You’re not lazy and you’re not a bad manager of time
Can a procrastinator become a freelance consultant? God yes. Join the club. But be prepared to battle that procrastination from time to time.
If you beat yourself up for avoiding work or putting things off, it’s time to do a bit of reading on what procrastination is all about. It’s not bad time management; it’s not laziness. It’s an emotional regulation issue. You’re putting things off to avoid dealing with the emotions you associate with doing the thing.
I am a lifelong procrastinator. Here’s how I deal.
I find it somewhat useful to dig into why I’m procrastinating. I have fear of failure issues; I have fear of success issues. Mostly it’s the former. Sometimes it’s very helpful for me to sit myself down and articulate what I’m afraid of. “I’m afraid I don’t know nearly as much about this stuff as everyone thinks I do. I’m afraid I’l mess it up.” And so on. I have learned to feel my fear, acknowledge it, and leap into the work anyway. Being comfortable with discomfort is a huge part of conquering procrastination.
Other people have resentment issues around work: they resent how much time their job is taking up; they resent that their spouse appears to have more freedom or less responsibility. Those are things you can work on, either individually or with your partner.
Other tricks and tools:
- If starting a project or a piece of writing is daunting, start in the middle. Don’t worry about how to begin it; just starting writing half way through. It’s a bizarre trick but it works.
- Never finish a task completely at the end of the day. Leave something simple unfinished, so you can pick it up the next day without stress, feel good about finishing it, and keep on working. It’s a great way to start the day.
- Celebrate small victories. Take the big tasks and subdivide them. Keep subdividing them until they appear do-able. Then celebrate when you get them done. Reward yourself with something you like (for me that’s coffee.)
- If you’re having a terrible procrastination day, take a break. Go for a walk. Give yourself the morning off. Ask yourself: have you eaten? Have you slept? Are you hydrated? If not, take care of your needs first. Be kind to yourself.
Finding Flow
I believe that all freelancers should do some reading about flow theory. Finding flow is exhilarating; the hours fly by. Flow happens when your perception of the difficulty of the task is in equal measure to your perception of your skills. I tend to procrastinate when I feel I don’t quite have the skills to do the job; it makes me sad and uncomfortable and I would rather do anything than face the task. Understanding flow theory helps me deal with these feelings.
But honestly? If you’re a hardcore procrastinator? Do this.
Schedule hard deadlines with your client. Schedule them close together. Seriously, nothing motivates you like an external deadline. And it can’t be a namby-pamby fake internal deadline; you need to make a commitment in writing to the client.
Do not schedule out a methodology that has no deliverables for three months. Are you kidding? That’s a recipe for a procrastinatory wallow of epic proportions. Schedule a deliverable at least every two weeks. More frequent if you can.
Sure, those deadlines will be stressful. But they will be much, much, less stressful than a giant three-month deadline looming over your head. Trust me on this.
Work to short deadlines. And yes, of course, while you’re at it, do the self-improvement work of understanding your procrastination and dealing with your emotional issues with work.
Do both. It’s worth it.