I think we can all relate to this one…my place has never been as clean as during; final exams, tax season, when I have a particularly finicky presentation to build, etc…we all know we should do the thing, yet we avoid it anyway by doing other ‘productive things’.
I know I’ve written about procrastination before, so this is nothing new, but it is something that is so common and shared among everyone, it’s worth doing a full comic about. I quite like the panel where the dog is scared of the vacuum by the way, even though my actual dog isn’t, it’s still funny.
Right now I’m struggling with a work thing, it’s something I’ve been working on for a few weeks and getting (what feels like) no where. I chatted with a colleague of mine about it last week, as she’s also run up against the same thing, and she offered me some very good advice. Instead of feeling like a fail, and bashing my head against a metaphorical wall trying to force the thing, let it go for a few days…just stop working on it and do something different. At first I had trouble with this concept, as it seemed like she was encouraging me to do what I see as ‘productive procrastination’ – the very thing I know I want to stop doing…
Go do something else instead of the highest priority thing I’ve been wrestling with for weeks?? WTF, I can’t change gears, what if I never get it done? Are you telling me to avoid the thing? How do I do that without feeling guilty?
From that conversation, I learned there is a difference between avoiding/procrastinating and giving your brain a break. Balancing these things is really hard, and trusting my intuition to organize my time in such a way that I don’t ‘burn out’ on one project is certainly a work in progress. But I’m glad I am running into this challenge. It’s teaching me that I can (as Elsa sings in Frozen) ‘Let it Go’, at least for awhile. When I come back to it, I will likely have a fresh perspective, and stop bashing my head into walls.
For those of you are are currently either procrastinating or bashing, take a step back and see if you are able to tell which one you are doing. That helped me. If you can’t decide what you are dealing with, I’d also recommend a walk to clear out the mind clutter. I stopped listening to podcasts, or books or music when I do brain clearing walks as it was a distraction and I felt the same when I returned to my desk. Now I just go for a stroll and look at the trees and let my mind wander, if I feel like the clutter and stress start to build, I intentionally play a little game where I try to pick out things of a specific colour while I walk. Like ‘red sign’, ‘red robin belly’, red flower’, etc. This is enough that I’m kinda focused, but not really having to pay too much attention, then my mind feels better. It’s like a little brain cleansing workout. You know how you get good ideas when in the shower? This is kind of the same thing, it’s like you tell yourself you have nowhere else to go, you have a small task to do and your mind can just figure it out without any major pressure. Shower ideas are the best, as they just crop up. These little walks do the same thing for me, and I don’t have to get naked to do them.
The Graphical Bear 