What are you putting off at work?

Deal with it this week.

I’ll do it next week…

I read somewhere that procrastination isn’t born out of laziness, rather it
stems from a sense of anxiety associated to the task you’re putting off. This
was a real eye opener for me as I see procrastination, the act of putting things
off, perceived as lazy or the avoidance of things less exciting.

But if it comes from a place of anxiety isn’t this a wholly different perspective?
What am I anxious about when I put off something at work?

My skill set?
What the other person will say?
What is it goes wrong?
I’ll just email them instead.

My profile as a person suggests I dislike conflict and will shy away from it. So
anything that could create a risk of exposing this is something I naturally shy
away from.

But just because I shy away from it doesn’t mean the requirement for the task
to be done goes away. So instead it plays on my mind all day, and then I might
take the stress home with me because I know I didn’t do it. I’ll do it tomorrow
I tell myself. Before the cycle starts again.

Eat that frog! So what to do about it? Well, one thing I practice is the eat that
frog approach. It’s a tactic (and a book by the same name) that suggests we
identify what our tasks are, decide which is the ugly frog (the one we hate
doing the most!) and we get it done first. Not second, not after lunch, not after
the meeting or the planning session which you love doing…get it done first.

I tell you what I found? Once you get in to this habit I find the rest of the day
goes so much better and I have a little more bounce in my step because
the day ahead looks so much better now. And I also don’t take this baggage
home with me.

Happier at home, happier at work. Win win.