Procrastination is the productivity seeker’s worst nightmare.
In my experience, there are several types of procrastination and you won’t be able to beat them until you’ve identified which type you’re guilty of...
To follow this workplace hack, identify which type of procrastination is getting you down:
1. Anxious - you schedule in far too much work and end up procrastinating as a way to cope with the resulting stress.
2. Fun - you’d rather be doing something fun than that one dreaded task.
3. “Plenty of time” - the deadline isn’t for a long time, or there is no deadline, so you put tasks off.
4. Perfectionist - you’re so overwhelmed by the fear of doing a merely adequate job that you never get around to starting anything.
Once you’ve identified what type of procrastinator you are, you can take steps to prevent it. Here’s our advice for beating each of the 4 types of procrastination…
1. Anxious - try scheduling in fun and rest time before scheduling in work to ensure you always get enough time to wind down.
2. Fun - try starting something else on your to-do list. It’ll make your dreaded task seem like a lower priority and therefore, less daunting.
3. “Plenty of time” - set yourself deadlines and share them with your friends, family and colleagues. This public commitment should keep you motivated to meet your deadlines.
4. Perfectionist - look back at the last few times you did a merely adequate job. How bad was it really? Think about this every time you find yourself worrying about doing the perfect job.
A version of this post originally appeared in Alpha Efficiency magazine. You can read it here in full.