Medicine For Procrastination Season

In the northern hemisphere, we’re entering what I like to call Procrastination Season. It’s ironic, I always think, that while the long days of summer bring us more time, they also bring more procrastination. Perhaps it’s this abundance of time that lulls us into a false sense of security, that there’s always time to do the thing later – until there isn’t.

Then there’s the fact that lying in the grass with a raspberry ripple ice cream while the sun warms your back feels glorious, as does swirling your naked toes in a clear river, and taking walks down a dusty dry path to a pub with hanging baskets and a portion of chips.

Who isn’t going to procrastinate when these moments are so few and so fleeting? The trouble is, that while we feel suspended in a long haze of summer, time actually carries on and we hit September with a bump of “oh god I have so much to do” – and Christmas is, like, really close.

I’m speaking from experience here. Last summer was, I believe, a pivotal moment in the functioning burnout which took over my winter. I made plans and commitments for the autumn but didn’t actually do anything towards them. It was like filling a barrel with a hose but not siphoning any of the water off from the tap at the bottom – the seams started the weaken and the lid rumble with the pressure.

I’m not going to tell you you must work through the summer. Instead, I think we need to smooth out the activity so that our work loads in summer and autumn aren’t so lopsided – to find a way where we can enjoy the summer months without hating our lives come September.

Here’s my prescription for doing that:

Work when you work, rest when you rest

Already over the last week I’ve had one of those days where the sun is blazing outside and I sit at my desk alternating between gazing longingly out the window and staring at a blank page. So much procrastination comes from situations like this where we’re neither doing one or the other, so we need to find ways to avoid them. Designate yourself a few work hours a week where you commit to focusing on a few small tasks (see below), really working in that work time, before clocking off to enjoy the summer. You may want to do this in the mornings before the day begins or in the evenings when the fun’s stopped – it’s up to you.

What’s the minimum you can do?

It’s easier to stick to your designated work times when the amount of work you have to do doesn’t sprawl out from within the confines of those hours. Rather than pressure yourself to smash out a whole week’s work in a morning, focus on the minimum you can do – what is the one most important task you can do this week? What are the three things September-you will be so pleased you did? Doing the minimum forces you to really prioritise, but it also means you’re not wasting summer days on things that aren’t actually important in the grand scheme of things.

Revise your plans for the rest of the year

Ok, this might be drastic, but bear with me. That fourth quarter of the year is actually much shorter than we think it is. Realistically, most people are checking out of life around mid-November as they start to plan Christmas shopping, coordinate families, have parties and all the festive things. So it’s actually more of a one-and-a-half month quarter than a three month one, and there’s only so much you can jam in without confusing your customers and burning yourself out. So, if you have more than one or two post-summer projects planned, start to whittle them down and focus on the most important ones.

Accept when you’re not working

And if you’re going to use this method of summer working, you need to shift your internal expectations of yourself. Accept that you’re not working at the same pace or volume that you were previously. Fully commit yourself to those rest periods, releasing those ‘I really should be doing x right now’ thoughts to surrender to the moment. When you’re not working, allow yourself to not be working. Because what’s the point of having your business if you don’t?

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