62. Overcome Procrastination With This Simple Strategy

In today's episode, I dive into a simple yet effective strategy to help overcome procrastination, a common challenge for many SLPs, OTs, PTs, related health professionals, and private practice owners. I share my personal journey with procrastination and how identifying micro reasons for avoidance transformed my approach to tasks. Tune in to learn how to pinpoint these small hurdles and overcome them, ensuring better time management and productivity.

And don't forget to join the free Lunch and Learn on Thursday, September 26th at noon Eastern for more insights and strategies on tackling procrastination. Register now!!

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Learn more about Theresa Harp Coaching here.

Transcript

Hello, podcast listeners, welcome back to the show. This is Episode 62 and it's still new for me recording under the new name and artwork and all of that fun stuff. So if you are a listener who's been here for a while and you missed recent episodes, you might notice there's a new look, new intro, new name, all of that.

And if you have not been here before, and this is your very first episode, welcome. This is a podcast all about helping other SLPs, OTs, PTs, related health professionals, private practice owners with work life balance. We focus on time management and mindset strategies to support you, to grow a business or a career while you are growing a family and running your personal life, household, all of that stuff at the same time.[00:01:00] 

That's what this podcast is all about. And today's episode is a quick, short overview of one simple strategy that you can use to help with procrastination. If you are anything like me, you have struggled with procrastination. This is something that I have struggled with, and it's certainly something that I've made progress with in my personal life and in my business. However, it's something that I have to actively work on because it is absolutely a challenge for me. And over the past couple of years as I've been working on my coaching certification and learning more about time management and productivity and mindset, procrastination has been something that has been a big focus for me because I know we all struggle with it. [00:02:00] And it was something that I finally said, you know what? I need to do something. I need to do something different because what I'm doing is not working. And I can remember actually the moment where I said, okay, this is a strategy that will work. This is one thing. that I can do to help myself overcome procrastination. And I want to share that simple strategy with you. 

So before I dive into that, I just want you to know that if procrastination is something that you have struggled with, or if this topic, this episode really resonates with you, then make sure that you click the link in the show notes and sign up for the free masterclass. I'm hosting a Lunch and Learn on Thursday, September 26th at 12 Eastern. It is [00:03:00] being held virtually on Zoom. Yes, there will be a replay available. However, if you are someone who struggles with procrastination, I highly recommend that you make arrangements to attend live, if at all possible, because if you don't, and you are someone who struggles with procrastination, let's be honest, what are the chances that you're going to actually watch the replay?

And that is said with total love and support and zero judgment because I myself can relate, right? I sign up for lots of different webinars and I know from personal experience that the ones that I don't attend live, I have a much smaller chance of actually watching the replay, plus it's something else that I have to then put on my To Do List, and I'm not a fan of that. So hope you can make it live. If you can't, the replay will be available but make sure you click the link in the show notes. It's no charge. It's a [00:04:00] complimentary Lunch and Learn. I host them every other month in the SLP Support Group. So this will be a good one. You do not want to miss it. All right. So I had a task on my To Do List that was sitting there for a very long time. It involved a phone call to our health insurance, and it was one of those things that you need to do it because if you don't, I was going to have to pay a bill that we did not owe.

However, it's one of those tasks that you just don't want to do. It's not enjoyable. It's a pain, right? And there's no real set deadline. So it naturally was one of those things that I kept [00:05:00] putting off, kept putting off, kept putting off. And finally, I remember writing it on the To Do List for like the millionth time, right?

So anyone out there listening who's big on To Do Lists, I'm big on To Do Lists. And this is something that I had put on a list, didn't get done. Then I'd go to write my new list for the week. Didn't get done. Right. And I was so tired of writing it. And I finally was like, what is the problem, Theresa? Why do you, why don't you just do the thing?

And in that moment, I answered that question. Why don't you just do the thing? And I said to myself, Oh, well, when I think about doing it, the thing that is holding me back is figuring out what the password is, because in order to get into the insurance. system online, or even to make the phone call, um, you know, if I was going to handle it by phone, I needed to know a [00:06:00] certain pin or password.

And I didn't know it. And it was that specific step of the process that that was preventing me from starting because I just didn't want to have to find the password. And once I had identified that it was that part that was holding me back, it immediately shifted for me. And I realized, Oh, okay, well, that's a problem that I can solve, right?

That is something that's very easy to, relatively speaking, very easy to, to resolve. I just need to go to this place where I have all of my passwords. look for the right information. And once I have that pin, then I'll be able to log in. And that, that was it. It was as simple as that. Once I did that, I was able to get into the system online.

