(Never! ) We’ve all been there, twiddling our thumbs while the to-do list mocks us from across the room. But fear not, fellow dawdlers! With a sprinkle of self-awareness and a dash of humor, we can navigate the murky waters of procrastination. Buckle up as we dive into the wild rationale behind our delightful delays.

Why do we procrastinate? Research suggests it boils down to some of the following factors:

1. Fear of Failure: Some delay tasks to avoid the potential of making mistakes or facing criticism, especially when they feel the work must be perfect.
2. Task Overwhelm: Large or complex tasks can feel daunting, leading people to avoid starting altogether.
3. Lack of Motivation: When tasks feel tedious or lack personal significance, people tend to put them off.
4. Reward Delay: If the rewards of completing a task are distant or unclear, people may prioritize instant gratification over long-term gains.
5. Indecisiveness: Difficulty making decisions or clarifying steps can also contribute, as people avoid starting without a clear plan.

Procrastination often results from a blend of these factors, making it a challenging habit to break without addressing root causes. Taking all of these factors into account, here’s a peek at how this often plays out in the legal profession and how we can use this awareness to fix it:

Blame It on Biology, Baby!

First things first, let’s point the finger at the primary perpetrator—biology. Our motivational triad drives us to seek please (hello, Instagram!) and avoid pain (not today, massive project!) even to our own detriment. When faced with a daunting task, our brains whip out their best escape routes faster than you can say “deadline panic.”

In the case of daunting projects, demanding bosses, and frustrating clients, our brain screams, “Run for your life!” But instead of sprinting away, we end up binge-watching cat videos or obsessively scrolling through TikTok. (Because let’s be honest, sprinting really isn’t in my vocabulary these days…)

For my fellow lawyers, some partners and clients might as well be the literal hungry lions of our biological nightmares. When you’re avoiding a project, it’s not just laziness—it’s your inner survival instincts kicking into overdrive. Here’s what that might sound like:

• I’m not going to get this right and she’s going to flip out.
• I don’t know how to figure this out, and he’s probably going to fire me when I mess up.
• I can’t stand working for this client; I can’t trust anything they tell me.
• I’m so nervous, I cannot botch this project.
• Why bother with this project, he always redoes my work anyway because it’s never right.
• I hate working for this partner; I really don’t want to do this.
• This is going to be miserable.

These thoughts set the stage for a fear-fueled procrastination parade.

And just as we start to spiral into the abyss of avoidance, the Procrastination Fairy swoops in with shiny distractions:

• Starbucks has a new latte you need to try!
• Have you checked out your ex-boyfriend’s Facebook page lately?
• You really need to order a dress for new year’s eve to kick off your new year properly!

Ah, yes, the classic lure of instant gratification. Instead of tackling the task at hand, we’re off indulging in endorphin-guzzling activities that make our brains do a happy dance. It’s the ultimate form of self-sabotage—pleasant on the surface, but oh-so-detrimental in the long run.

Deadline Panic

 
Just when you’ve bought THE BEST dress for NYE and you think you’ve fully mastered the art of procrastination, the deadline looms ominously on the horizon and crashes the party. Suddenly, all those little fears about failing the project morph into one gigantic fear of not finishing on time and our brains conjure images of:

• SHOUTY CAPS emails raining down like angry meteorites.
• Missed deadlines turn into a career dumpster fire and you sleeping on your parents’ couch for the foreseeable future.

And there you are, scrambling like a headless chicken, trying to finish the project at lightning speed. The result? A chaotic, slapshod, final product that likely misses the mark – or at least partially. Instead of showcasing your brilliance, you end up creating more proof that maybe you aren’t cut out for this, even more reasons for those around you to doubt your abilities, and more reasons for you to fear the next project.

Fear: The Master Puppeteer

All this chaos boils down to one tiny, pesky emotion: fear. We procrastinate to dodge negative feelings, only to let bigger fears kick us into high gear later on. It’s like avoiding a fender bender only to drive off a cliff later on. Not the best strategy for success.

