There Are 2 Ways to Work — Only One is Right
Procrastination is not your friend
You sit down at your desk ready to work when an email pops up. No big deal. You shoot off a response. Then your Twitter notifications ping. I wonder what that’s about. So, you check Twitter real fast.
You realize there’s dirt on your keyboard so you go to get a toothpick to clean it out. But while you’re there, you see how disorganized your recipes are. You stop to sort them.
Done. But oh, wait, you want to get a snack first and you’re out of your favorite. I guess now you have to go to the store.
Full of excuses
By now, I’m sure you’ve gotten this gist. Instead of sitting down to work, you got distracted by other things. You got busy procrastinating. You’ll tell yourself you were working, but we both know the truth. It was just busy work.
Busy work is that stuff you don’t need to do, but it suddenly needs to get done the second you start working. You can’t start working until everything is in place. That means you have to get everything set up to perfection. Right?
Wrong.
You’re sticking your head in the sand, pretending to be busy working but you’re not. You’ve come up with more ways to put off the inevitable work.
We all get lost in busy work sometimes. Any time I sit down to write an article, I realize all the things that need to be done that aren’t that. So, I’ll jump into doing laundry or the dishes, while avoiding the real task at hand.
Why do you do this
When you’re busy, it’s normally a front. You keep wondering why you aren’t getting anything done, and it’s because you’ve lost yourself in the busyness.
It serves as a way of procrastination. You’re procrastinating doing the real work for whatever reason. You’re thinking you’re a lazy POS, but that’s far from the truth. You think you’re rotten because you’re aware of the fact you’re doing it.
Procrastination has nothing to do with laziness. Instead, procrastination is linked to your inability to regulate your negative emotions.
“Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not a time management problem.” — Dr Tim Pychyl
The reason you procrastinate is bigger than not wanting to do something. The task might be inherently unbearable, or there’s a deeper problem you haven’t addressed. You don’t care about the work. You’re afraid you’ll do something wrong. You don’t want to submit sloppy work.
You doubt yourself which makes you put the work off. By doing this, your stress and anxiety compound so when you come back to do the work, you feel even more stressed than before.
It’s your fear of failure, of not being good enough.
Beating procrastination
Getting down to work means putting aside your excuses and embracing imperfection. Free yourself from the notion that your work has to be perfect. And know that imperfection is beautiful.
It’s hard to beat your insecurities, but it’s possible.
How to beat your insecurities:
- Confront your feelings
- Have a growth mindset
- Prepare yourself for setbacks
- Challenge your negative thoughts
- Try new things that make you happy.
- Embrace all of your characteristics and passions.
- Surround yourself with positive, encouraging people.
- Let go of people and situations that fuel your insecurities.
- Be proud of your progress, no matter how big or small it is.
- Listen to other people’s stories about overcoming their insecurities.
Getting to work
Here’s what you’ve been meaning to do all this time. This is where you sit down, shut up, and finally get the work done. You’ve finally rid yourself of your doubts and insecurities.
Once you get started working, it’s easy to keep going. You wonder what it was you were putting off in the first place. In case you’re still struggling to get started, here are a few things you can do:
- Start Small
- Set clear, specific, and actionable goals
- Reward yourself for accomplishing small tasks
Final thoughts
You can bury yourself in busy work, or you can face your insecurities and get to work. Know that it’s okay if your work is imperfect.
Stop avoiding your work. It’s going to be easier to get it done now than to put it off for later.
Imagine how it will feel when you stop procrastinating.
Imagine how it will feel when you finish up your work.
Imagine how it will feel to be able to close your computer, satisfied.
Go get it done.
