Why procrastination could hold the secret to a more fulfilling future.

Why procrastination could hold the secret to a more fulfilling future.

I bet you always thought that procrastination was a bad thing and that nothing good could come of procrastination- WRONG! 

Paying attention to the things that you procrastinate on could give you insight into how to play to your strengths and reduce the amount of time you spend doing things you don’t enjoy. Working with your strengths and spending less time doing things your not good at improves how you perform at work and how much you enjoy your job

NEWS FLASH- you don’t HAVE to do the things you don’t enjoy.

I was working with a guy, James, a few weeks ago and he came to me because he had been trying to get his to do list completed for years. This was having quite a negative impact on his life and career as he would often miss deadlines, not finish projects that were amazingly creative but only 90% complete and let colleagues down on tasks he agreed he would do.

He had been trying to improve in this area for years, had read loads of books on procrastination, tried all different approaches to reduce procrastination, made plans on how he was going to stop procrastinating etc etc.

This guy had tried really hard. When we went through James’s to do list all the tasks that had been on his to do list forever and they all involved a high level of attention to detail. 

James realised that attention to detail just wasn’t his thing. We made plans on how he was going to complete the tasks he already had and craft his role going forward to reduce the amount of work he had to do that involved high levels of attention to detail.

Et voila- James can now focus on the areas of his job he likes, rather than constantly feeling bad about all the things he hasn’t done.  Also just having the awareness of why he dislikes certain tasks has helped him to set aside time for doing the things he doesn’t like. 

If James hadn’t been procrastinating we could never have identified what he should not be spending a lot of time doing at work.

Ask yourself:

• What has been on my to do list for a long time?
• Which items on your to-do list cause you to do lots of “essential tasks” (read unnecessary) when you are supposed to be doing them?
• What do you have to do on a regular basis that drain you?

This is the kind of thing we often consider in coaching, how can you love going to work and make the impact you want to make.

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