So, how do we break free from this fear-driven procrastination loop? Here are a few tips to try out:

1. Treat Your Ears: Listen to my latest podcast exploring perfectionism which, as you can see, is at the heart of our procrastinating ways!
2. Embrace B- Work: Accept that sometimes “good enough” is just fine and perhaps DONE really is better than PERFECT in most instances.
3. Visualize Success: Picture yourself acing the project and rewarding yourself for your success.
4. Break Tasks into Smaller Steps: Large tasks can feel overwhelming. Divide them into smaller, manageable parts to make starting easier.
5. Set Short Deadlines: Create immediate, achievable deadlines instead of waiting until the last minute.
6. Use the “Two-Minute Rule”: Start a task for just two minutes. Often, this small action reduces resistance to completing it.
7. Identify the Root Cause: Recognize if fear of failure, lack of clarity, or motivation is holding you back and address it directly.
8. Reward Yourself: Set rewards for completing tasks to boost motivation and create a positive association with getting things done. “I’ll spend 30 minutes checking out this horrible project and then I’ll creep on my ex’s Facebook for a hot minute.” Motivation, entertainment, and positive reinforcement? Yes, please!
9. Use Tools for Focus: Apps or techniques like the Pomodoro Technique can help you stay focused and track your time efficiently.

Making gradual changes with these techniques can help build consistency and reduce procrastination.

Fear Not!

At the end of the day, procrastination is just fear in a cute outfit. By recognizing the biological and psychological dance that leads us astray, we can start taking back control.

We have to start getting honest with ourselves about why we are procrastinating to begin with. Once we get to the root of fear, we can ask whether we like that reasoning. Furthermore, we can acknowledge how this story will end if we choose to invest in that fear and go down the Facebook rabbit-hole instead. All of the above tools to combat procrastination only require one thing from you: honesty. Honesty with yourself about your actions and your justifications. From there, all you have to do is ask yourself whether you like your reasons for acting or not acting and make a new, informed, honest choice about your next steps. Those are the choices that will determine the type of person you become — one who procrastinates or one who doesn’t. The choice is ultimately yours and all that matters is whether you are comfortable with your reasoning.

“Following-through is the only thing that separates dreamers from people that accomplish great things.” – Gene Hayden

Photo by Mikhail Nilov

First and foremost, let’s blame biology.

In brief, as humans, we are hardwired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. This means that when our brains perceive danger, rightly or wrongly, our brain will begin crafting an escape route. This biological wiring is designed to keep us out of the mouths of hungry lions.

So where does this danger come in? For those of you living in the thick of your practice, you might be thinking that some of your partners and clients actually resemble hungry lions out to rip your throat out and that’s actually not too far off…. When we have something that we are avoiding, the REASON we are avoiding that project is because we have some underlying fear associated with the project. There is something about the project that is arousing your biological flight response. It might sound something like this

I’m not going to get this right and she is going to be so pissed at me.

I don’t know how to figure this out and he is probably going to fire me when I mess it up.

I cannot stand working for this client, they always leave out crucial facts.

I am so nervous, I cannot botch this project.

I hate working for this partner, I really don’t want to do this.

This is going to be miserable.

All of those thoughts will arouse some type of fear-based response. All of those thoughts trigger more negative thoughts and on and on it goes until we have built up this project to be cruel and unusual punishment that must be avoided at all costs. We are afraid of the consequences of not getting it right, pissing off the partner or the client, or we simply dread the perceived misery of the project.

In either case, we are being driven by some unacknowledged fear.

No problem, says the procrastination fairy, Starbucks has a new latte you need to try, and have you checked out your ex-boyfriend’s Facebook page lately? Then we indulge in our other biologically motivated response–seek pleasure! Gobble up endorphins wherever you can find them!

This routine will stretch on only until another, larger, and more critical fear enters the dance floor:

the deadline

Suddenly, the fear that we won’t get the project done in time looms larger in our minds and drowns out the earlier fears of failing the project. We start to imagine the SHOUTY CAPS emails raging over our missed deadline or failure to respond. Our mind is abuzz with a full-on parade of horribles showing us what will happen if we don’t stop shopping on Amazon and get. to. work.

Off we go, motivated by fear once again.

