Procrastination is my stress reliever.

What if I told you procrastination is how I relieve stress? In fact, it’s how a lot of people relieve stress when they’re feeling overwhelmed. Mom’s dead, dad’s gay now, I’m stilly funny, but it’s been a bit overwhelming at times. One minute I’m chugging along, crushing work and remembering my keys and then bam, it becomes too much and I find myself procrastinating, i.e. putting off what I can easily do today, so that my brain may process the millions of thoughts circulating in my head.

Procrastination as a strategy for stress relief wasn’t a problem for me as a child. I never missed a deadline, even in college, and I always finished projects and paid bills on time. I did procrastinate on cleaning my room though…and going to bed on time. What can I say, I didn’t want to miss out on anything! Plus my room was just going to get messy again, so why bother cleaning it?

It’s ironic that my childhood "procrastination triggers” are now my adult procrastination tactics. Don’t want to answer emails? Hmm…I think it’s time to clean out the spice drawer and do the dishes from last night. Really need to finish that web copy? Well…maybe I should lay down and think about what I want to write, while simultaneously taking a nap…

When I catch myself procrastinating, the first question I ask myself is:

“What are you feeling about this thing you keep putting off? What are you afraid of?”

The second thing I do is give myself grace to procrastinate answering the question, usually by doing one of the above procrastination tactics. It turns out, cleaning and thinking/sleeping give my brain time to process what I’m feeling that’s causing the stress.

My procrastination tactics help me survive when major stressors like death or divorce, but they don’t always allow me to thrive. What allowed me to thrive in childhood and never miss a deadline, does not help me thrive as an adult. Sometimes you have to face your fear, and do it anyway.

Answering emails, following through on a sales lead, and writing copy for my website are all bold and brave things that will move my business forward. When I find myself instinctually wanting to procrastinate, I know that what I’m really feeling is stress and fear. So I feel it, and then I move on. Sometimes the stress is too overwhelming and I’m not ready to break my habit of thinking through all the angles before getting over the fear and doing it anyway.

When the first two options fail, I stop and take a deep breath and ask myself:

What can I do for 5 minutes that will move me out of inaction and into action.

Whatever that is, I set a timer and do that thing for 5 minutes, non-stop. When the timer goes off, I get to decide if I’m ready to keep going, or if I’m still too stressed or afraid of something and need to take a TV time out and go clean something. Naps aren’t an option.

This is what works for me. So what the hell does this have to do with you? Well, according to Outstanding Women Leader with more credentials than me, Mel Robbins, “Procrastination is a form of stress relief.” You can imagine my surprise when after coaching a client on this very strategy I mentioned above, I discovered in a quick google search that Mel Robbins apparently has a famous talk she gave on this very thing. True story! Happened yesterday, but I digress.

Mel Robbins shares three strategies for breaking the connection between the trigger and the stress reliever, i.e. procrastination: forgive yourself, become self-aware of what’s triggering you, create a ritual that replaces procrastination, but only do it for 5 minutes. For all my perfectionist procrastinators out there, my questions for you are:

What are your triggers for procrastination? What fear is driving your perceived need for perfection? If you weren’t afraid, what action would you take right now, that you’ve been putting off for far too long? Most importantly, whoo will help hold you accountable for taking action today? Will it be me?

Check out my latest offering, Wise & Witty Conversations with Katie. See first hand how powerful questions and wise conversations can make a difference in your life. Oh, and did I mention I’m funny?