Procrastinating Like a Pro… How to Manage the Darker Side of Being an Entrepreneur

Being an entrepreneur and business owner has many advantages such as not having someone constantly monitoring your every move and being in control of your own hours. But these perks have their own unique set of perils to guard against of which procrastination is one of the biggest pitfalls (and can be most detrimental to your business).

Procrastination usually rears its ugly head at times when we feel overwhelmed (so much to do, so little time). We can’t always control when or where this pesky feeling will pop up, but there are ways that we can manage and try to side-step the urge to procrastinate:

1.      One

Procrastination is a giant snow ball; as soon as one thing on your to-do list gets left by the wayside it usually impacts the next day’s to-do list, simply adding more things to your procrastination list, and by the end of the week you’re staring the near impossible in the face and finding some form of justification why it’ll just be better to rewatch all seasons of Fawlty Towers. This is where prioritisation becomes critical. Give yourself the grace and understanding for the situation you’re finding yourself in. Tackle the most important and essential tasks on your daily to-do list and then choose JUST ONE from the dreaded procrastination back-log list. This way you’ll soon find yourself back on top of the mountain by simply giving one focused step at a time.

2.      “Just do it”

There is something to be said for the famous Nike tagline when it comes to procrastination. Sometimes you shouldn’t overthink something. Once you’ve identified a specific task that is clearly not your favourite thing to do or something you’re particularly good at, it’s often best to simply switch to autopilot and get started.

3.      Pick a procrastination theme song

We all have at least one song that gets us pumped. So if you have a song that gets you energized, why not harness the power of music to get over your procrastination one power beat at a time?

4.      Give yourself “just 5 minutes”

To win the war you need to pick your battles, so choose an action for a specific task that you will be able to accomplish in just 5 minutes. Psychology shows that anything you’ve worked on for 5 minutes is most likely to get completed in its entirety. So set that 5 minute alarm, take that tiny little action and you’ll might be surprised at what the final result might be.

5.      Break it down

At times when you are especially feeling overwhelmed it is recommended that you break your day into productive cycles of an hour’s intensive work followed by a 20 minute break. This might seem counter-productive, but studies have shown that this will actually force you to be much more productive than you would’ve been trying to drudge through your to-do list dread “as soon as possible”.

We’ve all been there and it’s something we as entrepreneurs will always have to be vigilant against. That’s why we support and motivate each other as fellow entreprenoras. If you would like to join our community of successful women, please contact us here.