

            To improve this situation, we simply separated prep time from work time. We completely saturated her preparation schedule so that when she finished everything on the list, there would be nothing left for her to procrastinate over. Like ringing out the last drop of water from a sponge, we included every possible form of procrastination that we could think of that.

          The strategy was broken down into 2 categories. We needed to prepare: 1) her mind and 2) her space. We came up with a list of all the things she would need to do in these areas to feel completely satisfied with them so she could focus . 

          To prepare her mind, the list included actions pulled from my observations including, making coffee, finding a sweater and moving her shower routine to the morning. We then added more items like 30 minutes of personal reading and lots of “cuddle-cuddle time” with her pets. Preparing her mind to transition into work mode, she would write down the 3 most important tasks to accomplish for the day. This specific action item not only allowed her to ease into work mode and organize her brain, but it would also help her stay focused when she found herself getting off-track. 

          To prepare her space, we added things that were necessary to be more productive once she started to work. This included setting up her desk, cleaning the kitchen (aka office), gathering emails, notes and phone numbers that were pertinent to the day’s goings on. We also made a list of tools she could get to help organize her day. A printed calendar, sticky notes and a bulletin board would keep information in one place and would be easy to store away at the end of the day.

          We dedicated so much time to preparing her mind and her space that it significantly decreased the hours left for work. She would now spend more time preparing to work than she would actually spend doing the work. But because she was completely prepared and able to mentally commit 100% to it, she became much more productive, accomplishing more in less time, just like she wanted.  

          She was elated with this new process because it fully shifted her mindset and increased her motivation. She said, "Preparing for work is like getting work done without actually doing the work." She is now living the more enjoyable pace of life that she was wanting and uses the power of preparation whenever she has something she wants to accomplish.

          This new process was a way for her to procrastinate but be productive at the same time. It allowed my client to feel completely fulfilled not only in her work, but in her daily life as well.  Satisfaction replaced guilt. Motivation replaced fatigue. Time-wasting procrastination was replaced with Productive Procrastination...

                                                  PART 2 COMING NEXT WEEK