Idea
Procrastination is often treated like a dirty word. I often hear incredible amounts of shame when people admit that they’re a procrastinator. However, this trait could be one of your greatest strengths.
Procrastination can help you be much more effective in the world if you can name it, claim it, and reframe it.
Procrastinators are pressure-prompted people who are great at handling stress. They’re great at getting things done and ultimately, they’re great at executing. We all have different things that are triggers for us to be our very best. For procrastinators, or “pressure-prompted” individuals, it’s the deadline.
So, if we can identify those triggers, we can start to reframe and redesign our lives so we spend more time being our very best, and more time using our innate strengths to work for us.
Example
If you are pressure-prompted, the first step is to become self-aware. Name it, own it and explore how you can use being pressure-prompted more effectively.
Some methods of using being pressure-prompted to help you drive results:
- Proactively set deadlines. Find a colleague who you can set a deadline with and be accountable to move forward more quickly on a deadline.
- Space out deadlines for different projects.
- Use your calendar to block out time and set reminders about your deadlines.
Action
The key is to use being pressure-prompted as an asset to work for you.
Name it, claim it, and reframe how you’re going to use that asset to be more effective and more impactful in your day-to-day jobs.