SlapStik Comedy “I’ll do it later,” are the famous last words of every procrastinator. In fact, they were my last words when in the process of writing this article. What gets put off for one day gets pushed to the next day, and the day after that. Before you know it, you’ve procrastinated so hard you’ve completely forgotten what you were supposed to do! While in some cases this doesn’t present major problems, procrastination can really become an issue when you’re faced with a strict deadline. Alas, “just doing it” is much easier said than done. But fear not! Your greatest weapon to fight procrastination is a change of mindset. In this article, we’ll go over just that!
What Is a Mindset?
The first step to changing your mindset is defining your mindset. It can be difficult to start changing something if you don’t know what you’re changing. A person’s mindset is how they choose to operate based on their beliefs, motivations, and general attitude. The two most described mindsets are fixed mindsets and growth mindsets. A fixed mindset means that you don’t generally believe your abilities can grow, and that you’re always going to be stuck in one place. Obviously, this isn’t always useful when trying to overcome procrastination. In general, you want to try to have a growth mindset, since that’s what’ll help you, well, grow! Having a growth mindset means that you’re open to growing and are aware of the fact that your abilities can and will change. Being aware of which mindset you have is the first step in this process.
As comedian Ellen DeGeneres once joked, “Procrastinate now, don’t put it off.” While it’s funny, it hits close to home for those of us who’ve alphabetized our spice racks instead of tackling a deadline. Shifting to a growth mindset means recognizing when you’re stalling—and choosing to grow instead of Googling ‘best types of paprika.’
How Do YOU Think?
To understand what thought patterns need to be altered, you need to first figure out what’s going on in your head. You should ask yourself, “What’s causing my procrastination?” If you can’t come up with an answer to this immediately, don’t worry! Think about the last task that you put off or didn’t finish. Ask yourself why you didn’t finish it. Perhaps it was because you felt like it needed to be perfect before you considered it finished. Maybe you found it just a bit too difficult to push through. Or perhaps you simply didn’t want to do it. Whatever the reason, consider how it affected the speed or quality of the process. Then, consider why you’re doing the task in the first place and how important the task is. If it’s something minor that doesn’t require immediate attention, consider setting it aside for now, and waiting until there’s a better time to do it. If the task is something very important that will severely impact your life or your work, dive deeper into how you can re-motivate yourself to push through. This could look like forcing yourself to get over your perfectionism and accept the outcome being “good enough.” The answer might also include reaching out to friends and family for help accomplishing a chore that was too overwhelming to complete on your own. If the issue is disliking the task you’ve been procrastinating on, try breaking it up into smaller sections and rewarding yourself after reaching certain milestones. Addressing the cause of your procrastination is essential for finding a solution.
As Jerry Seinfeld once said, “If a book about failures doesn’t sell, is it a success?”—which is the exact kind of philosophical rabbit hole your brain might dive into instead of doing laundry. But hey, recognizing that your mental detours have a stand-up set’s worth of punchlines is half the battle. The other half is getting up and actually folding the towels.
Work Smarter, Not Harder!
Once you understand why you procrastinate, you can begin to change your mindset. Again, this is much easier said than done, and it is not a “one size fits all” situation. Everyone works differently, so Think about difficult tasks that you’ve previously completed, and consider what motivated you to finish them. If it was passion, then find something that you can be passionate about in your current task. If it is a deadline for a project, then assign yourself a deadline and do your best to meet it. If it was simply because you were sick and tired of working on the project, then get someone to bother you about your project until it’s completed. Think harder about what you did in each scenario. Mimic that scenario to the best of your ability, even if it means sitting in the same room that you completed that last task in. If none of these scenarios seem to ring a bell for you, get your creative juices flowing to think of a way to push yourself!
Comedian Brian Regan once said, “I don’t want to do stuff. I just want to not do stuff. That’s the stuff I want to do.” Relatable, right? But unless you’re getting paid to lie on the couch (in which case, congratulations!), you’ll need to recreate the motivation behind your past productivity, whether that’s setting fake deadlines, bribing yourself with snacks, or hiring a friend to heckle you like a motivational stand-up act.
Burnout Beware!
While pushing yourself can help you accomplish your goals, it can also do the opposite. Burnout is a very real problem. Burnout can happen when you push yourself just a little too far, to the point where that candle of motivation has no wax left to burn through. It’s tricky trying to find that balance between working hard and overworking. One method of avoiding burnout is by pacing yourself. While not always possible under tight deadlines, the idea of “pacing yourself” involves working in smaller intervals rather than rushing to get everything together in a short time. Imagine this scenario: Carly loves to plan parties for her friends. She’s motivated to plan parties for her friends every holiday. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, you name it, and Carly wants to throw a party. While Carly’s idea of waiting until the last minute to motivate herself works for the first half of the year, she finds herself exhausted in the second half of the year. She no longer has the drive to finish making decorations at three in the morning, and she’s way too tired to have fun when the party eventually starts. Carly is entirely burnt out! If she had paced herself and spread her work more evenly, she would have had far more motivation to do what she loves.
John Mulaney said, “You have your own specific kind of burnout. You know, your version of burnout is like, ‘I’m gonna take on 14 projects.’ That’ll make me feel better!’”
Finish That Project!
Once you get into the groove of whatever task you need to complete, you may find that things have become a lot easier. Starting is the most difficult part for most people, as the finish line seems so far away. However, once you actually begin that sprint to the end, the home stretch finally comes into sight! As you work towards your goals, remember where you started and how much progress you’ve made. This can help you stay motivated. If you’re still struggling, find other people in your life that can help keep you accountable and remind you to stay on schedule. You can also return the favor in the future if your friend ever needs motivation!
If you’ve read this far, you already have what it takes to beat procrastination. There is a drive inside of you to finish what you’ve started. It’s very easy to fall into the habit of doing nothing and putting things off, but a little bit of work is all it takes to get right out of that pit. It’s okay to take breaks, and it’s okay to take things slow if they’re stressing you out. But if something needs to be done, you need to power through. If you dedicate yourself to your work now, the fruits of your labor will allow you to relax sooner!
“If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it,” said Wanda Sykes.
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