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How to Stop Procrastinating

Nov 17, 2024

So, I’ll admit it. I have stacks of unopened mail, emails I avoid answering, and insurance forms piling up that I need to deal with.

If that sounds familiar, maybe you also struggle with procrastination.

It turns out that people also put off positive things too, like meditating during a stressful day, going on a walk to help ourselves relax, or even meeting up with close friends.

In other words, we don’t always procrastinate things we can’t stand, we also procrastinate doing things that we really enjoy, too.

Just to normalize this: everyone procrastinates. Big things, little things, everyday things — people find all sorts of different ways to avoid doing things they both need and want to do.

For those of us with ADHD, we may be more likely to chronically procrastinate, and we’re also more prone to feeling the effects of stress resulting from procrastination as well.

This week, we’re going to talk all about how to catch procrastination (a very normal phenomenon) so we can get back on track.

Our theme this week is adapted from the work of author Risa Williams, who will be joining us for a free workshop on Friday 11/22 to teach us 3 helpful tools from her new book: “The Procrastination Playbook.”

Macro and Micro Procrastinations

Let's start with the two types of procrastinations: Micro, and Macro.

You are all probably familiar with micro-procrastinations, which are things that we tend to put off regularly. Micro-procrastinations are smaller, everyday things: like returning emails, scheduling appointments, doing laundry, exercising, flossing our teeth, finishing reading a book, or even texting people back. Phew, I’m stressed just reading that list 😅

We might also procrastinate big things, such as changing jobs, finishing complex projects, moving to new cities, or making big decisions. We call these macro-procrastinations, and they tend to happen in big doses across longer stretches of time.

Often, people will feel more guilt and shame about micro-procrastinations than they do about macro-procrastinations because they feel like, “Everyone else can do these little daily things, what’s wrong with me?” or “Why are these little things so hard for me to do each week?”

To bust through your own micro- and macro-procrastinations, below is a short activity for you. See if you can find a few moments to jot down an answer, to help you think about some areas you might want to address in the month ahead.

Procrastination Goal-Setting Activity:

Write down 1-3 Macro-procrastinations (big doses across long stretches of time) and 1-3 Micro-procrastinations (smaller, everyday things) you would like to work on this month.

Helpful Procrastination?

Before we can start to catch unhelpful forms of procrastination, we need to debunk the myth that procrastination is always bad. Sometimes it can be helpful!

Procrastination can be a confusing subject for people to explore because there are times when “putting things off on purpose” can be healthy for us to do — especially when it comes to prioritizing certain tasks over others, to clear the way for our own focus.

We like to call this “task prioritization” instead of “procrastination.”

In this case, you’re making some tasks a higher priority than others intentionally, which can often be very helpful to do.

For example, if I delay doing household chores today so I can finish a high-priority task at work, but also, I have a clear plan to do my chores tomorrow, this would be an example of task prioritization rather than procrastination.

I am procrastinating chores but have an intention and plan to do them later. And if you need help developing intentions and plans every day, hey, that’s what the focused space goal-setting app is for!

Know Your Procrastination Cues

So far we’ve talked about micro- and macro-procrastination, ways in which procrastination can actually be helpful sometimes, and lastly, we’re going to talk about understanding our procrastination cues.

While some forms of procrastination are very easy to catch yourself doing, other forms of procrastination can sneak up on us throughout everyday life.

Unless we’ve trained ourselves to become more aware of our internal “procrastination cues,” we might not realize how avoidant we’ve become to doing certain tasks until the procrastination has fully set in.

These tendencies can look like binge-watching shows even though it doesn’t feel fun, cleaning things that aren’t urgent, scrolling instagram, or avoiding opening the mail, to name a few.

In order to be a pro-active procrastination catcher, it’s helpful to become more mindful of your procrastination tendencies so you can catch it on the onset, rather than waiting too long until you’re in too deep.

If you have a few moments today, here are a few questions to ask yourself to help you understand your own personal cues — that will increase the odds that you can catch them before they drag you down.

Three Questions to Ask Yourself

🪧 What are some warning signs that you’re starting to procrastinate?

👉🏽 What are some ways you can redirect yourself when you catch yourself?

👣 What are a few tools you can use to get yourself to take the first step forward with something you’re avoiding?

So, Now What?

We've given you a few tips to get a better understanding of your procrastination tendencies — but how do you actually stop doing it?

Luckily, we have many practical strategies to share with you, to help you break out of whatever procrastination cycle you might be in.

To get you started, we have a FREE workshop this week, led by Procrastination Expert Risa Williams on Friday November 22nd at 10am PT / Noon ET. She'll be sharing tools straight out of her brand new book: "The Procrastination Playbook: How to Catch Sneaky Forms of Procrastination Before They Catch You."