Latest / Overwhelmed Working Woman: Boost Productivity, Master Time Management, Overcome Overwhelm & Stop People Pleasing / #160| 5 Ways Your Productivity Is Being Sabotaged by Procrastination — And What To Do About It So You Can Achieve Your Goals With Ease
Transcript
- 0:00Michelle Gauthier: We assume that motivation has to come first, but the truth is motivation follows action.
- 0:10Michelle Gauthier: You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less.
- 0:17Michelle Gauthier: I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach.
- 0:22Michelle Gauthier: On this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman experiences and in each episode, you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease and relaxation to your life.
- 0:37Michelle Gauthier: Hi friend, thanks for joining today.
- 0:38Michelle Gauthier: Today we're going to be talking all about procrastination, and maybe not in the way that you would expect.
- 0:43Michelle Gauthier: When you listen, today you'll learn number one, what procrastination and maybe not in the way that you would expect.
- 0:45Michelle Gauthier: When you listen, today you'll learn number one, what procrastination actually is - spoiler alert it's not laziness - and five sneaky ways that it might be sabotaging your productivity, both at work and at home, and, of course, what to do about it, what to do about each one of those.
- 1:01Michelle Gauthier: I think it's funny that when I was writing this episode and this is actually my third time starting the recording on this episode I found myself falling into two of these five that I'm about to tell you about.
- 1:15Michelle Gauthier: So I'm here to say that procrastination can easily sneak up on us, even as I'm writing and recording a podcast about procrastination.
- 1:23Michelle Gauthier: So today, by the time you're finished listening to this episode, you will know what to do for each one of these types of procrastination.
- 1:31Michelle Gauthier: But let's dig in first by talking about what procrastination is and isn't we think procrastination is.
- 1:37Michelle Gauthier: I'm lazy, I have no willpower, I'm bad at time management.
- 1:42Michelle Gauthier: I need to be more disciplined.
- 1:43Michelle Gauthier: I need to try harder all those kinds of thoughts.
- 1:46Michelle Gauthier: The problem with thinking something like I'm just lazy is it just means something about you as a human, like you have a flaw, and those are totally not true.
- 1:57Michelle Gauthier: If you've been a listener to the podcast for a while, you know that we always think about the actions that we're taking.
- 2:03Michelle Gauthier: So procrastination is an action, an inaction but an action, and we always think about those actions that we're taking in terms of what thought am I having that's causing this?
- 2:13Michelle Gauthier: So what procrastination really is is a protective behavior, normally that your brain is trying to protect you from doing something that's going to make you feel uncomfortable, and it's simply a thought that you're having that is causing you to not take action.
- 2:30Michelle Gauthier: And I'm going to dive into more of that, but I think the biggest thing to take away is that procrastination is our brain trying to protect us from discomfort.
- 2:38Michelle Gauthier: Sometimes the discomfort isn't even that big of a deal, right, but our brain's trying to get us to not take action on something.
- 2:44Michelle Gauthier: It means nothing about you as a person.
- 2:46Michelle Gauthier: It doesn't mean that you're lazy or need to be more motivated or work harder.
- 2:52Michelle Gauthier: So let's dig into each one of the five types of procrastination and some examples of each one, and then what to do if that one really resonates with you, if you're like oh yeah, that's the one that I do.
- 3:06Michelle Gauthier: So the first one is over planning instead of just starting, because planning and thinking about what to do feels productive and in control, but it can be a really sneaky way to delay taking action.
- 3:21Michelle Gauthier: So, for example, if you create the perfect spreadsheet to track all of your goals but you never take action on them, that would be an example of this over planning instead of just starting.
- 3:32Michelle Gauthier: Or you spend 30 minutes rewriting and organizing your to do list but then really don't have time to do anything on it At home.
- 3:41Michelle Gauthier: Maybe that would look like making a color coded chore chart for your family, but never actually use it it.
- 3:46Michelle Gauthier: So what to do instead if you're stuck in this, in stuck in the research phase and just spending your time?
- 3:53Michelle Gauthier: Personally, I love doing this, because you can just go forever learning new things but never taking any action.
- 4:00Michelle Gauthier: So what to do instead is just to plan only for the first tiny step and set a timer for five minutes to start taking action immediately.
- 4:09Michelle Gauthier: So what I say is, if you think of the first step and it feels overwhelming or too big, make it smaller.
