Breaking The Procrastination Cycle – Exemplary Self-Leadership For Productivity
- Brainz Magazine
- Dec 10, 2024
- 4 min read
Written by Lars Friedrich, Leadership Expert
Lars Friedrich, a seasoned expert in personal and professional leadership development, brings a unique 'Touch of Zen' to his approach. This distinctive method, honed over a proven track record of over three decades, sets him apart in the field and piques his curiosity.
"It will be easier tomorrow, and there's no need to do the work today!" is an often-used and too-good-to-be-true procrastinator's tale. However, procrastination represents executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs' tendencies to delay making essential and much-needed leadership decisions, such as strategic planning, resource allocation, or team restructuring, while executing less important ones.
The essence of leadership – leading by example – is not just a responsibility but a powerful tool that empowers them to take charge of their actions and decisions.
This statement is factually accurate for executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and those they're trusted and tasked to lead!
It's a simple truth that only when they appear and show up as credible and exemplary...
Will those they claim to lead follow!
Because this kind of credibility can never be earned through titles, diplomas, and words but through actively displayed exemplary leadership and interconnected decisive actions.
Procrastination language
On the other hand, procrastination is the tendency to delay or even avoid necessary decisions.
The resulting actions put leadership and everybody involved or dependent on those decisions into a forced stasis.
One often-used word, as a thought or spoken out loud, in the language of executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs is ‘tomorrow’!
In Spanish, it translates to ‘Mañana!’, and it not only means tomorrow but also refers to the indefinite future.
Therefore, it is one of those words that is favourably used to indicate the beginning process of procrastination.
Feelings and actions
Generally, when we have a daunting set of tasks in front of us, it's easy to rationalise passive coping and reverse the relationship between feelings and actions.
But our feelings follow our behaviours!
Our actions shape our feelings.
We don't wait to feel like doing the work.
We act, and our feelings follow suit.
This approach and action is the key to not just productivity but also emotional well-being in the long run.
Additionally, we like to tell ourselves that it'll be easier to get it done tomorrow, so of course, we'll take it easy today!
Because we don’t feel like doing it now, and we’ll feel better the next day. So if we wait until tomorrow, Monday, next week, or … (fill in the blanks), we'll have the motivation.
That approach always leads to the best results in business.
Failure of forecasting
The last statements made are prime examples of a procrastinator's tale but are factually inaccurate!
Numerous studies on those assumptions and little stalling beliefs turned out to be a brilliant case of forecasting failure, as we assume that our future selves will think and feel differently than our present selves.
It's the same reason we have, for example, a list of essential books set aside to read or a Netflix queue of 'serious' – whatever that means individually – films to watch.
Unfortunately, when choosing what to read or watch, we often skim clickbait articles and gossip, endlessly scroll social media, and watch something from the existing queue.
We struggle to predict what our future self will think and feel accurately, and, like our self-made forecasts or overly optimistic assumptions about our future feelings and motivations, are often the root of our procrastination!
The general truth and reality is that when tomorrow comes, it's the same person with the same feelings and a list of things left undone.
Except now, the list has grown a little bigger, and we feel even worse!
Breaking the cycle
But here is the good news for executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs in dynamic business environments who are intrinsically motivated to develop themselves and change.
They can break this vicious cycle by acknowledging that they don't feel like it – and seldom will – but do it regardless!
Executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs can reinforce the process by telling themselves that tomorrow will be better, and they can actively give it their best, aka getting into action without further delay or stalling.
Because their actions today create the conditions they face tomorrow, only by doing the work now can they make tomorrow better!
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” – Plato
This attitude and approach changes not only the landscape of obstacles and challenges executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs face but also how they feel about taking them on.
When executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs act regardless of their feelings...
It shapes their future feelings, as their motivations reflect their past efforts, and they grow to become someone who feels like doing the work right now!
As an outcome of those efforts, they also realise that:
Actions taken 'Now' shape feelings 'Later'.
And doing hard things 'Today' makes things easier 'Tomorrow'.
Leadership choices
Ultimately, these simple but challenging choices are always in the hands of executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs.
They can choose to pay now in terms of their time, effort, and commitment.
Or they can choose to pay even more later.
However, by making the right leadership choices, they can stay focused and determined on their path to success.
Because procrastination is irrational and does not help facilitate leadership in dynamic entrepreneurial and corporate business environments!
It represents executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs' tendency to delay making essential and much-needed decisions while executing the less important ones.
On the other hand, when they take charge of actions and decisions – even when those are the difficult ones – and leading by example inspires others to do the same.
This active approach is precisely what decisive, credible, and exemplary self-leadership is about.
As a matter of fact, it won't be easier tomorrow, so executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs…
Should do the work today!
Lars Friedrich, Leadership Expert
Lars Friedrich, a seasoned expert in personal and professional leadership development, brings a unique 'Touch of Zen' to his approach. This distinctive method, honed over a proven track record of over three decades, sets him apart in the field and piques his curiosity.
With a career that has spanned from being a former Officer and Special Forces Operator to a COO in international and intercultural corporate business operations and development positions, and now as the founder of his boutique business, Lars has accumulated a wealth of practical leadership, resilience, discipline, motivation, endurance, commitment, persistence, and dedication.
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