TED has long been a favourite app of mine to listen to a range of talks across different subjects. One that caught my attention recently was ‘Inside the mind of a master procrastinator’ by Tim Urban from February 2016 which is still capturing an audience with over 60 million views to date.
So why is this talk so popular? It’s something to which we can all relate. There are (according to Tim) two key procrastination types:
The first and most familiar is delaying everything until the last possible moment, like Tim who didn’t start his year-long thesis until 3 days before the due date despite his good intentions.
The second is more common, even among the most organised. With no hard ultimate deadline we can put matters off indefinitely, for instance, making a Will or sorting out paperwork. Tim had actually produced a plan to achieve his hard deadline, which was a great start estimating how much time he needed to spend each month to work towards his goal. However, the actual hard deadline was a year ahead which was too far ahead to keep him motivated.
Listening to the talk led to the importance of Projects and planning to help overcome procrastination. Projects by their very nature require timescales to be agreed, even if this is high level. Hard end dates for projects are actually in the minority and are usually legislation or legally driven, for instance the end of the tax year or specific items, such as GDPR. Most deadlines are selected by key decision makers, for example, aligned with the start or finish of the company financial year or perhaps by the end of the next quarter in line with estimated tasks and requirements.
However, it’s not enough to set the high-level time frames as Tim’s experience shows. There needs to be interim milestones within the Project to motivate and keep the tasks on track. For example, a 12-month Project could be phased into quarters with key objectives to keep the team focused on those shorter-term achievable items.
The other key motivator Projects provide is accountability. Projects come with regular reporting and escalation to Senior Management so if tasks are not progressing as planned these can be flagged early on. Tim’s only accountability was the final deadline date for his thesis. How he structured the prep work was up to him as there were no manufactured interim deadlines or reporting required.
Tim just about delivered on time, but by his own admission, nowhere near the quality levels required and under a great deal of stress, ironically leading to his closer look at procrastination and his TED talk. As shown, any task can be completed within a deadline when pushed for time, but planning, interim deadlines and accountability are the key drivers for an easier experience and ultimately a higher quality outcome.
Helen runs operational and change management projects for firms to support growing and / or changing businesses, tailored to requirements. For more information please contact [email protected].
