Procrastination comes in many forms; and acts-out many of our deep-seated motivations. To break-free of these self-imposed patterns of behaviour is hugely beneficial. Here are 2 coaching questions to help.

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+44 (0) 7976 751 095 dan@danbeverly.com http://danbeverly.com
Two Insightful Self-Coaching
Questions to Beat Procrastination 29 June 2016
Procrastination comes in many forms; and acts-out many of our deep-seated motivations. To break-free of
these self-imposed patterns of behaviour is hugely beneficial. Here are 2 coaching questions to help.
Procrastination comes in many forms and acts-out many
deep-seated root causes. Not starting; not finishing; fear of
failure; fear of success; fear of disapproval; overwhelm;
boredom; perfectionism. The list goes on.
My personal favourite – probably because it's my own
most common procrastination model – is "positive
procrastination". That is: filling-up my ToDo list with other
work so there's no chance I'll get to the things I'm avoiding.
(Actually, we probably all do this one. Think about it:
when we procrastinate, we rarely do nothing at all as the
alternative to the avoided task. We just find other things
to do – and life and work are happy to oblige with a
plentiful supply!)
There can be some positives to procrastination, especially if
it's structured. But over time and left unchecked, excessive
procrastination most-likely leads to delayed and
unachieved goals, missed opportunities and deadlines, poor
reputations and extreme frustration – for the procrastinator
and those who have to deal with them.
So how great would it be to get on top of your
procrastinating behaviour? To make in-roads to the project
that's not moving forward? To take-care of the
background toleration that's been niggling you? To get
into action on your priorities?
We all do procrastination differently. But here are 2 big
self-coaching questions to beat your procrastination,
whatever its form.
Q1. How am I doing
the procrastination?
We all have strategies: routines of behaviour that we
execute to perform some activity. Procrastination is no
different. We have a procrastination model.
So: how are you doing your procrastination? What are
the steps? What's the sequence? What's the pattern of
behaviour, from trigger to output, that we summarily
label "procrastination"?
Bringing your model into your conscious awareness is an
important first step in giving yourself opportunity for
different choices and new behaviours. Just noticing how
we do our procrastination will kick-start that process of
getting out of avoidant behaviour and into something
more positive and progressive.

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Q2. What am I getting
from my procrastination?
All behaviour has meaning. All behaviour has positive
intention. So: what's the pay-off from your procrastination?
Avoid conflict? Remove decisions? Increase urgency?
Promote autonomy? Save money? Reduce stress? Find
time? Dig deep into the source motivation behind your
procrastination. What positives do you get by avoiding a
given task? What do you get when you don't do the
task?
And from there, challenge those motivations.
 Will you actually get those things? Or is that just
what we're telling ourselves by way of justification?
 And is this the best way to achieve those things? Or
does our procrastination produce the kind of short-
term benefit that would be easily superseded and
outlived if we were simply to tackle the actual task?
Getting into action
To help you overcome your procrastinating behaviours,
here are a few quick thoughts to get you into action.
 Action #1. Simplify everything and make it about
the first or next action only. Just getting started is
often all that's needed.
 Task break-down. Reduce the overwhelm. Break
down the project into small and easy-to-achieve steps.
 Introduce accountability. Reach-out to someone in
your circle. Tell them what you're working on – and
when you're going to achieve it.
 Link to a higher purpose. Find the goal behind your
goal. What deeper significance can you find to doing
this?
 Imagine completion. Think for a moment how
fantastic it'll feel to get this thing done.
 Celebrate wins. Don't let your achievements simply
merge into one another. When something gets done,
celebrate.
Promoting awareness
and responsibility
As with so many such behaviours, procrastination has no
one cause and no one solution. But by becoming aware of
and understanding how we're creating our procrastination,
we can start to take responsibility and make changes.
So be super observant. Don't jump to your first thought. Dig
deeper. Watch for themes. And be sure not to label
yourself a "procrastinator". That's simply a label. Just as
"procrastination" is a behaviour: something temporary,
choice-driven – and changeable.
Dan Beverly is a leadership and performance coach helping high-calibre, high-
performing professional women embrace the pivotal career moments.
His mission is to inspire possibility in others: to help us excel in careers without
compromise; and to leave us feeling energised and uplifted by a new future.
Go online to book your “Session Zero” with Dan – and start capitalising on
your pivotal career moments today.
http://danbeverly.com/session-zero