But this time, our earlier procrastination has likely set us up to fail in the exact same manner we were afraid of failing to begin with. We work frantically, our thoughts are scattered, and our work is filled with a chaotic sense of urgency. Ultimately, we end up beating the project to death with the procrastination stick until it is unrecognizable. We make mistakes that are completely out of character because we are rushed and panicked and now even MORE convinced that the partner is, in fact, going to seriously impede your survival at the firm. When we work from that mental space, motivated by fear, we do not do our best work. We miss things we would not normally miss and we overlook basic things that we KNOW. In sum, we fail ourselves and show up much less than our best.

This whole routine is tethered together by one small similarity: fear. We procrastinate because we are avoiding some negative emotion; we are afraid of something about the project. Then we procrastinate until a larger fear gets us moving. Ultimately, we end up creating our own self-fulling prophecy where we do the really terrible job that we feared we would do in the first place.

So what do we do?

We have to start getting honest with ourselves about why we are procrastinating to begin with. Once we get to the root of fear, we can ask whether we like that reasoning. Furthermore, we can acknowledge how this story will end if we choose to invest in that fear and go down the Facebook rabbit-hole instead. Combating procrastination only requires one thing from you: honesty. Honesty with yourself about your actions and your justifications. From there, all you have to do is ask yourself whether you like your reasons for acting or not acting and make a new, informed, honest choice about your next steps. Those are the choices that will determine the type of person you become — one who procrastinates or one who doesn’t. The choice is ultimately yours and all that matters is whether you are comfortable with your reasoning.

“Following-through is the only thing that separates dreamers from people that accomplish great things.”

Gene Hayden

Start taking actions towards your goals and stop letting fear derail your progress. Sign up for a free session and stop procrastinating today.

Photo by RODOLFO BARRETO on Unsplash

I’m waiting for the pandemic to be over before I get back into working out, it’s hard to eat healthy because I don’t want to go to the store too often, networking is too hard when everyone is working remotely, it’s just not a good time to look for a new job, no one is hiring right now

We provide ourselves all these reasons why we aren’t acting but as we chip away at each of these excuses, what we often find is that it has nothing to do with those reasons–we just don’t want to do the hard things sometimes.

Admittedly, there is certainly some shade of truth in these beliefs that makes these excuses appealing. Things ARE different. Our approach to certain things is going to have to be different.

But since when does different necessarily mean harder?

Since when we did we decide that different meant stop?

Before you allow yourself to put your goals on hold while we wait for life to “normalize,” we must get honest about what’s really going on. Does it matter that you don’t want to go to the gym because you are limiting your public activities? Can you work out at home or find another way? Does it matter that networking is now virtual? Does that really diminish the connection and make it more awkward?

Just because we can’t do things the way that we would want to, does not mean that we shouldn’t take action in the ways that we CAN.

If you have a goal that is important to you, it is likely that the goal requires some change from your current state. It might require you to get up earlier to write your book or get in a workout. It might require you to operate outside of your comfort zone.

It is going to be uncomfortable. If it wasn’t, you would already be doing it.

Recognize that any goal worth having is going to challenge you. In challenging you, it is going to bring up that part of your primitive brain that wants to keep you safe and in the cave; safe in your cozy routine. Your brain is going to craft all sorts of reasons why you shouldn’t be acting.

Whether it is the pandemic or something else, your brain will develop roadblocks for your dreams. It will advocate for the comfort of your present state. KNOW THIS and do the work anyway.

Don’t allow this pandemic to pile on to those excuses. When the pandemic is over, you will create new excuses and you will allow those excuses to derail you too because you are really good and believing excuses. When you allow the pandemic to convince yourself to stay put, you are practicing inertia. You are practicing your current state. You are really good at it. The better you get at your present state, the harder it will be to ever make lasting change.

If you want something else, you are going to have to get really good at strategizing around those excuses and doing the hard thing anyway.

What are you using your pandemic time to become good at? Don’t let excuses and avoidance be one of your pandemic skills. Set the goal. Strategize the obstacles. Get moving. Your life is not on pause during this pandemic, why are you acting like it is?

Want support to kick it into gear? Take advantage of a free session and get back to work.

I told myself that if I could just muster up some motivation, I could get over this hump.

