Procrastination - How to put it off til later

by Don Harkey

I've been meaning to write this article on procrastination for a long time, but I kept putting it off... OK... bad joke... but who doesn't procrastinate? I don't know many people who say that procrastination (or putting things off until the last minute, or longer) is a good thing. Yet why do we still do it?

This weekend, there was a series on the History Channel about the seven deadly sins. One of the episodes discussed the sin of Sloth. Sloth is generally considered to be the sin of laziness or inaction. In the episode, a researcher on procrastination was interviewed who stated simply that procrastination is often caused when a person simply doesn't have a clear idea what to do next. Very detailed people tend to procrastinate more because they get frustrated when they can't work out the details.

I immediately began applying what I already know about motivation to this concept (I know... I'm a sick person). After all, it seems reasonable that someone who procrastinates something isn't extremely motivated to do whatever it is they are putting off until later. Motivation is created by 3 factors; autonomy, relatedness, and competence. This certainly matches the researcher's observation. If someone doesn't have a clear view of how they need to do something or if they simply don't see a strong reason to do something, they are lacking either relatedness or competence.

A good example of something commonly procrastinated is starting a business. Many people have a good idea for a business and have the skills necessary to be successful within that idea. However, the steps toward starting a business are complex and cloudy, especially to someone doing it for the first time. How will I get customers? How do I organize the business? How do I do my taxes? These unknowns lead to feelings of incompetence and stifle the motivation to act.

People who frequently enter new and uncharted waters have developed a different type of competence. These people have gained confidence in their ability to handle the unknown. They feel competent to handle the unknown and rarely procrastinate entering into a new world. Have you ever known someone like this? As Dave Ramsey often says about working for yourself, once you know how to go out and kill something and bring it home for the family, you will never go hungry.

Within organizations, employers combat procrastination all of the time. This is especially true within companies that train their employees to rigid procedures. These employees feel competent when they are working "on script" and get very uncomfortable when forced to improvise. As an alternative, organizations should deliberately push employees to the edge of their competence to help them gain confidence in new situations.

Sometimes this involves simple tasks. I knew someone who worked regularly in a manufacturing facility who refused to use the plant paging system, even though doing so would make the person's job a lot easier. Sometimes this involves more complex tasks like visiting a client in person or developing a new business relationship.

The key point here is that motivation and procrastination go hand in hand. Procrastination is caused by either 1) failure to see the importance of the task (relatedness) or 2) discomfort caused by a feeling of incompetence. Organizations can combat both of these by establishing a clear direction (vision), linking tasks to the vision, and by challenging their employees to expand their competence. Start today! (or maybe next week...)