Photo by JOSHUA COLEMAN on Unsplash
Does this sound like something you can relate to? You’ve got a project you really need to be working on. Maybe it’s filing six months of paperwork. Or learning how to use that new software you downloaded. It’s necessary but boring. Not surprisingly, you manage to find other things to occupy your time.
This next situation is even trickier. The project is important but you’ve got feelings about it. And not happy feelings. Maybe you need to fix someone else’s sloppy work. Or your boss has asked you to handle a personnel situation that you didn’t cause. You think, “I shouldn’t have to do this, it’s not fair.” But you’re not in a position to find someone else to do it. Instead you end up procrastinating.
I’ve experienced both of these scenarios and it’s not a pleasant experience. It feels like I’ve got my feet in cement and no matter how much positive thinking I do, I can’t seem to get unstuck. What’s a way forward?
Well, I can’t promise magic but I can suggest an approach that’s worked for me and a number of my clients.
Let me share a story about Lynda. She was procrastinating on a review of the records left by someone she’d supervised. This person had taken another position and left sooner than anticipated. Lynda suspected that the records were incomplete and might even be inaccurate. She had hired someone to take this person’s position and he was starting in a few days. She knew she needed to review them before her new employee started but she also felt it was unfair.
I asked her what might motivate to to get started. She knew once she did that, the rest would be a piece of cake.
We decided that creating a purpose statement might work.
As a result, she realized she was motivated to do the review for three reasons:
To make sure the organization met its legal and ethical commitments.
To help the new employee make a smooth transition.
To see if there could be process improvements that would make things go more smoothly in the future.
All three of those reasons tapped into her core values. As soon as she was able to connect with her values, it immediately elevated the importance of the task. And it also made the unfairness she’d felt seem insignificant.
I’ve been a fan of purpose statements for many reasons. They help to create clarity about what you want to accomplish. They align people around a common aim. And they enable you to stay on track if you’re veering out of your lane. But I’d never really seen purpose statements as being able to overpower procrastination.
Next time there’s something you need to do and you’re dragging your feet, consider creating a purpose statement. You may still think it’s boring or have negative feelings about it but you can set those aside to accomplish something more important.
Clarity of purpose can transform the mundane into the meaningful.
Give it a try and let me know what happens.