I’ve made it no secret that I have a serious problem with procrastination.
It’s not that I’m lazy and irresponsible. It’s not that I don’t care either.
Procrastination is an emotional problem.
You procrastinate for short term gains (avoiding the pain of whatever you’re doing) even though you’re losing in the long-term (getting fired). Our short-term lizard brain doesn’t give a fu…
One of the ways to help address handling tasks that are hindered by procrastination is to have an accountability partner. This is someone who you’ll meet regularly to keep you in check.
This has never worked for me. I even paid coaches to help me and that didn’t work. It’s like I paid them to procrastinate.
But something did help me this week.
I was speaking to one of my friends about my problems procrastinating on this report that I’m supposed to be doing. He offered to help me.
He booked the majority of the day where he’d sit with me and help me get through this report.
On the day, he sat and watched me do the analysis pieces that I’ve been unable to do for almost two months now. He may have said a few things in between, but essentially I was doing everything. Whenever I started to stray he’d poke me and say, "Get back on track."
After that, realising that I alone was doing this, thought that I could finish up the rest. Well, I was wrong. I haven’t done a single thing on that report since then.
Now I can blame the other hundred things that I have going on for not completing the report afterwards, but those same hundred things existed that day too.
I was simply being held accountable at that time continuously.
There was no short-term gain to be had by procrastinating because I was being watched continuously. It was now less painful to write the report than to hold it off. Yay!
But… I can’t have my friend watching over me every day, no matter how much I may like it. (I now realise how creepy that sounds.)
Either way you look at it, I need to build the emotional regulation and self-management to properly function.
Otherwise, I will never be able to hold myself accountable.