“Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder” - Mason Cooley
Habits and ego can either be strengths that propel us to get our work done or weaknesses that self-sabotage our productivity. Procrastination is an example where most workers fool themselves into believing they don’t do it. The reality is they procrastinate either directly or indirectly.
Is it procrastination or a lack of values?
Good values are like a magnet. They attract good people – John Wooden
There’s a difference between delaying or postponing something that should be done today (procrastination) versus committing to do something but not intending to do it (values). In either case letting ourselves or others down should never be tolerated as acceptable behaviour. Upholding values is central to the culture of high performing teams.
Do too many choices cause you to choose nothing?
“Indecision and delays are the parents of failure" - George Canning
Productivity in its simplest form is about making progress. While there are numerous variables that can restrict output, there’s also plenty of strategies that can be applied to drive efficiencies and outcomes. A common impediment to achievement is when we’re unable to decide. Do too many choices cause you to choose nothing?
Putting things off to another time in the workplace
If we’re honest then we’ll admit that we have a tendency to put things off to another time in the workplace. Hey I’m not fond at filling out forms so the monthly expense claim is painful for me.
Yet 7 out of 10 people in the workplace tell me they don’t put things off (aka procrastinate), but if I delve a little deeper I find it’s generally more like only 1 out of 10 who’s not procrastinating in some form or another.