Episode 200 - How To Overcome Procrastination

<p class="p1"><strong>Summary</strong></p> <p class="p2">Procrastination has been described as “our favourite form of self-sabotage” (Alyce Cornyn-Selby). This week we explore how to overcome it.</p> <p class="p3"> </p> <p class="p1"><strong>Transcript</strong></p> <p class="p2">Hello and welcome to episode 200 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. Procrastination has been described as “our favourite form of self-sabotage” (Alyce Cornyn-Selby). This week we explore how to overcome it.</p> <p class="p2">Most people experience procrastination from time to time. 25% of the population even have procrastination as a defining personality trait. Procrastination is associated with a range of negative aspects including low self-esteem, pessimism, anxiety, fatigue and detachment. It’s not only bad for performance - procrastination can wreak havoc on our well-being.</p> <p class="p2">Procrastination can be defined as voluntarily delaying an intended task despite expecting to be worse off for doing so. This is a crucial element of procrastination - that we put things off even when we know we will be worse off as a result. So why do we procrastinate at all given it’s so bad for us? The function of procrastination is short-term mood repair. We procrastinate because it makes us feel better in the short term, even when that’s at the expense of achieving longer-term goals. Research even shows that the more negative our mood, the more time we spend procrastinating. So what can we do about procrastination?</p> <p class="p2">A good place to start is to think about the opposite of procrastination. A flow state is the closest we experience to the opposite of procrastination. When we experience flow our attention is fully focused, we feel flexible and adaptable, our skills are challenged, we feel great and time flys by. So how do we achieve flow? Flow is assisted by clear goals, flexibility in pursuing those goals, lots of feedback, and an opportunity to stretch our skill se