"Never handle the same piece of paper twice."
This oft-heard bit of advice kept swimming through my thoughts
as I stared at the piece of paper in front of me, wondering what
on earth to do with it. Not that this was the first time I'd touched
this particular piece of paper. Not the second, nor the third. In fact,
I'd tossed this sucker back into my in-bin several times during the
last two months.
The time had come to do something with it.
But what? I'd already asked my boss for clarification on the
assignmenttwice. And who knew how many minutes I'd
spent, on and off, studying it, mulling over it, and feeling guilty
about not doing anything with it. It had become my nemesis,
this piece of paper. How could I make it disappear, once and for all?
Why did I keep procrastinating on this one task?
That's when it hit me. Maybe I had at last asked myself the right
question. Instead of "what do I do with this?", perhaps the real
question was "why am I not doing this?"
Intrigued by this new insight, I looked at the piece of paper again.
Within seconds, the answer came to me. I kept putting this task off
because I simply didn't have enough information to complete it. And
asking my boss for assistance hadn't helped because she wasn't a
subject matter expert on this topic, either. But I did know someone
who was, and I knew that person would be more than happy to help me.
I was finally on my way to making that piece of paper go away.
Moreover, I'd learned a very important lesson on how to deal with
procrastination in the process.
During my research on this topic, I discovered an article by Dr. Kent T.
Yamauchi at Virginia Tech, in which he listed three main causes for
procrastination: inadequacy, discomfort and perfectionism. On top of this,
the tendency to procrastinate something often increases exponentially with
our desire to complete it; therefore, the more important the goal is to our
feeling of success and well-being, the more reasons we find to put off doing
it.
So here we are, many of us, putting off returning to school, or writing that
book, or starting our business, or whatever it is that we resolve year after
year to dobut don't.
So how do you overcome this powerful procrastination tendency?
By asking yourself why you keep doing it. Is it because you feel
inadequate to complete the task? Or does thinking about doing it make
you uncomfortable? Or do you feel that if you can't do something perfectly,
you don't want to do it t all? Once you understand the "why" behind
procrastinating, you've taken a major first step towards dealing with it.
In my situation with that miserable piece of paper, I'd felt inadequate to
perform the task correctly. I needed more information. Once I realized
that, I was able to take steps to get the information I needed, and the
urge to put the task off disappeared.
What if I had realized instead that I was uncomfortable performing the
task? Let's say the assignment was something that struck me as
unethical, or that I perceived would cause me harm or embarrassment.
Again, had I come to these realizations, I would better know what
steps to take to address them. Maybe I would have expressed these
concerns to my boss, instead of simply asking her for clarification,
or perhaps I would have suggested that it be reassigned to someone
more capable of performing it safely.
As for perfectionism...this is perhaps the most potent cause for
procrastination. While striving to do one's very best in each endeavor
is admirable, settling for nothing less than perfect stops us from even
trying. At the 1976 Olympics Nadia Comaneci made history, becoming
the first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10. Could she have achieved
such an accomplishment without a great deal of efforts, or hundreds of
hours of practice? Of course not.
So, if you're putting off something that means a great deal to you,
ask yourself: Is it because you feel inadequate to perform it? Then
turn to those who can help you sharpen your skills. Does the task
cause you discomfort? Perhaps you need to break it down into
smaller tasks, until you can build up a comfort level that allows
you to try something greater. Are you a perfectionist? Recognize
the truth in "practice makes perfect," and practice, practice, practice.
And one more thingtry not to ever handle the same piece of paper
twice.
About the Author
Mary Anne Hahn is a freelance writer who wants to encourage others to follow
their dreams. If you're looking to start an online business on a shoestring
budget, she invites you to join her at http://goalsetter.buildreferrals.com ,
or email her for more information, mailto: goalsetter@buildreferrals.net.