Are you underperforming? 6 signs of procrastination that say you are

​Procrastination occurs when you put off until tomorrow that which you should be doing today. It would seem that you should be able to identify, rather easily, whether you are procrastinating or not. However, it really isn’t that simple. The average person has far more work than they could ever possibly get done. It is a matter of choosing the most important tasks to focus on and, when you have so much to choose from, along with other people demanding that they are given priority; it can be very hard to determine what you should be doing. Many procrastinators are so busy and disorganised that they really have no idea if they are procrastinating or not. So, I am going to provide you some of the common signs of procrastination so that you can determine whether you are a procrastinator or not.

There are many different ways in which procrastination can crop up in your life. It wouldn’t be possible to cover them all in one article. Therefore, I will concentrate on the most common signs of procrastination.

Do any of the points below sound familiar to you?

​You know what you need to do. You know how important it is that you take action and get it done. Despite this, you still don’t take action and you keep putting the job on the long finger. If this describes your behaviour; it is pretty safe to say that you are a procrastinator.

​This type of procrastination is often caused by perfectionism. You set unrealistically high expectations for the job at hand. Then, you have little confidence in your ability to get the job done to those standards. Rather than just take action and get the job done, you keep putting it off until you can work out what you need to do to achieve the standards and expectations you have set for yourself.

Perfectionism is one of the most common signs of procrastination and the key to overcoming it is to realise some simple truths, e.g.:

So, accept the truth and take action.

​When you are struggling with perfectionism, it is due to the expectations you have set for yourself, not expectations which have been set, for you, by others.

​
Read Perfectionism sucks - take action, gain wisdom, get better to learn more about the problems caused by perfectionism.

​Whenever it is time to get some important work done, you magically find something else to distract yourself with. For example:

​These are just some examples of the tasks which could be done at any time but always seem to be urgent when you are about to do something important. If you find yourself being distracted on a regular basis by these types of activities; congratulations, you are a procrastinator.

This is one of the signs of procrastination which tends to impact those who are not properly organised. They are unsure about what needs to be done, why it needs to be done and when it needs to be done by.

If this is you, you may also be doing a poor job of capturing all the commitments you are making. If you try to remember every job you are committed to, you will quickly forget many of them. When you don’t think that you have a large quantity of work to do, it is very easy to get distracted. But when you have an accurate record of all the important work you must do; you realise that there is less time to be wasted. You then end up spending more of your time doing things that really matter and, less time on simple distractions.

​Having your own organisational system allows you to stay on top of everything and, make decisions about how to spend your time, based on accurate information.

​Read Why you need an effective organisational system to learn more about the benefits of organisation.

During the early stages of my working life, I was a dreadful procrastinator. I would never take action on the important activities. I was busy but I was achieving little or nothing. I found that while I was busy and my days were packed, at the end of the day, I couldn’t tell you what I had done with my day.

The reason I couldn’t tell you was because I hadn’t done anything of significance, which would stick in my memory. If you find yourself being busy, working the hours but not having anything to show for it; you are most likely a procrastinator.

This is one of the signs of procrastination which requires you to go back to the start to resolve it. If you are not getting anything of value completed, it is likely that you are not focused on importance. You need to go back to the start and work through the stages again, for example:

​If you haven’t taken any of these steps, you are going to struggle to do anything of importance for one simple reason – you have no idea what is, and isn’t, important. First you determine what is important then, you work on what is important, until it is done.

​A ​clear sense of direction is needed to be effective and to stay focused. Remember that focus is as much about deciding what you shouldn’t be doing as what you should.

​If you haven’t set effective goals, you can do so with the Ultimate Guide to Goal Setting.

​Do you find yourself racing to meet deadlines, no matter how much advance notice you have? You are so disorganised that all of the work gets done on the last day or in the last few hours of the project.  If so, you are a procrastinator and you are heading for a life filled with stress and all the health problems that go with it.

This is one of the signs of procrastination which can happen for a multitude of reasons. Therefore, it can be hard to determine the right solution.

One of the most common reasons however, is that you don’t know where to start because you feel overwhelmed. When you feel overwhelmed, it is because the task/project seems too big. There is a lot to be done and you don’t know what the best way to tackle it is.  At moments like this, it is easy to forget that every big task/project is just several smaller tasks/projects combined.

The key here is to remove the overwhelm by reducing the size of the task/project. You can do this by breaking it down into to the smallest, bite-sized tasks possible. You can then focus on completing each little task, one at a time; safe in the knowledge that once you have completed them all, you will have completed the big task/project which was overwhelming you.

​By breaking it down into the smallest tasks, you get to harness the power of momentum. As you complete each small task, you increase your sense of accomplishment and build your confidence in your ability to get the job done.

​For a very simple strategy to build momentum and overcome procrastination, read Balance your focus and learn to eat the elephant.

Are you constantly missing deadlines? You need extra time to get your job done even​ though you were given more than enough time and, you promised everyone that you would get the job done on time.

There is something serious that you need to understand here. When you miss deadlines, it is not just you who suffers. You cause problems for anybody else who is dependent on you getting your job done on time. They may be understanding and forgiving at first but soon enough, you will be the one that nobody wants to work with.

This is one of the signs of procrastination where you may be punishing yourself in the hopes of impressing others or; in the hope that you can avoid letting others down. You are procrastinating on your work by sacrificing your time to help them.

​If you are regularly missing deadlines, it is likely that you are biting off more than you can chew. Sometimes this is because you don’t know how much you have already agreed to, as you are not properly organised. But in my experience, it is more often the case that you are afraid to say ‘No’ when someone else asks you to do something for them. You need their approval.

If you can’t say ‘No’ you will quickly become a dumping ground for everyone else’s problems. Every time they are under pressure, they will try to offload some work on you. While it is good to help people, if you are constantly helping them, you are doing their job for them. You are only helping them to cover up the fact that they need to work on their own time management and organisation.

​You must be clear on what is your job and, of course, what is not your job. Only help if you are genuinely able to do so or, it is a real emergency. Otherwise, learn to say ‘No’ and do so regularly.

​For more on the importance of saying ‘No’, read Reduce stress with just 1 word.

Do you find yourself thinking about work during your free time? You are thinking about all of the work that should be getting done but is still piled up on your desk. You find that your own opinion of yourself as a person, a colleague and an employee gets lower with each passing day.

If this is happening to you, it may well be because you are procrastinating. If you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing, especially when you really are capable of getting it done; you will find that you can lie to everyone else but you can’t fool yourself. You know that you are letting yourself and everyone else down.

Have you ever noticed how when you have an absolute immovable deadline, you are usually able to get everything done that needs to be done? I don’t like using deadlines unnecessarily but when you see how little time you have to get something done, you ​become less distracted and more motivated. It may be worth experimenting with strategies that make it clear to you how little time you have to get the job done. Some examples include:

​These strategies will put more pressure on you while you are in work. This pressure can help you to get focused and avoid procrastination. If you use the​m wisely, they will relieve the pressure in your personal time because you can quickly see that you are on top of everything and do not need to stress about it.

​
The real reason you worry about work during your personal time is that you are not sure that you are on top of everything. With proper organisational systems and strategies, you can be sure that you are on top of your commitments.

​If you are struggling with procrastination, Stop Procrastinating - Get More Done will help.

​If you are a consistent procrastinator, you are underperforming. You are failing to be all that you can be and you are most likely letting yourself and others down in the process. That doesn’t mean you are a bad person; it just means that you can do better. It is you who is stopping you from doing better; not anybody else. If you find that you are experiencing any of these signs of procrastination, you need to take action, get yourself back on track and live the life you deserve.