How to Stop Procrastinating Soon - Kidding! Right Now

While I was at college I got an internship at a company based in France. While the company language was English, I felt SUPER awesome because I’d taken three years of French in high school. I thought I could use this opportunity to hone my speaking skills. But, I also really wanted to learn Spanish since I already had a start in French and endeavored to be a polyglot. I had a choice to make, focus on strengthening my French or start learning Spanish. Can you guess which I did?

Today, I present for the consideration of the Midday Society

The Story of Lost Time

Which language do you think I decided on? If you guessed Spanish, you are incorrect! If you guessed French, you’re ALSO incorrect. If you guessed that I spent the next 15-ish years unable to make a decision on which language to study in earnest, well, you’re unfortunately very correct.

I wanted so badly to make the RIGHT decision, that I spent years not making any decision at all. If I would have picked one, I would likely be fluent in both by now. And I’d probably also speak Japanese - the third language on my list. Heck, let’s throw in Italian too, since I took a semester of that in college.

If you, like me, have perfectionist tendencies, you’re probably acquainted with what it’s like to not do something you want to do because you want to do it perfectly. That, my fellow Midday members, is what we call procrastination. You may want to do something, but something inside you delays completing or even starting whatever that something is. At work, this could be a project your boss asked you to tackle a few weeks ago. At home, maybe you have a pile of clothes in the dryer or in the closet that you swear you’ll get to tomorrow. Probably.

So, what’s the opposite of procrastination? Taking action. Doing it - whatever it is. But like all things worth doing well, it takes effort to stop procrastinating and start doing anything. Here are some practices to help you fight your own internal procrastination powers for the good of your work progress and your laundry pile.

5 Steps to Practice Taking Action

1. The tea kettle method.
   1. Ok, this isn’t actually a method, it’s just how I started taking action.
   2. I made a promise to myself that any time I poured water from my electric tea kettle, I’d refill it immediately.
   3. Now, I never lift an empty kettle and then have to wait for the water to heat in disappointment, wondering why I didn’t just refill it the last time I made tea.
2. Identify your tea kettle.
   1. What’s something you do daily that, when left undone, causes you mild irritation or interrupts your day?
   2. Maybe it’s having dishes in the sink, or charging a device, or flossing your teeth. Think of something small.
3. Make a promise to yourself. And keep it.
   1. When you decide what you are going to always do, make sure you promise yourself that you’re really going to do it.
   2. Follow through with your promise. Don’t make excuses.
   3. Every time I pick up my full tea kettle, I’m reminded that I’ve kept my promise to myself. 
4. Find the next thing, and continue to apply the same behavior.
   1. For me, the second thing was I promised never to leave dishes in the sink.
   2. Now, they are either washed immediately or they go right in the dishwasher.
      1. Yes, I live with my dog and I am the only one I need to account for - this may not work for you. Or for Renelly.
   3. Then, it was to go through all of my work emails every day - and I get a lot of emails.
   4. When you start taking immediate action, getting things done becomes its own reward.
5. Keep your inner perfectionist at bay.
   1. If you truly cannot take one of your decided actions, do your best to keep your founding promise to yourself.
   2. Give yourself a break. 
   3. Go back to your start, and reinstitute your actions.

You can do it!

“By making and keeping promises to ourselves and others, little by little, our honor becomes greater than our moods.” - Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People