Procrastination as a Form of Stress Relief
Procrastination. Overwhelm. Exhaustion.
We’ve noticed these words come up a lot these days, along with a whole lot of guilt. Maybe it has something to do with leftover stress from the holidays, catching up after them, and hoping to kick off the new year on the right foot. Whatever it is, we’re hearing lots of people feeling a lot of guilt and frustration, angry with themselves for procrastinating and ending up in an even more stressful position.
Here’s the thing, though. Procrastination is often a form of stress relief. It’s a sign that we are in need of relief, and compassion, rather than discipline. There can be some good things that come from it–if yours fits in that category, then keep it up!
If not, I would challenge you to take a look at how you’ve used procrastination to deal with stress. Modifying the ways that procrastination is used as a coping skill may make the stress relief long-lasting, rather than short-term relief that results in an even bigger pile of stress we’ve pushed just a bit further up the road. So, instead of getting stuck in the frustration, is there a different approach you could be using?
Here are some ideas we have:
Get started.
Getting started can be half the battle. Give yourself ten minutes to work on the task. Sometimes even using a timer can help! Commit to just that ten minutes, with the idea that if after ten minutes, you really cannot complete the task you can stop. When you get started, you may find that you complete it much more easily or quickly than you thought. If not, well, you’re at least ten minutes closer to getting it done.
If ten minutes works but you don’t naturally want to continue working on it, you might try taking breaks in between each cycle of ten minutes. Ten minutes of focus, a couple minutes of scrolling through your social feed of choice, then ten more minutes of focus.
Break it Down
It’s way too easy to get overwhelmed thinking about a task that may take less time or effort to complete than it would to procrastinate it! Something we find helpful is to really know what you’re dealing with–how long will this actually take, what will it actually entail to complete? Once you know exactly what you’re up against, it’s a whole lot easier to take that first step.
If you need to clean out your closet, what will it take to get there? Do you have to wash your clothes first? Pull everything out to start fresh? Separate out tops from bottoms? Fold and hang clothing? How long will each task take? 15 minutes? If you knew it would only take an hour, would you be more inclined to get started? If not, could you tackle just one or two and go from there?
Schedule Your Time
Speaking of time, if you knew the task would only take an hour, could you find an hour sometime in your week to schedule it ahead of time? Sometimes all we need is to visualize that the task will be done, and that confidence is the extra motivation we need. Scheduling it also helps to ensure we have time to just focus on that one task, rather than trying to squeeze it around 3 other things we’re focused on at once. If you’re able, try to plan yourself some time to work on it without other distractions popping up.
Be Kind to Yourself
Dwelling on how much time has already been spent just adds to the snowball effect and the stress. It helps to remember that nobody is perfect and that procrastination is just a form of relief. It’s a lot more motivating to focus on moving forward and doing better next time, to create that very same relief long term.
Do you struggle with procrastination? Let us know what you have found helpful!