Now, where to find that motivation…. Facebook? A trip to Starbuck’s for a caffeine jolt? Maybe a hallway chat with my co-workers? Maybe if I procrastinate long enough, I will force myself to get to work in a frenzy of stress-induced mania!

My brain came up with all sorts of fun things I could do today instead of work. That’s when I realized that I had just caught my brain in serious reptile mode.

My brain knew I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated. It knew I didn’t want to work and it was politely offering me all sorts of ways to indulge myself and run away from those crappy feelings and dumb work projects. My brain got to work coming up with all sorts of ways to self-soothe. In my mind, I imagined some skeezy alter-ego standing on the corner in a dirty trench coat saying “hey, babe, you want to fly to the moon?” Dramatic, yes, but the basic premise is the same.

My brain was selling me a quick fix, promising it would make me feel better and help me avoid the discomfort I was currently feeling – the Monday morning blues.

I had thought “I really don’t want to do this” and my brain responded, “here are some things you can do that would be WAY more fun.” In addition, my brain went to work telling me all the reasons why it was okay to blow off all the things I had promised myself…you worked really hard all weekend, you deserve a break . . . this project isn’t worth worrying about, you can do it tomorrow . . . you work harder than everyone else, you deserve a few hours “off”. . .

That is what our brains do! We are so used to indulging ourselves and going out of our way to bury those negative feelings (buffering) or running away from them outright through avoidance or procrastination, that is what our brains automatically do in the face of discomfort. And now our brains are really good at it!

Once we allow our brains to run that route a few 100,000 times, it becomes a pro and offers us those “solutions” every time we face the same or a similar discomfort.

If you think “I really don’t want to go to the gym today,” your brain is going to get to work running that pattern and offering you all sorts of reasons why you really shouldn’t go to the gym: You really don’t have time today . . . your really should rest, the day was super stressful . . . you seem run down, you’re probably getting sick, better to rest . . . gosh, your knee seems a little tender, if you don’t rest it you will probably strain it . . . Trust me, the brain is a WWE Diva when it comes to this stuff because we have let it practice this song and dance our entire lives.

When you see your brain doing this, just know that it is operating as it should but that what it is telling you is not the truth.

These are not a facts; they are just thoughts your brain is really good at thinking. Your brain seeks to operate as efficiently as possible (e.g., running the same thought patterns) and the reptilian brain wants to keep you safe (avoid discomfort at all costs lest you be killed by lions!). When you get uncomfortable, your brain offers you these thoughts in an attempt to seek comfort and avoid pain. They are all attempts to keep you running the same route you have been running your whole life. This is guaranteed to keep you stuck.

You have to get savvy with your brain. You have to catch on to its tricks! The next time you catch your brain offering you a platter full of delightful excuses not to do something out of the norm or something you aren’t excited about (e.g., 5am gym classes), do the hard work and keep your promises to yourself. THOSE are brain patterns you want to become a habit but they never will if you don’t force your brain to practice the routes.

Recognize when your brain is doing this and see it for what it is – an old pattern. Then work on creating a new pattern.

This doesn’t mean you have to engage in a round of mental arm wrestling, arguing with each of these thoughts. What it means is that you can recognize when your brain is doing this and ignore all those thoughts and justifications your mind offers. Hello, brain, I see all these glorious excuses you are offering me, very adorable, but no thanks. Just clear your head and stick to the commitment. Period. By honoring commitments, you develop a new set of beliefs and patterns that your brain can channel. The next time you find your brain running an old pattern and explaining why you really shouldn’t go to the gym this morning, you might be able to think instead – Yes, I was tired last time I went to the gym at 5am and I still had a great workout and felt energized all day . . . or Going to that gym class always makes me feel so much less stressed out and I always have a better day than when I skip it.

Commitment is a skill and learning to honor your commitments takes practice and it takes foresight. Your brain will try and talk you out of it, guaranteed. Plan on it and know you must push through.

Only through commitment and practice will you build motivation.

Once you start building those patterns, you can literally achieve anything.

Get out there and use your discomfort as an opportunity to teach your brain some new dance moves. This is hard work but it is the work of a lifetime. Commit to yourself. Commit to better results than you have gotten thus far. Coach with me. I’m ready. Are you?