Hi, I’m Donovan and I’m a procrastinator. 

I had to get that off my chest before I decided to put-off writing this post. 

I am using this post as my personal therapy session to help me overcome my bouts of procrastination.  I’ve been wanting to write this for several days now, but I’ve been procrastinating my procrastination article.  Does that make sense?

I was finally motivated to put pen to paper this morning when I read Scott Young’s blog post on 20 procrastination hacks, written by Leo Babauta from ZenHabits.net.  Number eight on his list really gave me the courage do write this, even though I am no expert on personal development or productivity.  Number eight is: Put public pressure on yourself.  So here I go:

If I am genuinely interested in overcoming procrastination I must first dig deep within myself to understand why I procrastinate.  In my opinion, the latest procrastination hacks are not going to do any good unless I can give myself a good enough reason to implement them.  How can you motivate yourself if you don’t know why you’re procrastinating in the first place?

When I find myself procrastinating I stop and ask myself: Why am I procrastinating this task?

Identify the Specific Reasons You Procrastinate

I’ve always found the Why? questions to be the hardest to ask and answer of my self.  I’m ashamed to admit that I have procrastinated asking myself these questions in the past because I didn’t want to hear the answer.  In the back of my mind I know the answer; I just don’t want my conscious mind to hear it and force me to deal with it. 

Let’s just assume for a minute that you did in fact honestly ask yourself: Why am I procrastinating this task?

What did you come up with?  Here are a few answers I get from the neither regions of my mind:

I just don’t feel like doing it…

When I tell myself I don’t feel like it, I know I’m still procrastinating.  There’s a real reason behind this answer so I have to dig deeper.  Here some of my common reasons for feeling “lazy”.

Boredom - I’m bored out of my mind because the task is not stimulating.  Where’s my cookie for finishing this task?  Like a three year-old, I want something in return for my attention and focus.

Fear - This is a tough one to admit, but I have to ask myself: What am I afraid of?  Failure?  Success?  The unknown? You can make excuses all day to avoid having to label this one, but you know what it really is: Fear.  Solve this riddle and you are well on your way to kicking the habit.

Overwhelming Expectations - Am I or someone else expecting too much of me?  Can I actually complete this task with the knowledge and tools I already possess or am I using this as an excuse?  Did I ask for help or try to acquire what I need to complete this task? 

Physical/Mental Factors - Take a moment to think about how you are feeling physically and mentally.  Am I tired or have something on my mind?  Would a nap or a break clear my head and rejuvinate me?

This task is meaningless and a waste of my time…

I have bigger fish to fry, why am I spending my time on this?  The simple truth is:  If this task is on my to-do list then there must be a good reason for it.  Maybe I’m the best (or only) person that can get this finished.  Even if it wasn’t me that put this task on my to-do list, someone thought I could do it or they have enough influence to affect my to-do list.

This one is easy for me to get over because I can just tell myself:  Just do it and get it over with.  I feel much better once it’s finished and can get back to what’s important to me.

I’ve got to get it just right…

I’m a perfectionist and I know it.  I want the results of my labor to be bright and shiny, but what am I doing it for?  Recognition?  Self-satisfaction?  There’s a huge difference between doing the best job I can and nitpicking every single detail for the sake of perfectionism. 

Focus on the core of the task and pretty-it-up AFTER you finish.  I often find that I don’t need all those extra touches once the core of the task is finished.  I’m ready to move on and scratch that one off my list.

Moving Forward

Once you identify the reasons you are in a much better position to overcome procrastination.  You can more effectively apply one or more of the 20 procrastination hacks to address the cause of your procrastination.

In addition to the many procrastination resources available on the Internet, my additional favorites are:

Delegate - Is there someone you can delegate all or part of this task to?  Even if it’s a small piece: every little bit helps.

Automate - Can you automate any of your repetitive tasks? Even if you were able to automate a portion of the task, wouldn’t that bring the finish line that much closer? Maybe you could use an e-mail reminder service or a macro recorder.

The best feeling in the world is finishing a task you’ve been procrastinating for a long time and scratching it off your to-do list.

I feel much better now.  It’s time to get to work.