ORGANIZING TIPS FOR WORKING WOMEN: The REAL Reasons Why You’re Procrastinating

Why do you procrastinate? The answers aren’t necessarily obvious. Gain some insight on this annoying problem, and get things done faster!

“I’ve done it again. It’s 24 hours before my deadline and I’m finally starting to write.”

You know what I’m talking about because you’ve done it before. That’s right, the “P” word that plagues us all—Procrastination.

Why do we continually put ourselves in situations that cause us stress (and it almost always self-inflicted!)?

For working women, some things just have to be left undone—or do they? Let’s look at some reasons and solutions for procrastination. Which ones are holding you back from more success and less stress?

1. It is easier NOT to do something than it is to do it. If you have a to-do list (I call it an “avoidance list”), you look up and down your list and gravitate towards the easy tasks that aren’t very urgent or important. It’s easy to scan right over the less-than-attractive tasks. Solution? Schedule every single one of your to-do items in your day planner. You’ll soon find that you’ll check off a higher percentage of tasks at the end of the day.

2. You put off the things that you don’t like to do. Simply put, this is human nature. If you find yourself pushing a task forward day after day, confront it. Ask yourself if there is someone else who would do it for you? If it’s something that you’re just not good at, educate yourself so it’s not such a big deal every time it arises. For example, many people don’t like to do their expense reports. If numbers are not your thing, find someone who loves them to do your report for you. Work a deal by offering to do something for them that they don’t like doing. Or you could ask others how they do their report; there might be a better or easier way that you’re currently unaware of.

3. The task or project seems overwhelming. You have a huge project that is going to take 30 hours to complete, but you have six months to do it. Before you realize it, month six is here, and now you’re scrambling to get it all done. Not good. Instead of looking at it as a 30-hour project, look at it as six five-hour projects. That means you only have to spend five hours per month over the next six months! That is much more manageable. Go even further by breaking the monthly five-hour project into five one-hour projects and schedule those one-hour chunks into time slots in your day planner.

4. You don’t know where to start. In looking at a 30-hour project, a starting point can be tricky and evasive. Break down the project; list all of the baby steps and then schedule to do one step at a time. For example, if you wanted to organize your whole office (very overwhelming), start by narrowing it down to your desk, then a specific drawer. That will get you started; then move on to the next drawer, then the top of the desk, and so on…in baby steps.

You may have heard the saying: “Put it off until tomorrow; you’ve made enough mistakes today!” It’s just a saying. So go on…get started on that overdue report!