For a long time now, procrastination has been my friend. I turn to it whenever I feel overwhelmed, tired or directionless. It’s

like a best friend who’s always there. I know what result I’m going to get when I do procrastination. Because it doesn’t just happen to me. I actually choose to engage in the behaviour of putting things off. I justify with excuses like, I’ve had a really hard day, I deserve a break or I’ll start tomorrow…I promise. And then tomorrow rolls around and the cycle continues. Sound familiar?

Well, this is one of the most common themes that come up when I’m coaching doctors. We all do this to some extent. The problem is if it becomes a habitual way of coping. If it gets in the way of you achieving what you want, then you need to start seeing procrastination as foe rather than friend.

A common area where procrastination rears its ugly head is in studying for the exams. Study feels like the last thing you want to do at the end of a long day at work. And yet, the longer you put it off, the harder it seems and getting through the study feels like climbing a huge mountain. It all becomes overwhelming and stressful so you put it off even more.

There’s a certain pleasure in procrastination. You get to put off what feels like a painful experience – the study. However, as the study builds

up, not doing it becomes painful. So we move between pleasure and pain. And when the pain gets so intense eg there’s only a few months left till the exams and you have to get your butt into gear, then action starts to

happen. We will do more to avoid pain then we do to get pleasure.

Pain is a huge motivator which is why we associate so much pain with studying and exams.

So how do you break the cycle?

I’ve found three strategies that work best for procrastination:

1. Start associating pleasure with the very thing you’re trying to put off eg the reward of studying is getting your FRACGP and the freedom to do what you want with your career and life.

2. Recognize that procrastination is just a strategy we do. It doesn’t happen to us. We choose to engage with it. So make an active choice to do the opposite. If you say YOU CAN’T do it then that’s when YOU MUST do it.

3. Break up the tasks into bite sized pieces. Being doctors, we are all high achievers and we set ourselves enormous tasks to complete in minimal time frames. Be realistic about breaking up the tasks into chunks you can complete and notice the difference in how you feel when you get it done. Set yourself up for success.

I look forward to hearing how you go with overcoming procrastination. Believe me,

when you do, you’ll be amazed with how much more time you have on your hands and how much easier it is to get things done.

To your success and happiness,

Angela