- 4:16Michelle Gauthier: Let's talk about the example that I mentioned of creating this perfect Excel spreadsheet that has all of your goals on it or all of your to do's on it, but you never take action on them.
- 4:25Michelle Gauthier: If you're going to take a tiny step and you said, okay, I'm going to do the first thing on the list, and your body was still like Nope, we're not going to do that, then maybe your step is to write out the first part of the first thing.
- 4:40Michelle Gauthier: Or maybe your first step is to open a blank document and type one sentence I'm talking tiny first steps and set a timer for five minutes and just take that tiny step for five minutes and and remind yourself that clarity comes from actually doing the thing, not doing the perfect planning.
- 5:00Michelle Gauthier: This is definitely one of the ones that I get stuck in, and even for this podcast I definitely did.
- 5:05Michelle Gauthier: This leads perfectly into the second one, which is endless research.
- 5:08Michelle Gauthier: So the one we just talked about before this was over planning.
- 5:11Michelle Gauthier: Endless research is very similar to this one, where you just keep doing research on a topic before you take action because research gives us the illusion of being productive and being prepared and learning so many things about it in order to just be fully prepared, but the procrastination part is never taking action.
- 5:31Michelle Gauthier: So maybe you want to start meal prepping and you watch a ton of meal prep videos on TikTok and it looks fun and you just keep spending hours watching them, but you keep ordering takeout.
- 5:40Michelle Gauthier: This is very similar to the one ahead.
- 5:42Michelle Gauthier: It's being stuck in that planning or research phase instead of taking action.
- 5:47Michelle Gauthier: So the prescription for this one is very similar to the one above Set a time to limit your research and then choose that one tiny step and take it.
- 6:00Michelle Gauthier: Okay, the next one is waiting to feel motivated.
- 6:01Michelle Gauthier: We do this one because we assume that motivation has to come first, but the truth is motivation follows action, so we start feeling motivated once we start doing it.
- 6:10Michelle Gauthier: So, for example, at work, maybe you need to write a tough email or have a tough conversation with someone, but you keep pushing it off because you're waiting until you feel calm and clear and motivated to have that conversation.
- 6:25Michelle Gauthier: Same thing with a big project in the house.
- 6:28Michelle Gauthier: Maybe you delay cleaning the garage until you feel motivated to do it.
- 6:32Michelle Gauthier: Same can be true of like going for a walk or working out.
- 6:35Michelle Gauthier: I think the most powerful thing to do for this one is to remind yourself that motivation isn't a magical force that floats around the universe and just lands on you sometimes.
- 6:46Michelle Gauthier: And doesn't land on you sometimes, it's created by the way that we're thinking.
- 6:50Michelle Gauthier: What my trick is, instead of trying to make yourself motivated to do something, just remind yourself that you can do it.
- 6:58Michelle Gauthier: You can take action even if you don't feel motivated.
- 7:00Michelle Gauthier: So what I tell myself is, for example, let's say, I don't feel like working out when my alarm goes off in the morning and I don't feel motivated to do it.
- 7:09Michelle Gauthier: That's fine.
- 7:10Michelle Gauthier: I don't have to feel motivated in order to go to the gym.
- 7:13Michelle Gauthier: I know that on Sunday, I made a plan.
- 7:15Michelle Gauthier: I chose the times I was going to work out, I chose the workouts that I was going to do, and my job isn't to feel motivated.
- 7:21Michelle Gauthier: My job is just to do it.
- 7:22Michelle Gauthier: So that's what I tell myself.
- 7:24Michelle Gauthier: You could use.
- 7:24Michelle Gauthier: A thought like this is part of the plan that I made for myself.
- 7:28Michelle Gauthier: I'm going to get started now.
- 7:30Michelle Gauthier: It doesn't matter how I feel about it right now, and if that still feels like too much.
- 7:35Michelle Gauthier: You could also use that five minute 10 minute rule.
- 7:41Michelle Gauthier: If we're talking about the example of cleaning out the garage, I'm going to spend 10 minutes just to get started and see how it feels.
- 7:45Michelle Gauthier: The next one is doing low stakes tasks first.
- 7:49Michelle Gauthier: This is another one of my favorite ones to do.
