Stop Procrastination to Improve Performance

Procrastination may be the most common and damaging habit you could develop at work. In those rare situations when procrastination could actually benefit your career, there will be many—possibly hundreds—of instances where this will have a negative impact instead.

Your employer’s perspective
Employee procrastination can drive employers to the brink of despair. Even some top performers develop this habit, which employers perceive as a detriment to efficiency.

Some common employer concerns that identify procrastination:

• Employee says they are working diligently on a project or task, but don’t provide any updates or completion times
• Employee is always scrambling and rushing to meet completion deadlines at the last minute
• Employee produces finished products that indicate hasty, sloppy completion
• Employee submits work well below their performance ability

Do any of these sound familiar? Have you heard similar comments or perceptions from your supervisor or witnessed one or more co-workers exhibiting these behaviours?

Employers may miss these signs for a brief period, but most will recognize procrastinators over time. You should avoid even the perception of procrastinating at work.

Procrastination Motivators
Let’s consider the behaviour that may identify you as a procrastinator. Do you have difficulty starting a project? Do you enjoy idea creation, but become bored with putting your suggestions in action? Do you delay or refuse projects from a fear of failure? Do you look for reasons to delay tasks because you’re upset they were assigned to you in the first place?

Here are some classic and common procrastination motivators.

• You’re a perfectionist. Perfectionists have high (and sometimes unrealistic) standards. Worried they won’t complete the assigned task up to their own expectations, they may spend time over-researching a subject or simply remain frozen with concern, delaying starting or completing the project. You must understand that, while it would be nice to achieve perfection, producing the best result possible is also acceptable.
  
  
• You love a crisis. You may infuriate co-workers and supervisors alike by creating a crisis where there is none. To combat this habit, set earlier completion deadlines for yourself, and reward yourself for meeting these personal goals. Your natural internal pressure won’t spread to your peers and, meeting personal deadlines will reduce your dependency on crises.
  
  
• You embrace fantasy. Some people are wonderful creative thinkers, conjuring up one good idea after another. But sometimes they find doing the work to making their idea a reality much harder. Procrastination is the typical cause. Unless your job description stops after creating and submitting ideas, your employer will probably want you to work on its real world development.
  
  
• You are angry or resentful. When employees are assigned projects they really don’t want to work on sometimes become angry or resentful of the task. A classic response includes (sometimes wilful) procrastination. To combat this, you must let go of your anger. Find some redeeming benefit you’ll receive by completing the task properly and on time. And you might just receive special recognition for going above and beyond your regular responsibilities.
  
  
• You suffer professional fear. The origins of professional fear are too numerous to mention, but the results are all the same. Procrastination usually results. Learn to use fear as a positive motivator. Think about how you’ll feel when you conquer your fear and successfully complete the project.

Procrastination, simply put, is a bad habit. Understanding the emotions that create your procrastination can help you overcome it. The key is to eliminate it as quickly as possible so you can improve your performance.

SIGN UP TODAY to receive a monthly career tips newsletter!