PROCRASTINATION-BUSTING

If you don't stay ahead of it, procrastination is an insidious little varmint that scuttles around the baseboards of life, contaminating your best intentions. The little saboteur loves to perch on top of your to-do list, gloating, knowing full well who's Boss.

For 23 years I've been coaching people how to defeat their own self-defeating behaviors, especially procrastination. Clients keep asking why they sabotage themselves, why they can't seem to follow through. The ones with Attention Deficit Disorder have a neurological explanation/excuse, but they yearn to change more than anybody.

Procrastination and its evil twin, the Clutter-Bug, can sabotage a business or a marriage. To counter-balance the procrastinator, the partner may become a control freak — a set-up not conducive to a relaxed, supportive partnership. It's the old game of Enforcer vs. Rebel, and that wasn't fun even back in adolescence.

Coaching is a partnering adventure. Your coach is a guide who watches out for significant signposts, and also for potholes, dead ends, and things that go bump in the night. Clients expect me to do more than just brainstorm with them for resourceful solutions. They want me to point out a bad habit or unworkable strategy that skews their perception or gets them off course — especially if the observation is laced with humor.

Here then, gleaned from many years of personal experience as both a professional guide and Recovering Procrastinator, is my Top Ten list of why people persist in procrastinating.

1. PERFECTIONISM
   (performance anxiety)
   "If I can't do it RIGHT, I won't do it at all."
   "I'll start just as soon as I get every single thing I need."
   

2. PARALYSIS
   (too much paper; too many stacks, boxes, cartons, albums)
   "I don't know where to start. It's too overwhelming."
   

3. POOR PROCEDURES
   (lack of strategies, systems)
   "I don't know how to make it better."
   "I need a system. But first I need someone to install the system. What system?"
   

4. PACKRAT PROGRAMS
   (fear of not having enough)
   "As soon as I throw it away, I'll need it."
   "You never know when you'll need a ... [ripped shirt to wear when painting]."
   

5. PERCEPTUAL PROBLEMS
   (rationalization, denial)
   "What mess?"
   "I've got plenty of time. It isn't even due until ... [April, next week]."
   

6. PERMISSIVENESS
   (spoiled brat syndrome)
   "My momma always did this for us kids."
   

7. PECULIAR PRIORITIES
   (avoidance)
   "I'll write that term paper just as soon as I practice more guitar chords."
   

8. PETULANT PASSIVITY
   (passive-aggressive resistance)
   "Nobody can tell ME how to ... [organize a business, clean out a garage]."
   

9. PENITENCE
   (personal put-downs, guilt trips, Poor Me in disguise)
   "I know, I know, I just keep letting (myself, others) down."
   "I'm just screwed up."
   

10. PARTNER PUNISHING
    (see #8)
    "You sound just like my momma."
    

The PERSONAL PLANNER 2000, published by Family Circle, featured an article entitled "To Get A Life, I Got A Life Coach," about how I helped the writer overcome clutter and procrastination. Ever since it was published, I sign up new clients every month who want to get organized, release the weight of Too Much Stuff, and design a system that liberates their energies to create more of what they want. Now!

I challenge you to take a look at what's weighing you down and get coached through the exact steps it will take to get free.

It's one of the most liberating decisions you can make, and one of the best investments

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