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Two Insightful Self-Coaching Questions to Beat Procrastination 29 June 2016

Procrastination comes in many forms; and acts-out many of our deep-seated motivations. To break-free of these self-imposed patterns of behaviour is hugely beneficial. Here are 2 coaching questions to help.

Procrastination comes in many forms and acts-out many

deep-seated root causes. Not starting; not finishing; fear of

failure; fear of success; fear of disapproval; overwhelm;

boredom; perfectionism. The list goes on.

My personal favourite – probably because it's my own

most common procrastination model – is "positive

procrastination". That is: filling-up my ToDo list with other

work so there's no chance I'll get to the things I'm avoiding.

(Actually, we probably all do this one. Think about it:

when we procrastinate, we rarely do nothing at all as the

alternative to the avoided task. We just find other things

to do – and life and work are happy to oblige with a

plentiful supply!)

There can be some positives to procrastination, especially if

it's structured. But over time and left unchecked, excessive

procrastination most-likely leads to delayed and

unachieved goals, missed opportunities and deadlines, poor

reputations and extreme frustration – for the procrastinator

and those who have to deal with them.

So how great would it be to get on top of your

procrastinating behaviour? To make in-roads to the project

that's not moving forward? To take-care of the

background toleration that's been niggling you? To get

into action on your priorities?

We all do procrastination differently. But here are 2 big

self-coaching questions to beat your procrastination,

whatever its form.

Q1. How am I doing the procrastination?

We all have strategies: routines of behaviour that we

execute to perform some activity. Procrastination is no

different. We have a procrastination model.

So: how are you doing your procrastination? What are

the steps? What's the sequence? What's the pattern of

behaviour, from trigger to output, that we summarily

label "procrastination"?

Bringing your model into your conscious awareness is an

important first step in giving yourself opportunity for

different choices and new behaviours. Just noticing how

we do our procrastination will kick-start that process of

getting out of avoidant behaviour and into something

more positive and progressive.

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+44 (0) 7976 751 095 dan@danbeverly.com http://danbeverly.com

Q2. What am I getting from my procrastination?

All behaviour has meaning. All behaviour has positive

intention. So: what's the pay-off from your procrastination?

Avoid conflict? Remove decisions? Increase urgency?

Promote autonomy? Save money? Reduce stress? Find

time? Dig deep into the source motivation behind your

procrastination. What positives do you get by avoiding a

given task? What do you get when you don't do the

task?

And from there, challenge those motivations.

Will you actually get those things? Or is that just

what we're telling ourselves by way of justification?

And is this the best way to achieve those things? Or

does our procrastination produce the kind of short-

term benefit that would be easily superseded and

outlived if we were simply to tackle the actual task?

Getting into action

To help you overcome your procrastinating behaviours,

here are a few quick thoughts to get you into action.

Action #1. Simplify everything and make it about

the first or next action only. Just getting started is

often all that's needed.

Task break-down. Reduce the overwhelm. Break

down the project into small and easy-to-achieve steps.

Introduce accountability. Reach-out to someone in

your circle. Tell them what you're working on – and

when you're going to achieve it.

Link to a higher purpose. Find the goal behind your

goal. What deeper significance can you find to doing

this?

Imagine completion. Think for a moment how

fantastic it'll feel to get this thing done.

Celebrate wins. Don't let your achievements simply

merge into one another. When something gets done,

celebrate.

Promoting awareness and responsibility

As with so many such behaviours, procrastination has no

one cause and no one solution. But by becoming aware of

and understanding how we're creating our procrastination,

we can start to take responsibility and make changes.

So be super observant. Don't jump to your first thought. Dig

deeper. Watch for themes. And be sure not to label

yourself a "procrastinator". That's simply a label. Just as

"procrastination" is a behaviour: something temporary,

choice-driven – and changeable.

Dan Beverly is a leadership and performance coach helping high-calibre, high-

performing professional women embrace the pivotal career moments.

His mission is to inspire possibility in others: to help us excel in careers without

compromise; and to leave us feeling energised and uplifted by a new future.

Go online to book your “Session Zero” with Dan – and start capitalising on

your pivotal career moments today.

http://danbeverly.com/session-zero