Procrastination.
A journalist once asked me whether: (a) I believed our thoughts could cause us to procrastinate, and (b) whether a long-term sufferer of procrastination could overcome this aspect of themselves?
Interesting questions.
And something I was able to answer. Both personally and through working with clients who were experiencing procrastination. i.e. getting their podcast launched.
When looking back at situations where I was stuck, I certainly believe my thoughts had a significant part to play in my procrastination.
Whether it was because I:
- Didn’t enjoy doing the task and continued to put it off;
- Didn’t know how to complete the task and didn’t want to make a mistake and look stupid:
- Feared rejection: “what if I finish this and no-one likes what I’ve done?”
and the list goes on.
I remember a few years ago conducting an “Overcoming Procrastination” Workshop for a group of Romance Novelists.
Romance Writers Australia – the professionals association for romance writers recognised that procrastination was an issue many of their members struggled with.
So the workshop was arranged to provide practical tips and strategies to help them overcome procrastination.
As a coach with years of training and experience in mindset, I knew that practical tips and strategies while helpful, would only go so far.
It was dealing with the mindset; the beliefs that drove the behaviour of procrastination for the romance authors that I needed to uncover and address first.
So we did.
And, the most common mindset that caused these authors to procrastinate in the completion of their manuscripts was:
“What if I finished my manuscript and my editor tells me, it’s no good?”
Once these authors were able to re-frame their beliefs around receiving constructive criticism from their editors they were more likely to get into action and complete their manuscripts.
There were powerful aha’s around that room that day.
What about you? Have you found yourself procrastinating more than you’d like?
Perhaps about getting your podcast launched?
Are there any unhelpful beliefs that may be driving your procrastination?
- Fear of criticism and negative feedback once your podcast is launched?
- Fear that no-one will find and/or listen to your podcast – a waste of all of the time and hard work you dedicated to getting it launched?
- Concerns that you can’t compete with the high quality podcasts that are speaking into your topic and industry?
- Or [you fill in the gap]?
How can you re-frame these unhelpful beliefs so they no longer keep you stuck?
Deal with that first.
Then you can use the following five tips to get you into rapid action:
- Break down the task of getting your podcast launched into smaller tasks so you have a step-by-step action plan of what needs to be done;
- Get the support/advice in the areas you’re unclear about. [Reach out to me and let’s have a chat as my team and I may be able to complete the tasks that you just don’t want to learn or do];
- Block out time in your schedule to work on the steps you have outlined that you need to do and delegate specific tasks to your team (if appropriate) along with a ‘completed by’ date next to each task;
- When the time comes to complete the tasks, turn off all distractions and create a space where you can focus on the task at hand;
- Set a timer in increments of 30 minutes and get to work until the task is completed.
I’ve done the exact five steps myself and it has worked a treat!
Let me know how they work for you!