Powering Through Procrastination
A four-part series by Robin Mahle-Piccione.
We’ve all struggled with procrastination at some point in our lives. Especially as busy business owners, everything seems to demand our immediate attention. Learning how to power through procrastination, and prioritize along the way, can be instrumental to moving the needle in your business growth and for high performance. This four-part series is designed to help you identify which type of procrastination styles apply to you, and how to overcome the urge to put things off until tomorrow.
Part 3: Procrastination by perfectionism.
Perfectionism isn’t just a factor of procrastination, it’s a perceived standard of today’s digital world. With endless “how to” resources online, it’s easy to feel like everybody is expected to know how to do everything. They say that comparison is the thief of joy. Well, it’s also a root cause of perfectionism which induces anxiety, sending our brains into survival mode and putting progress on the back burner.
When we find ourselves procrastinating due to perfectionism, we’re typically telling ourselves…
- “I don’t know how to get it to be exactly what I want it to be.”
- “I am afraid to fail.”
- “If I can’t do it right, I won’t do it all.”
Sometimes this causes us to quit halfway because we fear the finished result won’t meet expectations. And maybe worse, we don’t start at all because we fear a bad start will equate to a bad finish.
Pause
When working to overcome the energy sapping struggle of procrastination via perfectionism, pause for a moment and recognize your situation for what it is, take a deep breath, and picture a tree. That’s right. Close your eyes, and imagine a beautiful, perfect tree. Go ahead, I’ll wait….
Now that you’ve envisioned your “perfect” tree, take a moment to consider a “remarkable” tree. Next, take a moment to consider an “unforgettable” tree. Take a moment to consider the most “resilient” or “productive” or “impressive” tree that you can imagine. You might even google it and find some examples like these…
Reframe
Think about reframing the context of your expectations in relation to your goals.
Rarely is your idea of “perfect” going to be the same as someone else’s. Rarely will your idea of “perfect” be what the situation actually requires in order for it to “be the best it can be.”
Replace those old mindsets with these new mantras…
- “I will do the best that I can and that is good enough.”
- “I am open to learning from this experience”
- “It is ok to make mistakes.”
If you’re procrastinating because of perfectionism, realize that nobody ever pushed the limits of innovation, or brought about a revolution, by trying to avoid doing something “wrong.” Making mistakes is part of the process. It’s how we learn, how we expand our possibilities, how we accept each other, as well as how we discover the boundaries of what is not acceptable.
For a solid resource that supports moving past this point of procrastination, check out “The Four Agreements,” by Migel Ruiz. One of those agreements is to “always do your best.”
Get started by doing what you can do. Once that much has been done, it’s always ok to see if you can do it “more” or do it “better.” It’s also ok to accept that you did the best you could and, even if it isn’t as good as you had hoped, it’s better than doing nothing at all.
