I am the first to admit I am a Master Procrastinator and for this heinous crime my much more organised family, friends and colleagues are happy for me to wear a box of shame for my failings.
Well it’s time for all Procrastinator’s to unite and fight back.
More confused than a chameleon in a bag of skittles? Then read on…..
We are all pretty clear what a Procrastinator is……Someone who leaves important stuff until the last very minute then panics, spiralling into a FML heap.
The term PREcrastinator is much less known. It’s basically someone who feels the same level of panic as the Procrastinator, just it’s 5 minutes after the deadline is set as oppose to 5 minutes before the deadline is due.
It’s a bit like this……
It’s a deadly combination when the PREcrastinator wants the task done faster than a speeding ticket and the Procrastinator will get to it after counting their copper jar for the fourteenth time.
The key point we need to understand is both default behaviours experience high stress levels and poor time management resulting in the quality of the task suffering.
Here where lies the problem from both ends of the Crasinator spectrum….
- PREcrastinators get the task done so quickly they do not take the time to make it the best standard they are capable of
- Procrastinators faff around doing nothing and then as the task deadline looms do a flurry of rushed activity that affects the potential standard of work
Your position on the spectrum also has an impact if you are a leader….
- PREcrastinators can be prone to fire out task like a western gun slinger, just to get it boxed off their pad, meaning it is sometimes difficult for teams to understand priorities
- Procrastinators can build up task and then hit their teams with unreasonable deadlines and workload
Have a shifty at this and then let’s analyse…..
The secret is to identify your own sweet spot based on your default behaviour on the Crastinator scale…..
- If you are a PREcrastinator how can you slow down your execution and take some time to think?
- if you are a Procrastinator how can you be more disciplined on your time management to structure the task completion better?
In conclusion, if we all move our sweet spot to ensure we all give ourselves a better balance of time to think, time to complete, the overall quality of our work will improve.
Let’s make sure we move from Was it done? to How Well was it done?
Precrastinators, let’s make sure we start this from Yesterday…..
Procrastinators get on it from Tomorrow….
Here is one of the greatest ever TED Talks ever on Procrastination. It 14.03 minutes of magic….
