End Procrastination and Other Bad Habits

Distractions abound. The more technology the more we are taken off task. What was created to increase our productivity has become the thing that actually decreases our productivity. We have new sayings in our culture like ‘shiny object syndrome’ or ‘squirrel’ that we giggle with recognition when someone mentions them. All this distraction has us procrastinate what needs to be done leaving us with the experience of working all the time and accomplishing little. It has been my observation that all the wonderful ways we can engage our brains in so many ways has also become the enemy of productivity and has caused most of us to be addicted in some way to procrastinating.

Long gone are the days when the only distraction you had at work was other people coming to talk to you or you going on a break. Think about a typical day. How many times do you notice an email, get a call, get a text, notice your stock ticker on your home page, or some other ‘thing’ that interrupts you at work. You may thing, “I better check this” and “it will just take a moment”, but in reality all those moments add up. Your brain loses focus, your work, loses momentum and you are actually taking much longer than needed to accomplish the task you were on. Your brain is exhausted by the end of an entire day of this mental ping-pong. Your to-do list may have had a few things knocked off it, but how many got added on. Then there is the online shopping you might have done to distract yourself, or the angst at watching a purchased stock fall (Or a not-purchased one rise). Those of us who home office, part or full time, we have even more distractions in our homes with pets, children, laundry, people coming to the door and the like.

What is the answer? Some might say discipline- but let’s be real here. We are not so great at that. That takes mental energy too! Studies have shown we go with the easiest choice. Distraction and procrastination are simply habits. You cannot just say to yourself- stop doing that and expect it to stick. Nature abhors a vacuum. You have to create some new habits. Before you can teach a dog new tricks, you have to put some new actions in place to interrupt the old ones!

Since we know that people take the path of least resistance, do the easiest thing, you need to devise ways that make the bad habits harder to carry out. Just this little trick will begin to interrupt the pattern and you can add in the new habit.

Some examples of interrupting the path of least resistance:

1. If email is something you notice that you use to distract yourself: Schedule the time in your schedule when you will read and respond to email. Then, close your email client. Maybe even put a few other steps to reopening it in your way. For example, if Outlook is your email client and you keep it on your taskbar which is always visible, remove it from your taskbar. You could even put it inside a folder or special area on your computer. Now, to check your email is not easy. You have to click through several areas to check it, thereby removing the automatic nature of it. If you do this, you may need to inform people who are used to getting immediate responses from you what to expect from you in the future.
2. If the phone is a distraction, turn it off or customize it such that you only get emergency calls except during your ‘phone hours’ which you have set up.
3. For those of you who home office, have a dedicated space and dedicated hours in which you are in your office. Remove all ‘household’ reminders. If you have other family members that interrupt you, inform them of your new ‘hours’ and operate like you are in a real office.

Progress and the explosion of technology in our worlds is a gift, and with a few tweaks you can keep it from becoming your enemy. Staying focused on a task increases your productivity and leaves you with a sense of accomplishment. Committing to breaking the distraction/procrastination habit is a gift you give yourself.  Try this out for at least the 21 days it reportedly takes to create a new habit and enjoy your newfound energy!