Did you procrastinate paying bills and get hit with late fees and bank
charges? Did you put off getting the oil changed and now the repair bill is thousands of dollars because the engine is blown? Did you wait until the last minute the report was due to
write it and miss the deadline and now the opportunity for career advancement is blown and you might lose your job? The root of all these terrible events is not bad luck it is procrastination.
Procrastination is a way of life for many individuals with
ADD/ADHD. Overwhelmed by details and the noise in our heads, distracted by
every little thing, and haunted by memories of impulsive decisions, we often
put off doing what we need to do, and wind up forced into last minute decision
making, bad choices, and the negative fall out.
Let me be clear, there is a difference between
procrastination and forgetting to do things because you loose track of
deadlines and details. I talk here , and here about using planners and timers for time management. I am talking about knowing that
you have to do something that must be done and putting it off. Missing
deadlines, appointments, not doing what you said, or promised to do, damages your career, relationships with family and friends and can
have catastrophic financial effects. Trust is built on keeping promises and commitments, repetitively missing commitments, and failing to complete tasks destroys trust.
Some people think that they work better under the pressure
of a deadline. Research does not support this, and others judge procrastinators, labeling them as lazy. Most often people who chronically
procrastinate are most often overwhelmed, worry about making a bad decision, and are paralyzed with fear. There are also chronic procrastinators that are perfectionists spending hours reworking a project and never finish it,
leaving others to think that they are incompetent and lazy. If any of the above situations resonate with you, try these seven tips for overcoming procrastination.
1. Time yourself doing tasks. Many individuals with ADD/ADHD
have a distorted sense of time, making them afraid to start a task because they
believe it will take too long. Knowing
how long a task actually takes to complete enables you to make good use of your
time.
2. Make yourself accountable. Make a schedule and set up
reminders on your phone. Enlist
friends/family to make yourself accountable. Accountability partners should not
nag, but check in regularly.
3. Shut down your social networks. Have specific times and
limit the amount of time you check into your social networks. It is estimated that most people spend two
hours per day on social media. Two hours
could translate into more than enough time to accomplish tasks you have been
putting off because of lack of time.
4. Make a list of every single thing you need to do and with
deadlines. Don’t judge the items just list them. Take your time doing it and
really do a brain dump. Getting things out of your head will help you to not
feel so overwhelmed. Next to each thing
write down the time you think it will take to do it, be realistic (see step
one). Now decide which things really do
need to be done, and which can be dropped from the list. Using the deadlines,
schedule one task each day to complete. Do the task. Do not over schedule
yourself! If you get the task accomplished and want to add another task, add
it, but do not try and catch up in a day.
5. Stop taking on/starting new projects/volunteer work/
extra activates until you compete all your other projects. It always feels good
to start a project but finishing feels so much better. Practice saying “I would love to help, but I
have too many unfinished projects right now.” Your mileage may vary with this
one at your place of employment.
6. Schedule one hour a day for completing tasks that you
hate doing, and just do them. Set a
timer and really work for the one hour. Reward yourself when you are done.
7. Begin. Even if you don’t feel like, even if you are
unsure, even if you are afraid of making a mistake, just begin.
Procrastination has such negative effects, do not let it
continue to derail your life. For more
about how to get things done in your life and creating a time management plan
that is personalized, I recommend this book: Time Management from the Inside
Out by Julia Morgenstern
I hope these tips help and as always do the best you can and be kind to yourself.
I hope these tips help and as always do the best you can and be kind to yourself.
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