Look around your workplace and you see hardworking people who show up early and leave late but they rarely get things done. Why? The time is not enough. Their industry is demanding-so they think. “Sudesh you have no idea how law firms have lots of work demands” I have encountered auditors who have told me the same sentence in a different tone.
Newsflash: Auditors and lawyers are not special. Every industry is demanding. Talk to the coders at Google and find out the pressure they work under. Oh, did you have a chat with the bankers? How about the Coaches like me?
Procrastination in the workplace takes on either a passive or active form:
Passive Procrastination. The classic “I’ll do it later” type of procrastination. Nothing productive will get done while someone is passively procrastinating.
Active Procrastination. Putting off one task by doing a different productive task instead. Though you are getting something done, you’re still procrastinating by avoiding the first task.
Everyone meet Juliet. She is 67 years old; recently retired from the Corporate World with over $250,000 in savings and she owns a decent home with her husband Peter. Juliet has spent the last five years working for several organizations in audit, beverages and the not-for-profit sectors.
She was a high performer coached so many people during her career who to this day call her “Mama”
Lately she’s been sleeping poorly, feeling anxious and this is starting to cause her depression. Her children think she’s feeling the effects of retirement but that is not the case. Juliet has actually been thinking about her active procrastination over her career.
She wanted to be an actress but she waited for too long. Her reasons,
“Acting doesn’t pay well”
“What will my parent say?”
“Right now, I do what gives me most money”
Active procrastination is a silent killer of hardworking people like Juliet who think money is everything so they use it to put off things they desire.
Juliet could have started a part-time career in acting while she went to her 9-5. Don’t put off things and look busy. You have one life to live.
Embrace the audacity to go out and live life on your own terms. Start that business. Fall in love. Apply for that job. Love your spouse. Go for the party
Happy New Year!
