From procrastination to the lure of ‘looking busy’ in our jobs, most of us have a complicated – and at times, frustrating – relationship with being productive. While no one wants to hear the phrase ‘we all have the same 24 hours in a day’ ever again, there is a natural desire to make the most of the time we spend working, and strive smarter rather than harder to hit our goals both inside and out of the office.

This all comes down to that daunting word ‘productivity’, which coach and procrastination expert Juliet Landau-Pope inspired us to think a little differently about in her fascinating talk on the Work Life stage, in partnership with Google, at this year’s Stylist Live. After studying and teaching in Oxford, Paris, Cairo and Jerusalem, Landau-Pope set up her own consultancy, JLP Coach, where she has honed her knowledge of all things organisation.

Her refreshing ideas on how we can better spend our time, energy and effort on the things that really matter had everyone taking notes. Here are her five tips on how to deal with procrastination in work and life.

“The first thing lots of my clients say is ‘Why can’t I get round to this?’ or ‘Why am I spending so much time on the less important things?’ My first tip is to stop asking why, because it takes us into our head. We start ruminating and speculating rather than doing,” says Landau-Pope. “As a coach, I’m about getting people moving and changing their habits, so I want them to shelve the ‘why’ questions.

“What I do want to talk about is ‘what’. One of the main reasons people avoid important tasks or difficult conversations is because the focus isn’t clear. The first step is to have a really clear sense of what your end goal is. Come up with a concrete, tangible ‘what’ and you’re more likely to achieve it.” 

“All of us get overwhelmed by projects that seem immense. We say to ourselves, ‘I’m never going to be able to fill out all those forms or clear my email inbox – it’s just too much,’ and so we put it off,” says Landau-Pope.

“My suggestion is to focus on one small step, the very first thing you need to do. Scale it right back to just sitting down at your desk and opening your laptop, or finding the number of the person you need to call. Set yourself a micro goal that will give you momentum and move you towards being more productive.” 

“Eat the frog is an idea that comes from a Canadian American business consultant called Brian Tracy, and he used to tell his team that if you wake up in the morning and ‘eat a live frog’, your day can only get better,” says Landau-Pope. 

“In the workplace, what that metaphor translates to is: look at your to-do list and find the thing that you least want to do, and do that first. You’re going to have such a sense of satisfaction and you’re going to look forward to the rest of the day without it hanging over you.” 

“There’s a lot of research that shows that if you make yourself accountable to someone else, you’re more likely to complete a task,” says Landau-Pope. “It could be as simple as telling a friend or colleague: ‘Today I’m going to polish off that email I’ve been putting off.’

“What’s really key is the language that you use. When you say ‘I need’ to do something or ‘I should’ do something, it’s not motivating. It taps into guilt and shame, which are not motivating feelings. But when you say ‘I will’, you’re being intentional and you can’t wriggle out of it in the same way. Try that little shift in your wording and you’ll see a difference.” 

“Procrastination and perfectionism go hand in hand,” says Landau-Pope. “Often, the reason we put things off is because we’re afraid of not getting it right. A dear friend of mine, the psychologist Rivka Caroline, said: ‘When my 10-year-old is making his bed, I just need it made; I don’t need it to be perfect. But when I’m jumping out of a plane, I need the person who is packing my parachute to do it perfectly.’

“What I take from that is, when we’re procrastinating, it’s worth asking: am I jumping out of a plane? If I’m sending an email or preparing for a meeting, does it have to be 100% perfect. Is it a life or death matter, or is good enough going to be fine?

“You can usually afford to lower the bar and let yourself off the hook. Remember it’s better done than perfect.” 

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Images: shot by Farheenxo