Are you here to learn about how you can improve the way that you work, learn and progress in Creative Technology? Well I have something to confess to you. I struggle with motivation and procrastination. I do things last minute. Yet here I am writing posts and tweets about how to ‘Get things done’. Why should you listen to me if I have these struggles? Am I a fraud?
I have a Job, a life with responsibilities, and from the outside, I look successful. I am often asked “How do I do all the things that I do?” So I’d like in this post, to talk about 3 unhealthy ways we deal with procrastination, and share 3 healthy ways that I’ve come to rely upon as a more positive approach to this issue that I think we all face to some degree. I’ve also shoehorned in some Star Wars references/puns to make the process of writing this article a bit more fun in at attempt to prevent me from procrastinating the writing of it.
At first I wasn’t aware that I even had strategies for dealing with procrastination, but after doing lots of reading and research, I am more self-aware that I’ve been using them, and now I can actually implement them consciously and deliberately.
The Unhealthy Prequel Strategies
Strategy 1: The Phantom Planner
Panic Mode
One tried and tested ‘strategy’ (I am calling it that even though it really shouldn’t be) is the one of ‘leaving a task until last minute until panic sets in and I do it very quickly’. This has worked for me time and time again. And I hate it. It is pure dread. And yet it has worked for me throughout my life. To the outside observer, if they are not privy to the day to day workings and all they see is the end result, then is there a difference? Does the process matter if the outcome is the same? Well I’d say there is a huge health implication for me. Stress is not a nice state to be in so I recommend avoiding this strategy if at all possible.
Strategy 2: Attack of the Shame!
Public Shame
The other way I force myself to get stuff done is to use peer pressure and the ‘risk of public shame’ to force me to do stuff. Because I work remotely, I force myself to post daily or bi-daily updates on slack to my co-workers that sets an expectation that I will continue to do that. If I go a couple of days without updating them on my progress, then the ‘danger’ that they think I’m being lazy is enough to embarrass me into doing more work.
Strategy 3: Revenge of the Ego
Use your Ego
The ego is a powerful beast. Whilst I’ve always tried to be humble, I’ve learned that I can use my ego to try and feed it by impressing people with things I create. The trick to using this strategy is that I don’t ever want to succumb to fully relying on it in case I end up 100% believing that I am amazing, and hence, an arrogant person that annoys everyone. There’s a danger that I will forever be chasing a high from trying to look impressive. So it’s a fine balance that I am careful of. Looking for external validation will never end well. But unfortunately it works.
The Healthy Original Strategies
Strategy 4: A New Hope
Path of Least Resistance
The previous 3 ways of dealing with procrastination are what I call the 3 ‘unhealthy’ methods. I wish I didn’t have to rely on them, but sometimes it’s necessary.
This one is a bit more on the positive and healthy side. The basic idea is that you want to start the task you are attempting to begin by performing the smallest action possible, with the least friction to get the ball rolling. This might be as simple as ‘entering the office’ and ‘turning on the computer’ (you may laugh, but I am a master of procrastination, there’s no limit as to how much my brain can convince me not to do something). From there, it’s opening the software, then opening the document/file/level… and so on…
From there, if you are lucky, the snowball effect will take over and keep rolling and getting bigger. The idea then is that you will hopefully enter the flow state and be able to work for hours. You have removed the initial friction which only existed at the start, which was the hardest part. If you can just get started then it’s easy to continue on the path you are on due to the inertia and momentum you have built up. Just don’t get interrupted (more on that topic another time as well).
Strategy 5: Reality Strikes Back
Change your Reality
It's easy to put something off if you have doubts and fears about completing a task or project. The fear of not believing that you can do something, that it wont end well, or that you don’t know the path to get to the end can lead to freezing like a rabbit in the headlights. It causes paralysis.
One of the causes of these doubts is Imposter Syndrome. Just any moment now, everyone will discover that I’ve been faking it all, and my friends and peers will call me out and laugh at me. I’m a fraud for the second time in this article!
For a long time, I had periods where I froze and didn’t know how to proceed. I didn’t believe that I was accomplishing anything because it felt (and often still feels sometimes) that I was an imposter, so I thought “How could I do those amazing things? Surely thats for the real professionals?
Stepping back, if I actually take stock of the things in life that I am proud of, there are achievements, and after counting them, they do add up.
We often forget our achievements and only remember our mistakes. Keeping a record of your achievements and what you have done in life can be a nice reminder that you aren’t a complete failure!
I’m currently in the process of printing still frames from movies and games that I contributed visual effects and technical art to (like The Hobbit or Fortnite) and hanging them on my wall where I work. They serve as a physical reminder that there is something that exists in the world that is really cool and I realise “I did that!” Or you can actually physically write a list of all of the things that you have recently done at work that you can look at as evidence of you not being the thing that you believed you were.
It can be hard to disconnect your emotions from reality.
For a long time, how I felt about my progression in life in the past was directly tied to what I thought was the reality of my life in the present. If I felt like I hadn’t been doing as much work as I should’ve because I’d been procrastinating, or felt as if I was an underachiever, then I honestly believed that was the case.
Your Emotions and Reality are two separate things
Looking at your achievements can short circuit your doubts about yourself and overcome Imposter Syndrome, and therefore help in reducing procrastination due to those negative emotions. You can say to yourself “I can do this!” because you’ve tackled challenges before.
Strategy 6: Return of the Ego
I have been learning about the ideas of Extrinsic vs Intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is the drive you have from influences that are outside of yourself, such as impressing other people, or financial rewards like higher salary and bonuses .
Intrinsic Motivation is the idea that you are doing something purely because you think its the right thing for you and it’s what you truly want.
Just ask yourself, do you want to do this work because it aligns with who you are and what you want to be in life? Does following through get you closer to the person you want be? Do you visualise yourself as a competent, reliable and consistent person who gets things done? Well if you ‘do the thing’, then that gets you to your goal!
Ultimately, you are pleasing your own ego for your own sake, and rather than pleasing others.
The Alone Wars
So if you are still with me, and have struggled yourself with Procrastination, then please feel comfort that you are not alone, and that your feelings don’t equate to your place in the world and represent reality.
I have read a lot over the years into why people procrastinate. It exists. I still have to deal with it. And sometimes (not always) these strategies I’ve mentioned even work. They aren’t all of the strategies I’ve come across. I’ve got more up my sleeve that I’ve cultivated from reading many self development books and a couple I’ve come up with myself.
So I will be writing about Procrastination in a future article, go into reasons why we do it, and go into more detail about the strategies I’ve talked about above. If you would like to hear more, then please subscribe….