It’s that Monday morning feeling again ☹.

That drained, “I’ll do it later” feeling. That general “ugh” feeling.

Suddenly that shelf is looking really cluttered and maybe I should just tidy that up.

Or perhaps that filing cabinet could just do with a little dust.

We’ve all been there, putting off things that we really should be doing.

It’s so easy to do.

Of course, we’re talking about the age-old business buster that is procrastination.

As the person at the top of your business, procrastination is your enemy if you want to grow.

We see it all the time “Just do it!” from those that seem to just do it, but it feels hard sometimes to “just” do that thing.

And the first step in fighting it is to understand why putting stuff off is such a tempting proposition.

Why do we procrastinate?

Uncertainty

Essentially, you don’t know where to start, you can’t see how you can make the steps to the end point, or maybe, you can’t even believe that this is really going to work. 

This can be a very overwhelming feeling. Suddenly projects that seemed like a great idea become daunting and complicated. You can’t see where you should begin, and you become lost in your own business.

Not feeling certain of the outcome is a demotivating concept to face, because our brain doesn’t want to dip our toe in the water if it is going to be full of sharks (i.e., not give us what we want, so not worth the risk and effort).

Not feeling certain of the steps is almost worse. If the steps are too big, it feels impossible to do and so we don’t do anything at all.  If they are not clear, then we feel confused and start questioning everything. So, you end up delaying once again.

Working hard but not seeing the results

This is when you feel like you’re stuck, going nowhere, all progress seemingly grinding to a halt.

There are plenty of ebbs and flowing in the momentum of a growing business but sometimes the troughs just feel too deep, and you can shut off.

Slow progress can be a difficult thing to overcome but here you have to trust your processes, or maybe take a wider look at your strategies. What tends to happen, however, is procrastination!

Boredom

Sadly, not all of your tasks are fun or something you enjoy.

When people become bored, it is natural to do anything to avoid engaging in that one dull project. However, this is a necessary evil in an expanding business, and you will have to do those mundane things to keep momentum in any business.

The trick is to remember the big “Why”. What is this going to do for me in the long run. When you are really clear on the big Why then the steps are just a matter of keeping moving rather than questioning their validity or excitement. You have your eye on the prize, you are gliding on the will to make it happen.

Fear of Failure

When you own a business, this tends to be the big one.

It’s natural to be concerned, and largely a good trait to have as a manager. It shows you care.

Where the issues arise, however is when this fear becomes crippling, when you are putting off tasks because of it. This is when your problems start to seep into your business’ growth.

But one thing we know – if we don’t do it, we are guaranteed to fail. 

So, we have to be prepared to test and measure, and remember that fail is just one more step to knowing what not to do, on the way to finding the right thing. 

The impact of procrastination?

Often procrastination doesn’t feel like too much of a big deal at the time. I mean, I said it earlier, everyone does it, so how bad can it really be?

It is very easy to convince ourselves that we deserve that flick through Facebook or checking our emails or making another cup of tea.

But, as a leader, the issues that arise from putting things off have knock on effects for the business you have thrown yourself into growing.

Loss of Opportunity

If you delay getting jobs done, then you will miss out chances to help the development of the business.

You may lose clients to competitors who were quicker to respond. You may miss deadlines for trainings leaving your staff underprepared. You may just not get round to responding to that potential client who wanted a proposal sent over.  

All of this, ultimately, has an impact on income and profit for your business.

Rushed Decisions

It’s pretty obvious really, but if you leave everything to the last minute you will end up making rushed, often rash decisions, that will likely not be in the best interest of your company.

This affects growth and can lead to further headaches later down the line. Rushed decisions tend to be shortsighted and focus on the weeds of your business, rather than the big picture. This may cause bigger problems in the future when you wished you had the time to step back.

Lack of Productivity

Sound familiar?

Well, this is an example of the vicious cycle that comes with procrastination.

Delaying decisions leads to a lack of productivity, which in turns means we are likely to put stuff off again, meaning nothing ever gets done!

