3 Reasons you are procrastinating—and how to stop

Anthony Sanni on why we procrastinate

You are in the business of solving problems. But there is quirk in our minds that affects how we solve problems—and not always in a good way. Learn more abut additive bias and how to overcome it in this video.

Prefer to read? See the transcript below. Note: The transcript has been modified to make it easier to read. Hope it helps!

Video Transcript

In this video, we'll talk about three types of tasks that are the prime candidates for procrastination. Once you can identify what type of tasks you're dealing with and why you may be procrastinating, it becomes a whole lot easier to adopt strategies to solve it. And I'll give you some of those strategies as well.

Let's talk about it.

Hi, my name is Anthony Sanni and on #beenthinking I share productivity and personal development insights to help you achieve your best in life, career and business.

And on this episode, it's not the first time we're talking about procrastination, but I really want to talk about three practical keys to help you overcome procrastination. I feel like if we understand where procrastination is coming from or how it's presenting itself, we'll be in a better position to adopt strategies to overcome it. And this is by no means exhaustive. I'm going to be doing more videos, maybe even doing a science-based mini course on overcoming procrastination. So if that's something you're interested in, leave a comment and let me know. But first of all, what is procrastination?

What is procrastination – Pro—Crastinus

It's interesting to understand where the word actually comes from. Procrastination comes from two words “pro” and “crastinus”.

Pro means progress or forward movement, crastinus means tomorrow. So literally procrastination means I will make progress... but tomorrow. And that's where the problem lies, isn't it?

So what kind of tasks do you tend to push till tomorrow? These are three of the top ones that most of us will face.

You Procrastinate Boring Tasks

Look, whether we like it or not, we are beings who enjoy enjoyment. We like to have a good time. And if a task just isn't fun, we probably won't want to do it. And so if you can identify “why am I procrastinating? Oh, it's because this task is not fun”... You're already one step closer to the solution.

How to stop procrastinating boring tasks

Speaking of solutions, what's the solution to tasks that just aren't fun? You can just add a fun element to it. Say you don't like working out very much because you don't think working out is fun. First of all, that's weird—working out is a lot of fun, but hey, no judgment. We all have different things we enjoy. I actually have a friend who doesn't enjoy working out. She says she finds it boring, but to each his own, I suppose.

But if you've identified working out is important to you, but you still procrastinate on it because you find it to not be fun, maybe you could add something that's fun to it. For example, listening to your favorite music or your favorite podcasts while you work out.

Now you're adding fun to something that is otherwise not fun, and you have beat procrastination because you understood that it came from the task not being fun.

You Procrastinate Difficult Tasks

If a task is hard, it might be because we don't have the skills for it or we don't have the aptitude for it... We will tend to put it off. So, what's the solution?

How to stop procrastinating difficult tasks

You can get better at it by taking on some training, so you build your confidence to be able to do it with a little more skill. Or you can delegate it. If delegation is not an option, then really you have to get better at it. The third option though is to ask yourself if you need to do the task at all? Are you better off just stopping the task?

We talked about that in a different video on additive bias and it's tendency to want to add things... Sometimes, it’s better to just subtract things.

So consider those three options for these task that are difficult:

• Get better at them by increasing your skill and confidence

• Get someone else to do them i.e delegate them

• Or just see if you can cut them out altogether. That is always an option.

You Procrastinate Tasks you find meaningless

It's really hard to get motivated to do something when we feel like it's meaningless. And even if we make ourselves do it, we're using a huge amount of life force, willpower, and energy, and it's often not sustainable.

How to stop procrastinating tasks we feel are meaningless

This one’s tricky. But there are ways to find or create meaning in the work that we do. Ask yourself what exactly is the value this work is adding? If you're doing it, it's worthwhile to figure out how it's adding value. You might have to talk to colleagues at your place of work.

How is this work affecting you, affecting the organization, affecting your clients or your customers or your family downstream?

You might be surprised that what you felt was meaningless is actually incredibly meaningful to someone.

But where it gets tricky is where you find out that the task actually is not meaningful, in which case you might be able to make a case for stopping it altogether so that you can redirect your efforts to something more meaningful.

And I hope that helps you.

Always consider Eliminating Tasks

As a matter of fact, that elimination step should apply to all three. Always have that as an option. Am I better off just not doing this thing anymore?

And again, if a procrastination course is something you might be interested in, go ahead and leave a comment and let me know.

Until the next video, I am Anthony Sanni encouraging you—be your best, do your best, stop putting off progress until tomorrow. Go out there and do those things that will move you forward toward your goal and more fulfillment. And I'll be right here rooting for you. Bye for now.