368 | What is Productive Procrastination and How it Impacts You

We have all experienced productive procrastination. It is a conscious choice to focus on something that needs to get done and avoid the tasks that are most important to your growth. I have felt this many times in prioritizing my day. Productive procrastination is something that each of us has to manage. Today, I share with you what is productive procrastination, and how to overcome it. Don’t let productive procrastination derail you form what you want most.

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Productive Procrastination and How it Impacts You: The Transcript

Have you ever had one of those days where you knew what you should be doing, but there were some other things that you kept focusing on? They were important to the business, they were important to the work you had to do, but they weren’t the most important thing. Well, I call that Productive Procrastination, and it really is simply this, is when you know exactly what you should be doing, say you need to do sales calls to grow the business, or you need to create a new relationship with a strategic partner and deepen that relationship, and you’re avoiding it because it’s uncomfortable. And so you go to what’s comfortable, things that you’ve done before or things that are really easy to you, things that are natural to you, things that need to be done.

These are important things, they have to be done in the business, so your mind makes up the decision that it is okay to push that other stuff aside. Productive Procrastination is a killer because it’s a limiting belief that you don’t have to do what’s most important, that you can do what you want to. Now I know that when I say this, you may be thinking like, what does he really mean by this? I’m gonna share with you a story with you when I come back.

But first, my name’s Gene Hammett. I work with hypergrowth companies, I study hypergrowth, and I help leaders understand how to create leadership and culture that’s a competitive advantage. That, my friends, is what I’d love, love to do. I speak about it internationally, I write articles about it for Inc. Magazine, and I’m got a book coming out on this whole concept of creating culture that’s a competitive advantage. So, I talk to you about Productive Procrastination. I think this has probably touched all of us. Here’s the way it shows up in my life.

I’ve got a list of things in Asana, that’s the tool that I use to keep my task, and I have a long list there. So I’m always kind of juggling some things around and prioritizing what’s most important, what needs to be done today based on deadlines, and for me, I always underestimate how much time it takes to do something. I’ve got a team behind me, so my team does a lot of the production of the podcasts, that helps me with my writing, helps me with a lot of different aspects in the business, like I don’t do bookkeeping any more. So I have a team behind me that really helps support my growth, but there’s still some moments in time where I procrastinate on the things that matter the most to my business.

The things that matter the most to me right now are booking speaking gigs and engaging with clients that really do inspire me, so I know that may sound weird, maybe that’s a future video, but working with people and clients that really inspire you, not the ones that need you the most. You want to make sure you’re really clear about the vision that you have for yourself and the business. You have to be really clear about where you’re going, and that, my friends, is all about really getting centered on what you’re here to do, the purpose of your life, the purpose of your business and how you’re engaging yourself and your team around that purpose.

Now, I have had to look into my systems, and my business and my limiting beliefs before. I have coaches that I work with to help me keep growing, and it’s been just really astronomical ROI to have someone on my team that pushes me forward and gets me clear about what’s most important. And I love being able to do that for my clients. I was talking to someone the other day about sales calls that needed to be made for their business. And they knew exactly what to do, they knew exactly how to do it, they were so excited about it, but a week goes by and I asked them, how’d it go? And the answer was, well I meant to get to it but I didn’t.

There were a few other things I needed to do, and I just made the decision that I would do these first, and I never got to what was most important. We’ve already discussed in previous conversation what the critical path to their success was, and it was very clear they need to make these sales conversations and set them up. And they weren’t doing it.

So, when I stood in that moment and said, all right, you have a choice, we can either reprioritize your business around the current work you have and around these tasks you have, or we could go back to the big vision and re-identify what the most critical path is to your success, and let you choose what to do.

Now, you could be doing this along with us, but it didn’t change. It was still, we need to make sales conversations, we need to set up these calls, we need to have these meetings, we need to do everything we can to bring in more business, more clients, so the business can grow.

That was the most critical path at that time, within this company. And so I had to step back and say, so what are we gonna do about it? And it became very clear that they were more comfortable doing other task. They were more comfortable being productive and procrastinating on the most important task, in this case, those sales calls. Now you may have had similar experiences in your business, maybe it’s not sales, maybe it’s something completely different, but there’s moments where you are not living your fullest potential. Either it’s because you’re too comfortable, or you just don’t have the courage to really commit to what needs to be done so that you can get feedback for yourself, for your coach if you will, or your team so that you can keep growing.

Now, I say all this knowing that people won’t change their habits unless they really feel compelled to change. So, if what you have right now is working, if the money you have, the team that you have, the kind of clients you’re working with, the impact you’re making in the world, if everything is going as planned, then you probably can ignore this message ’cause whatever you’re doing is working. But if what you’re doing and the way you’re operating is not working, you have to ask yourself, am I being procrastinating by doing productive work? Am I productively procrastinating?

It’s hard to say. So, you are the only person that can answer that question. I create these videos ’cause I want to challenge you to think about yourself, about your leadership, about your company, about your growth in a new way. And I’ll share this with you because if you want to go deeper with this, you can get The Trap of Success.

In chapter four, it’s about thinking bigger, and you can actually get some insights on how you can actually go beyond this message. You can get it on Amazon, you can get it on Audible, you can get it on paperback, Kindle, whatever your preference is. If you really do want to know, and that’s all you want to know, just send me an email. I’ll actually send you that fourth chapter on thinking bigger, and you can look at the other limiting beliefs around Productive Procrastination, and it’ll help you actually go forward. I don’t mind doing that for you. Just reach out to me [email protected], and I’ll send it right over to you.

So, my name is Gene Hammett. I work with hypergrowth companies to help them create leadership and culture that’s a competitive advantage. I love what I do. I love helping people really understand how to be the leaders that they want to be and how to engage their team, their staff members and their personnel to really get more out of their work, and about what they’re doing, engage at a higher level. So, if you have any questions, make sure you reach out. Always keep listening, and lead with courage, and I’ll see ya next time.

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