This one also goes further, though, as when you are a leader, you impact those around you, so if you are unproductive, this will rub off on your team, and soon no one is doing anything!

Your team will be waiting for you to make a decision or finish a task and won’t be able to get on with things. You become the BOTTLENECK of your business.

Damage to Reputation and Relationships.

This is somewhat all encompassing of the previous points, but a slow, unproductive, or unresponsive business is not a popular one.

If jobs start taking longer and people get the impression that things are being put off or not completed, then they will take themselves or their business elsewhere.

And really, a company is only as good as their reputation, so once that is damaged, all the work you have done to grow your business to its current position will unravel faster than you can build it up again!

I know that all sounds a bit doom and gloom, so fear not, there are plenty of ways to prevent procrastination and all the unpleasantness I just mentioned, so stay with me!

How to overcome procrastination

Awareness

A good start is to try and notice when you are procrastinating. It’s surprisingly easy to do it absentmindedly and so picking up on your own traits can be very helpful in breaking the habit. I love the NLP technique of “watching yourself on TV”. It is a great way to dissociate yourself from the emotional response and watch your behaviour as if watching yourself on TV.  If you can ask yourself, what would I be saying about that behaviour, then you are halfway there to stopping it.

Breaking Down Tasks

Often tasks can look quite big and scary so by chunking them into bite size pieces it makes them way more manageable. This also allows you to take regular breaks, so you don’t become fed up or find yourself drifting off into something else. It also means that every time you finish a task you get that feeling of success, that spurs you on to the next thing.

Deadlines

Following on from this, you can give self-imposed deadlines to ensure you have time to get things done and avoid the mad rush just before something needs to be completed. Again, this can be done in conjunction with breaks to help focus.

A healthy dose of adulting

I may not be everyone’s favourite for saying it, but we have to sometimes accept that this is our responsibility as a leader to get on and do it. Even when we don’t want to. Our child ego state can interfere sometimes, and we feel “it’s not fair” or “I can’t be bothered” but as an adult ego state, we know we must if we want to get the long-term win.  So, couple this with any of the other tools and you will give yourself the gift of getting things done.

Work when you’re at your best

Not everyone thrives at the same time of day. If you struggle to get yourself up for work in the mornings, use the afternoons when you are most productive, to get those challenging tasks done.

Know yourself and how you like to work!

Just Start!

The starting is the hardest part, and this may sound like an oversimplification, but if you bite the bullet and just begin, you will be surprised how much better you feel about the project. If you give yourself a tiny task to begin, the momentum gets you moving forward onto the main event.

Get yourself a Pomodoro.

A tomato? Yes!

A pomodoro timer is one of my favourite office tools. It means I give myself a set time to complete something and I promise myself a break after it too. It is amazing how focused I can be if I only have half an hour. It feels like a treat and a relief at the same time. Try it!

So, in summary, there are the what’s, why’s and how’s of procrastination, but if you still feel like maybe, it would be better just to start tomorrow, then you might need a bit of help. So, get in touch with me today!

Email me at [email protected] and we can have a chat about stopping that “maybe tomorrow” feeling.

P.S. Whenever you are ready...here are 4 ways I can help you increase your impact as a leader: 

1. Join The "Quiet Leaders With Impact™ Facebook Group and connect with other leaders who want to grow 

It's our new Facebook community where those that are The Quiet Leaders can learn and share how to increase their impact, influence and outcomes -- Click here 

2. Grab a free copy of my leadership impact report: The Team Performance Engine™ 

It’s the Road Map to your journey to increasing your impact as a leader -Click here 

3. Join our Quiet Leaders Launchpad™ Mastermind Group Programme 

This Mastermind is a selected group of like-minded leaders, in an online community, focused on growing your results. With training, group coaching calls, guest speakers and more, supporting and challenging you to design and implement real team performance in your business. 

Email me with “IMPLEMENT” in the subject line and we can discuss how you can join us 

4. Work with me and my team privately 

If you or your team just need a little more one to one attention to make change happen in your business... just reply to this message and put “PRIVATE” in the subject line... tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!