Raise your hand if you are a procrastinator.
Are you a procrastinator? There's probably a scale to procrastination - "procrastinate everything and only function when I leave things to the last minute" to "procrastinate on small tasks, but I get to them eventually" and everything in between. Then there are those people who procrastinate by suddenly needing to clean every inch of their desk before they get something done. "Desk must sparkle!"
The problem though is that we have come to find out that it isn't good for us. "“It’s self-harm,” said Dr. Piers Steel, a professor of motivational psychology at the University of Calgary and the author of “The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done.” That self-awareness is a key part of why procrastinating makes us feel so rotten. When we procrastinate, we’re not only aware that we’re avoiding the task in question, but also that doing so is probably a bad idea. And yet, we do it anyway."*
That's serious. Self harm. When I read those words I realized that was exactly what I was feeling when I was procrastinating.
Procrastination has NOTHING to do with poor time management, which is totally what they tried to tell us. Instead, it's about regulating our FEELINGS. We procrastinate to "manage challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks — boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt and beyond."*
Go read that again.
You don't procrastinate because you are lazy, have poor time management skills, don't have the right planner, haven't started a bullet journal, aren't using Trello... no, it's because you are feeling uncomfortable about whatever it is you have to do and so you are avoiding that feeling.
Here's a big thing that I know deep in my soul, folks... life is better when we get used to feeling uncomfortable.
I know. I know. That's some scary stuff. Feeling anything is scary.
For me it manifests in feeling kind of sick to my stomach or like I HAVE to do something/anything else right now. It's edgy and feels unsafe. See. I have that feeling, too. It's not just you.
And I have a solution... Anti Procrastination Wednesdays, yep, it's a hashtag #antiprocrastinationwednesday
What is Anti Procrastination Wednesday? It's the day (it doesn't actually have to be Wednesday, but I love how it sounds and, weirdly, I love Wednesdays) that you decide to do one small thing that you have been procrastinating on.
It doesn't have to be the WHOLE thing. It just has to be one small part of a project that you have been procrastinating on.
And you can give yourself a time limit... you can say that you are only going to work on this thing that makes you uncomfortable for 15 minutes. That's it. 15 minutes of feeling uncomfortable.
Here's the secret I want you to know. When you spend that 15 minutes facing a project and doing one small thing you are going to feel so much better. That edgy part, the part that made you want to procrastinate in the first place, will feel softer. You will breathe better. You will feel like you accomplished something hard and then you get to remind yourself that you can do hard things!
What kinds of things can you do on Anti Procrastination Wednesday?
Make scary phone calls
Look at your checking account or finances (I spent a whole six months just doing this to learn how to comfortably look at what is going on)
Make an appointment with someone that can help you do something big and scary
Make edits to your LinkedIn profile or resume
Start a report that needs to be done
Look inside of a box of stuff that you have been avoiding
Do a small home repair project (or get the part to do the small project)
Start the thing on the to do list that has been rewritten day after day
What kind of projects are not part of Anti Procrastination Wednesday? This is not the time to declutter, clean, polish the silverware, clean out your email (unless that is what you procrastinate on), make to do lists, call a friend, run errands that you always run or any of the usual ways and techniques that you might currently be using to avoid the big scary stuff.
I've been doing this for over 2 years and, honestly, it is a game changer. I've tackled my finances, made appointments with doctors, brought something to a lawyer, hired a new accountant, opened mail (mail can be scary people), got reports done on time and gotten ahead on projects that are less than thrilling but need to be done.
Here's the thing. You don't really need to know WHY you are afraid of doing whatever you need to do (straight from my therapists mouth). It doesn't really matter. What matters is how you start to edge closer to those feelings of being uncomfortable and getting things done in your work and life.
If you want to follow along with #AntiProcrastinationWednesday I try to share in my Instagram stories on Wednesday what I'm trying to tackle and if I do it. It's a good way to have public accountability. And if you are doing it feel free to tag me there in your stories @jackiewolven so I can high five you.
I'll be chatting about this on Wednesday live on Facebook . If you have a teensy procrastination problem join me over there and we can cheer each other on.
As always, let's #DoGoodWork
and I hope to see you over on Insta!
xo - Jackie Wolven
I've been consulting with small businesses in the last several weeks to use smarter more targeted advertising on social media and the results have been great. I teach you how to do it so you can have the power to generate your own ads and not have to rely on a long term marketing contract. Interested? Email me
* New York Times Article
FOR SALE: I also made some postcards for you to send to folks that you are seeing do great work during this odd difficult time. I'm putting in an order for sets to my printer this week and would love to see these out in the world.
If you would like to purchase a set they are $7 for 5 of one kind or $12 for a mixed set of 10. Just send me a reply and I’ll send you a paypal or venmo (whichever you prefer) and free shipping.
Send some good vibes through the USPS we will be contributing to saving the USPS which is an important part of our economy, freedom of speech and our local access to government. #winwinwin