00:00:17Hello, and welcome to the women conquer business podcast, featuring discussions with your host, Jenn McFarland. Every week. I discuss a different aspect of building a business while balancing it with an incredibly busy life. I share experiences successes and failures and answer questions submitted by you. The Listener. Thanks for tuning in. Let's get started.

00:01:19Crastination is derived from the Latin verb procrastinar, which I just love it when it's like procrastinate are sound so much more fancier than crastinate grass Nation. So, procrastinator means to put off until tomorrow.

00:02:04So that's a little bit different, right? Putting something off until tomorrow and also doing something against our better judgment.

00:02:37And that just honestly, that just didn't sit. Well with me. It also says, in all of this research that perfectionist are awesome procrastinators.

00:03:06But then when I executed I executed, I think quicker and more flawlessly because I put that thought into it. But sometimes we have to ask that take longer than we assumed that they will and that's when you can get right when you're working on something right up until the last minute. And if that's something that you're working on like a presentation or some sort of partnership project with another business, it can seem unprofessional or like, you don't know what you're doing or like you're disorganized. So having a buffer in there to allow for extra time. If you are a procrastinator or a perfectionist that has a certain process, making sure that you have built in enough time to handle whatever project is really important.

00:04:33I don't think is always is part of a self control issue. I think that deep down, we have something going on, that's holding us back. And I will tell you that when I was researching this because I was just curious, you know, when something happens in your thinking about why you wait to do particular tasks, you know, I encouraged you to get curious because I get curious and then I learn something more.

00:05:07So that's something I can dig in on, and I started thinking about some of the things that I hold off on doing. And I started reading this article, which is from The New York Times, and I'll put the link in the show notes about putting off, things may not be about self-control, may not be about.

00:05:47You know, doesn't mind a little bit of procrastination because I like the tight deadlines throughout my career. I have worked on all kinds of projects with insane deadlines and I've always managed to pull a rabbit out of my hat. And I think that I enjoy a little bit of pressure because it is just something that I'm comfortable with. It's just something that I have found throughout my career that has been the case, but I think it's also a choice. I think the procrastination is also a choice, and as I was digging in on learning more about what crastination is, I started become aware of how I feel around the times when I'm procrastinating, cuz I'm going to ask you if you often times feel the same way too. So as you are, you know, organizing your underwear drawer by color and company about the underwear from in avoidance of some task or meeting or plan or

00:06:51How are you feeling? Like you are delaying something that you dread?

00:07:12Do you feel a sense of dread? Do you feel like it is?

00:07:24And I think that that is the part that we need to pay attention to rather than self blaming ourselves for saying that we have no self-control. And we have to just, you know, everything is bad and I've no control over my life and I'm going to buy a productivity and that's going to happen. That's going to make everything better.

00:07:56There's a book about this called the procrastination equation. How to stop putting things off and start getting things done. And the answer is not to get a productivity app. Its not to do anything, except become more aware of the fact that productivity occurs because we aren't managing our negative mood around a task.

00:08:27So that's a lot different. This isn't about impulse control or about. If I just had that list and that thing right? This is about the ability to have the self-awareness and emotional intelligence to say. If I wait I'm not going to feel good about it, and I'm going to worry about it until I get it done. But it also May mean that, you know, and that's not a time management problem at all. That's something else. That's about.

00:09:30That's something I can work with. I feel like that's something we can all work with. Right is managing the emotions that we have four. Why we procrastinate? I think procrastination. May also be a sign that the thing you're procrastinating on isn't a good fit for you.

00:10:11We need to start evaluating all of those things that we are declaring as must use, or should or have two halves. And if we're not doing them, it's actually a chance to take a timeout. And say, well, if I'm waiting on all of these things, why am I doing it and are those things really serving me?

00:11:05Need to buy a time management app. So you don't procrastinate on things. This is like much deeper work and I I'm in I don't know about you, but I'm totally in. If if you want to let me know how you feel about it. We have a new feature at Jen mcfarlane.com podcast where you can go on and you can you speak pipe to record your questions to me. And let me know how you're feeling about that. And I totally invite you to do that. Cuz I would like to hear why you procrastinate. Let me know why you procrastinate how it makes you feel. And what you've done. How will you have found success around procrastination? Because

00:11:56Cuz it's all very interesting to me. So, here here's another article that I found and it talks about the procrastination Action Line, and it actually is related to

00:12:12Leading up to procrastination. And that moment that we take action.

00:12:49Going to be doing the work.

00:13:19I really just need to get more organized with my time.

00:13:38So, if you're putting off something.

00:13:56So here's a couple of things that this other person. Let's see. Who is this? Oh, yeah, Katie milnik at the University of Pennsylvania. So this strategy is to make the rewards of taking more action immediate. So the format is you only do something that you love while doing something that you procrastinate on. So for example, only listening to audiobooks or podcasts you love while exercising.

00:14:45I'd only like the strategy as much because it's,

00:15:04You know, I make it make it more of a problem sooner rather than right before the deadline. It's more on the idea of I'm being lazy and not doing it. I would say that it's not that you're being lazy. It's more that you're trying to handle an emotion.

00:15:28The conversation that we had about two or three episodes of go with Corunna and are where she talks about your future self, and your current self.

00:15:59Looking at how you want to be treated in the future and treating yourself with that self-compassion today.

00:16:07that's like amazing. So I think that this is something that we can all work with. I think that somewhere in here. We just need to really work with our own emotions. We need to really consider what the root cause it is for the things that we put off. Look at those emotions have some self-awareness around it, show ourselves some compassion, and I really think that we're going to learn some things from that and if you don't procrastinate, I mean, you're amazing. I love you. And if you do procrastinate, you're all so amazing and I love you. Just know that procrastination has actually been tied to things like anxiety, depression, heart disease.

00:17:30Then you feel better. But more than that. If you take more time to do the things that you quote need to do or quote should do then, the work product is better than if you slam it all together in a half, an hour, when really you needed a couple of days of consistent work and thinking about it.

00:18:01Thank you for listening to the women conquer business podcast. You can find us online at ww.w., Jen mcfarlane.com, flash podcast. You can also connect with Jen on social media, agenus McFarland, on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. The show is produced in Portland, Oregon by Jan, McFarland Consulting, women conquer business is available on iTunes, Google podcast, Spotify, and many other Podcast Addict.