I had the information that I needed. I gave a call to [00:07:00] the company and they were able to reprocess the claim. I didn't have to pay the bill that we were sent in error. Right? So Now, what I learned in that instance was this strategy, identify the micro reason why you are avoiding the task, the micro thought, the micro reason, the smallest, smallest piece of it that is bringing up that tension and that resistance for you.

And once you identify that. You can solve for that. So what I now do and what I encourage my clients, my coaching clients to do is when you are procrastinating something, ask yourself, why am I avoiding this? And I almost think of it as, you know, you're peeling back layers of an onion. So when your brain offers you a response and answer, [00:08:00] just keep digging a little bit deeper and see if there's anything underneath that.

That's bringing up tension because sometimes the answer that your brain will offer is not the actual reason or you just need to get a little bit more specific. So, for example, I'm just thinking of this on the spot, but when it comes to laundry and putting laundry away, this is another one that I often procrastinate.

Or at least, yeah, I often procrastinate putting the laundry away. Anyone else listening? And a lot of times what I've noticed and in instances where I'm avoiding it, it's often because there's a drawer that I have to put the clothes into. There's a certain drawer where it is overflowing. It's just stuffed and I know that the clothes aren't going to fit.

In that drawer and so I don't want to go up there and deal with that. I don't want to open the drawer and either have to number one struggle to shove the clothes in or number to find myself [00:09:00] pulling things out of the drawer trying to, declutter and reorganize and all of that. So oftentimes 

if you are procrastinating something and let's say if it's with laundry and you ask yourself why and your brain says, I don't want to put the clothes away. So that might be more specific than I don't want to do the laundry, but you need to go even deeper than that. So it's sort of like pulling the layer back and saying, okay, well, why don't you want to put the clothes away?

Cause usually there's a reason. And so I would keep digging until you get to that most underlying level, that, that lowest level reason, and then solve for that. So when you do this, right, when you find yourself procrastinating something, you ask yourself that question, what is the reason why, the smallest reason why I'm avoiding it?

Your responses will be In my opinion, they will fit into two categories. One of two categories, either [00:10:00] they are strategic or they are mindset. And there's probably overlap there. However, I, in general have found that the answer will either be a strategic or a logistical reason or it will be a mindset reason and so I've offered to you a couple of examples today.

Those are both strategic. Those are logistical. It was a physical thing. It was having to go find the pin or the passcode. It was having to move things around in a drawer so that clothing would fit. But sometimes the reason that your brain will offer. Is related to mindset. So an example of this would be if you're avoiding a an evaluation report, let's say, and you ask yourself, okay, why do I keep putting this off?

What is the problem? Sometimes the answer will be something like, well, I don't know what to write or. I'm afraid that I don't [00:11:00] know how to explain this clearly, or I don't know that I'm going to do a good enough job, quote unquote, good enough job, right? So those would be examples that are more aligned with what Mindset and then that's something that you can solve for not as easily full disclosure as something strategic or physical or logistical, but it gives you more awareness of what's going on.

It gives you that clarity of okay, here's why I'm procrastinating and now you can solve for that. So I hope that this strategy makes sense. I want you to try it out this week and see what comes up for you or thinking back on past things that you have procrastinated, particularly ones that might sort of stand out in your mind more so than others.

I mean, I've got like a top 10 in my mind when I look back at [00:12:00] things that I've procrastinated on where it caused me either unnecessary stress and or it cost me something like a deadline. I missed a deadline or the quality of my work was not as good because I left something to the last minute, right?

I've got like, I could think of 10 sort of stand out moments of procrastination, right? And, if that is something that you too can relate to, maybe if you look back on things that you have procrastinated and sort of replay it in your mind, okay, what was the micro reason? Was it strategic? Was it mindset?

What could I do differently? You can do that or and or going forward thinking about things that you have on your list for today for this upcoming week, things that you. Are procrastinating or [00:13:00] you would be likely to procrastinate and ask yourself, what is the micro reason? What is the smallest reason? Why?

And be as specific as possible. Remember, you want to get, you know, go deeper in terms of the layers and find that it. That basic reason, that smallest, most specific reason where you can't unpack it anymore and solve for that. And let me know how it goes. So if this episode is something again that you can relate to, if this is something that you want more of, make sure you click the link to register for the Lunch and Learn that is scheduled for the end of September.

It's Thursday, September 26 at 12 Eastern. It's a free Lunch and Learn on procrastination. So I'm going to be walking you through more information about why we procrastinate, and then more importantly, strategies that you can use just like this one to change your tendency, your [00:14:00] pattern to procrastinate and help you work through it quicker, faster, better, with less energy, less stress, less overwhelm. So make sure you click the link in the show notes. I hope to see you there. That's it for today's short and sweet episode. Try this strategy out. Let me know how it goes. Pop into the SLP Support Group and I will see you all next week.