Every so often, I’ll come across an article or book that talks about the “former procrastinator,” like ” Confessions of a former procrastinator: 10 tips for becoming a Time Management Master by Will Chou. And, with no offence to the author(s) of such pieces, I find myself wondering, “Is there even such a thing as a former procrastinator?” Perhaps it’s my ADHD that keeps me living in a state of productive procrastination, or maybe it’s a bad habit.
In any case, I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to figure out how to put procrastination behind me. While Chou’s article offers some good tips, I’d like to share some of my own that don’t promise you’ll become a former procrastinator, but do promise that when you procrastinate, you’ll be aware of it and of why you’re doing it.
1. It’s Often an Executive Function Struggle for Neurodiverse Folks
Sure, many folks procrastinate, but if you’re a chronic procrastinator, there may be something else going on. For me, it’s ADHD. If a task isn’t giving enough dopamine vibes, it’s going to become a victim of procrastination – even if it’s vitally important. You can make all the mindset shifts and value reflection as you want, but if neurodiversity is n play, and you want to stop procrastinating, you’re going to need to do a lot more than that. You’re going to have to understand what’s behind the procrastination in the first place.
2. You’ll Need More Than Prioritized Lists to Move Forward
I was the gifted girl with undiagnosed ADHD in high school and undergrad. I could (and can) make beautiful lists. They would be prioritized, sort of. I struggle with “everything’s important” and “everything needs to be done now.” The only difference now is that I’m aware that this struggle isn’t because something is fundamentally broken in me, it’s because I have ADHD and these things are hard for ADHD brains. So, I have to ask a different set of questions:
- Is this something I have to do or can I delegate it? – If I can delegate it, maybe it’s not a p1 task.
- Is this something that has to be done right now, or will something essential in life fall apart? Nope? Not p1.
- Is this something that blocks something that is essential in life? Nope? Also not p1.
- Is this something that is essential in life and has to be done right now? Nope? Again, not p1 today.
Sometimes, Prioritization Isn’t Second-Nature
You get the picture. It’s never become just intuitive that I can look at a list of tasks and separate things by priority. My instinct tends to be that everything that goes on my list is p1 or p2, or why would I even be putting it on my list?
Ignore the fact that sometimes my list has 200 items on it.
So now, I have a much more reasonable list, say 20 items. Only 3 are truly p1. My brain sees those 3 and goes, “Oh my gosh. I have to get all these done. Where do I even start? Let’s play another round of Koi-Koi against the computer.”
And that is how p1 tasks get procrastinated on, and I wind up beating myself up on a Sunday when I race to get an entire week’s worth of work done in one day, even when following the standard anti-procrastination time management advice.
3. You’ve Got to Learn How to Work with Your Brain
What works for me might not work for you. ADHD medication has gone a good way to helping with my procrastination problem – but it hasn’t gone all the way. It doesn’t solve the “OMG this all is so important, how do I start one b/c the other one won’t be getting done, and there’s this third thing too, so I’m going to kick butt at a Japanese card game I learned last summer” problem.
Enter, my personal solution that goes against so much productivity advice that I’m sure somewhere a top productivity guru is rolling over and screaming in their grave. Seriously.
Multitasking is what works for me.
I multi-task. No, I don’t do all 3 things at the same time. Instead, I determine a reasonable focus time amount, usually either 10 or 20 minutes, and set a timer. For those 10 minutes, I work on task A. Then, the next 10 task B takes the spotlight. Then task C. NOW, I let myself do something fun – a video game, a craft that’s easy to pick up and put down, or even reading a chapter of a book. Then I repeat. Sometimes I’ll use a random chooser to determine the order I work in, sometimes I’ll just go from the top of my list to the bottom.
And that is the only way I’ve found to fight my brain on my worst procrastination days. And here’s a secret I’m going to let you in on (but don’t tell my brain) sometimes, I’ll get started on task A, and now that I’m working on it, it doesn’t even take all 10 minutes! So I finish it. Other times, I start working, and I ignore the timer and finish task A before going onto the next thing because it was just the whole getting-started thing that was hard.
I have to work with the brain I have, not the brain you have.
Working with my brain, the one I have, not the one assumed to be had. I love reading productivity stuff. However, over the years, I’ve come to realize that it’s better if I use it as inspiration for my own system than to use it verbatim. And sometimes, I can do all my usual things that work, and nothing happens, still. So, I pull in an accountability partner or make an accountability post.
You May Not Become a “Former Procrastinator,” and That’s Okay.
Look, I don’t expect that I will never procrastinate again. It’s not realistic. I build in extra time for projects because of it, and I make sure I’m accommodating my needs, ensuring that as many hard deadlines as possible exist where I’m externally accountable. I play little productivity games to get myself started (like the kind you’ll find in Dani Donovan’s Anti-Planner.
What’s important isn’t that you never procrastinate again. What’s important is that you learn to work with yourself to prevent the reasons for procrastination in the first place – whatever those might be for you. And, it’s important to have a plan in place for when procrastination strikes.
What Do You Think?
Do you think that you’re either a procrastinator or not? I don’t assign moral value to procrastination – it’s something that can happen to any of us. It doesn’t mean we’re bad. It can mean that something else is up. Share your thoughts in the comments – I want to hear them.
