Entrepreneurs, writers, designers, programmers, anyone who involved in creative work have a serious problem with perfectionism. We’re obsessed with creating the perfect product, the perfect book, or the brand. As a result, we delay our projects.

Is it about discipline?

Procrastinators tend to be less disciplined, less goal-oriented, and not organized. You can call it the way you want, procrastination or perfectionism. It’s almost the same. Let me show you why.

If every second of doing nothing makes you feel more stressed. You panicked and felt miserable. I’m here to bring some fresh perspective on it. In this article, you’ll find the exact steps to overcome procrastination, and start acting.

You’ll be able to identify the moments when you procrastinate and act accordingly. By understanding the root cause, we’ll transform your procrastination into willpower, so you can do great work.

Also, at the end of the article, I’ll share actions that I’m using to stay productive and focused. If you’re in a hurry — jump to the bottom.

Let’s start with some facts.

The main trigger of procrastination is the lack of self-awareness. This happens because when we’re not really aware of why we’re putting things off, it’s hard to fix the problem. Understanding the problem will help us dive into it and make the changes we want in our lives. We can figure out how to change it and make things better in our lives.

Perfectionism can heavily influence procrastination. When someone is a perfectionist, they have extremely high standards for their work and fear making mistakes or not meeting those standards. This fear can make you delay starting or finishing tasks because you’re afraid of not doing them perfectly. You might wait for the perfect time to do things or avoid finishing them because you worry they won’t be good enough.

Procrastination is not a result of laziness or poor time management. Scientific studies suggest procrastination is due to poor mood management. That’s right. When you feel exhausted, or out of energy you’re more likely to procrastinate.

Imagine your brain as a small team of workers. When they’re feeling tired or low on energy, they tend to put off doing their tasks, even if they know they need to do them. It’s like when you feel tired after a long day of work or school, and you just want to sit and do nothing. So, procrastination isn’t just about being lazy or bad at managing time; it’s more about your brain’s energy levels and how it affects your motivation to get things done.

Research has found that regions of the brain linked to threat detection and emotion regulation are different in people who chronically procrastinate compared to those who don’t procrastinate frequently. In the brains of chronic procrastinators, the areas linked to detecting threats and handling emotions are more active or structured differently. This might make them more prone to delaying tasks, as they might perceive certain activities as threats.

When we avoid an unpleasant task, we also avoid negative emotions. This is rewarding and conditions us to use procrastination to repair our mood. When you choose the fun activity instead of the boring one, you feel happier because you’ve avoided the negative feelings. So, every time you procrastinate and do something enjoyable instead, you’re training your brain to feel better by avoiding unpleasant tasks. Which makes procrastination more likely in the future.

People who procrastinate a lot usually aren’t very organized or disciplined. If you think of conscientiousness as being how well someone can stick to a plan or stay focused on goals, then someone with low conscientiousness isn’t great at these things. Since procrastinators often have low conscientiousness, they struggle to get things done, stay organized, and stick to plans.

You’re a Procrastinator, Not a Perfectionist

There are different types of perfectionism

• Self-oriented. When you’re always pushing yourself to be flawless.
• Other-oriented. You might be a bit of a perfectionist towards others, expecting them to meet your high standards.
• Socially prescribed. Feeling like everyone expects you to be perfect, can be really stressful.

Each type can make you feel like you’re not doing well or make you delay tasks because you’re scared you won’t do them right. People with high levels of perfectionism fear harsh judgment from others. Procrastination serves as a way to protect their self-esteem and avoid the anxiety of failure or criticism.

Do You Overthink?

So, what’s holding you back from making a great work? Many people decide not even start doing creative work because they don’t want to create something that people will judge. So they decide to stay away at all.

It’s an irrational fear. Because nobody cares about your work (sorry it’s true, at least in the beginning). Instead of pushing through the change and making at least something, many were just frightened to even start.

Perfectionism is just an illusion.

It holds us back from achieving our goals. Imagine if you can overtake your perfectionism. Imagine how much more you can do.

The world is changing too fast. If you’re not ahead of it. You’ll be trapped. We just can’t afford to be perfect. To procrastinate. To judge others. And let others' judgment influence your behavior.

I used to overthink what movie I should watch. What course should I study. What book to read. The more I thought, the more overwhelmed and paralyzed I became. Then it hit me.

Nothing in this world is perfect. There are no perfect lines, no perfect movies, no perfect moves. And our endless loop of thoughts is holding us back from making a decision. Eventually, we end up making a choice we’re not satisfied with or not deciding at all.

Your chance of making the right decision about your life, investment, or business usually lies in a 50/50 rate of satisfaction. You’d rather be satisfied or be upset.

So why overthink?

Take a decision and make it right. At least you make a move.

You can let go of the idea that your tiny startup will become the next Facebook. And start doing the work rather than dreaming. These tiny changes in our lives can have a big influence on our work too. This habit, of acting fast is what you need.

How To Do A Great Work

Now, if you read till this moment it means you’re serious with your intentions. If you just skipped it’s fine too, but the rest of the techniques I’m going to describe will not work if you’re not self-aware.

You might heard about some of these hacks. I’m not going to overwhelm you. But I’ll describe only those hacks that I use and only those that help me to overcome procrastination and stay focused.

The first thing I do every morning is write down what I did yesterday, how much time I spent on my goals, what worked, what didn’t, why it didn’t work, and what I’m planning to do today. It helps me think more clearly and this morning routine motivates me to stick committed to my goals. I believe starting your morning productively will help you to stay consistent during the day. And by writing about things you did, understanding the problem is leading you to new ideas in the future.

I’m not writing more than 3 things that I want to do each day. These things should be small and feel like quick work. It helps to trick the brain that it’s just a few minutes to fix that. For example, when I’m working on the landing page. I don’t set a goal for myself to build a landing page. I’m making it a little specific: Come up with 5 headlines for the hero section and test them on the wireframe.

So it’s a small task, I estimate to finish it in 20 minutes max, and my brain is happy. And it will not even realize that I already spent an hour writing the whole concept.

I always set a timer. 30 minutes, one hour or two. It helps me to focus. This trick I use to make myself focus only on work. I just need to spend 1 hour here and I’m done. Look at this and I have the rest of the day empty for other stuff. There have been numerous studies and research done on the effectiveness of including the use of timers in improving productivity and focus. Because it creates a sense of urgency. When you allocate a specific time for work, such as 30 minutes or an hour, it sets a clear boundary and helps you concentrate on the task at hand. By knowing there’s a defined period dedicated to work, you’re motivated to make the most of that time and avoid distractions.

Understand when you’re lack of energy. When I don’t feel great and feel tired today it’s rarely that I’m going to do the good work. So, the first thing I do is make anything that can quickly bring me some joy and energy. Going to a restaurant, or cafe, meeting up with friends, going to the gym, or just going to sleep.

I’m intentionally postponing my first meal till midday. Delaying your first meal until midday helps you concentrate better because fasting means your body isn’t busy digesting food. This frees up energy for your brain, making you more alert and focused. Fasting can also boost the production of brain chemicals linked to attention.

— Zaur

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