Words Into Works #004 | The Procrastination Puzzle

If you’re currently working from home, you might be confusing busyness for productivity. 

You might be checking your email when you should be writing a report, overthinking a task when all that’s needed is to give a quick once over.

And without realizing, you might be procrastinating on the very things you need to focus on most.  

“Procrastination,” writes Timothy A. Pychyl in his book, The Procrastination Puzzle, “is the voluntary delay of an intended action despite the knowledge that this delay may harm the individual in terms of the task performance or even just how the individual feels about the task or him- or herself.” (Italics mine.)

To solve the procrastination puzzle, as Pychyl calls it, and more specifically, categorize which delays in our lives are procrastination, we first need to identify which delays are voluntary and then understand why we’re reluctant to get started when it’s in our best interest to act. 

Here’s an exercise you can do right now to help you do that.

First, make a copy of this Google Sheet.

Then, write down a task, activity, project, or goal you’re putting off—writing a report, building a database, calling a prospect, having a difficult meeting. 

Then, jot down any emotions or thoughts that come to mind when thinking about what you’re putting off. The goal here is to identify any recurring patterns. 

For example, when thinking about calling a prospect, you might say to yourself, “I’m worried he’s going to say no with everything going on at the moment.”

Next, add a sentence or two about how putting off this task, activity, project, or goal has affected your life or work, or might do if you don’t take immediate action. 

Returning to the above example, you might write, “If I don’t call this prospect, then I won’t be hit my quarterly target, and that will affect my job performance.”

Finally, note down why you’re committed to taking action, as well as the benefits of acting now rather than later. What will you gain from getting started right now? 

And if you’re thinking about procrastinating on the exercise? Then you have all the more reason to complete it now. You might learn something about yourself.