- 7:52Michelle Gauthier: Low stakes tasks, the ones that are kind of at the bottom of your to-do list or maybe not even on your to-do list, are so appealing because, for example, it's so much easier to just answer emails instead of creating that presentation you need to do, or to spend, you know time tweaking the fonts, but you haven't even finalized the content in the presentation that you have to make.
- 8:13Michelle Gauthier: Or maybe, on a personal note, you know you really need to revise and follow a budget, but instead you decide to repot all your plants.
- 8:22Michelle Gauthier: It makes sense that our brain wants to do the easy one, so that we can either check it off or just do something that feels more painless.
- 8:30Michelle Gauthier: But the solution for this one is to ask yourself is this task urgent or is it just easy?
- 8:36Michelle Gauthier: Am I just doing this one because I want to be making some progress and it's easy, but is it the urgent task that I want to work on, and then again, for each one of these, you're going to hear me say the same thing, which is do it for a set amount of time, just get started.
- 8:51Michelle Gauthier: 10 minutes, 5 minutes, whatever it takes to move through the difficult task that you're avoiding.
- 8:58Michelle Gauthier: The last one is especially for my people pleasers out there.
- 9:02Michelle Gauthier: One way that we procrastinate is to help other people instead of facing our own priorities or whatever it is that we need to do.
- 9:10Michelle Gauthier: A classic example of this might be staying late to help a co-worker with their project, even though you're behind.
- 9:17Michelle Gauthier: Or you jump in to fix someone else's spreadsheet instead of asking for help on your own workload or from a home perspective.
- 9:26Michelle Gauthier: I feel like we often do things for our kids or our partner instead of the personal things that we have on our own to-do list.
- 9:34Michelle Gauthier: So what to do instead on this one is to set boundaries A boundary like I can help you after I finish what I'm working on for myself.
- 9:44Michelle Gauthier: And remember I've got tons of episodes on boundaries and how to say no.
- 9:50Michelle Gauthier: So if you need more help on that, there's lots of resources out there in different episodes.
- 9:54Michelle Gauthier: But remember that saying yes to others shouldn't mean sacrificing yourself.
- 9:59Michelle Gauthier: That is really the definition of people.
- 10:01Michelle Gauthier: Pleasing is when you're saying yes to others to the detriment of yourself.
- 10:03Michelle Gauthier: That is really the definition of people.
- 10:04Michelle Gauthier: Pleasing is when you're saying yes to others to the detriment of yourself.
- 10:06Michelle Gauthier: So the cure for this one is setting a boundary and, of course, setting a timer and just getting started on the first step.
- 10:14Michelle Gauthier: So, in summary, there are five sneaky ways procrastination might be sabotaging your productivity over planning over researching.
- 10:22Michelle Gauthier: Sabotaging your productivity over planning over researching.
- 10:25Michelle Gauthier: Waiting to feel motivated, doing the easy stuff first and helping others before you help yourself.
- 10:31Michelle Gauthier: Keep in mind again these are not character flaws.
- 10:32Michelle Gauthier: They're coping strategies that your brain uses to avoid discomfort.
- 10:34Michelle Gauthier: As I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, I personally did the over planning and over researching on this particular podcast episode.
- 10:43Michelle Gauthier: So these can come up for anybody all the time, and the problem is not that they come up, it's just how do you handle it?
- 10:49Michelle Gauthier: What do you do about it?
- 10:50Michelle Gauthier: So now you are armed with the actions to take so that you don't get stuck in procrastination.
- 10:56Michelle Gauthier: If this episode hits home, please share it with a friend or leave a review.
- 11:02Michelle Gauthier: Those things mean so much to me and they are so helpful for us to grow the podcast, and if you want to know more about what's causing you overwhelm, take the free overwhelm quiz.
- 11:12Michelle Gauthier: Well, put the link in the show notes and you'll get personalized tools based on your biggest overwhelm habits, for example, the one I was just talking about at the end, where you're helping others before helping yourself.
- 11:23Michelle Gauthier: You might be a people pleaser, and if you are, you will get an exact description of what to do and even a worksheet that you can work through at the end of the quiz.
- 11:33Michelle Gauthier: Ok, have a great week.
- 11:40Michelle Gauthier: Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast.
- 11:43Michelle Gauthier: If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthier.
- 11:47Michelle Gauthier: com.
- 11:49Michelle Gauthier: See you next week.