How to Stop Procrastinating on Your Slide Creation
You wish you could update your slides the way Echo does it. You want slides that people ‘ooh and ahh’ over. You want to feel amazing after that presentation, knowing you gave your best possible performance.
But you just aren’t there yet.
And I would like to tell you why—so that you can overcome it!
I’m a certified life coach who has trained hundreds of people to reclaim their time. By ending procrastination. In this case, the procrastination is related to your slide presentations.
Overcoming procrastination requires tackling two main areas: Scheduling and Follow-Through.
Key Area #1: Scheduling
Let’s dive into the Scheduling part first.
Have you carved out time in your schedule to address your slides? I don’t mean have you thought about making time. I mean, have you actually written it on your calendar? It doesn’t matter if you use a pen and paper or something electronic (I prefer Google Calendar). But the time has to be blocked off.
In order to be effective, this can’t just be a chunk of time labeled, “Work on Slides.” You need a measurable result. Consider something like this: “from 1pm to 2pm--finish updating these particular slides.” At the end of the time block, you need to be able to identify whether or not you have completed the task. See Echo’s blog post for ideas on measurable rules and specific activities.
If you’re thinking that you ‘kind of’ do this, then you’re off track. ‘Kind of’ will never get you where you want to be. You must get very specific because that is what pins down the excuse-making part of our brains. If you write “Work on Slides,” on your calendar, part of your brain will definitely find an excuse in the beginning, middle, or end of that time frame!
Excuse-making for your brain might look something like this, at each point in your dedicated time frame:
Beginning: “What do I actually have to get done here? The presentation, but I never said which part to work on. The storyboard? Finding visuals? The slides?
Middle: “Let’s take a second to get some coffee. I’m totally working and that’s what I said I’d do! I’ll be right back.”
End: “Well, I worked on them, but I’m going to need another time block to actually FINISH them.”
When your schedule is vague, you leave too much room for excuses to crop up. This is part of the reason your brain resists the idea of getting specific, because it knows it can’t give these regular excuses anymore.
Brains resist change and hard work because of the motivational triad. The motivational triad are the three basic goals for the brain: seek pleasure, avoid pain, and conserve energy.
So when you tell your brain, “Hey, let’s put this task on the calendar,” it usually wants to whine and complain like a little kid. “Whaaat?! Why would we schedule that task when we could be watching Netflix?!”
So it may seem unnatural at first, but you must pin down what you’re going to do. Schedule it in. Get yourself to your desk and get to work.
Key Area #2: Follow-Through
Now it’s time to talk about the second part of procrastination: Follow-Through.
Let’s say you put on your calendar, “Finish Slides from 9am to 11am.”
It is now 9am. What are you thinking?
Hopefully, you’re thinking, “I can’t wait to get started! Echo made this so easy for me. Let’s dive in.” That probably generates a feeling of excitement for you. Then you take the action of actually working on the slides.
But if you are feeling dread, confusion, or some other type of resistance, you’re going to be more likely to procrastinate.
Common thoughts may include:
“This is going to be hard.”
“Maybe I should go clean instead.”
“I’m not quite sure what to do next.”
“I don’t really want to do this work,”
“I don’t see the point of updating these slides anyways. They were good enough.”
“I have five other tasks I could be getting done right now instead of this.”
The key is to recognize these as thoughts and not as true statements or facts. They are simply thoughts your brain is trying to get you to believe so that it can take the path of least resistance. If it works, this fulfills the motivational triad of seeking pleasure (doing something that’s fun instead of this task), avoiding pain (mild discomfort of working on slides), and conserving energy (not having to think very hard).
In order to combat this, you need to be ready to do battle with your brain. At the moment you sit down to work on your slides, you should be aware. You might think, “Wait! Why am I feeling dread? I don’t have to feel this way. My brain is telling me a story but I can replace this story.”
Instead of, “This is going to be hard,” try:
Maybe it’s not as hard as I think.
Echo broke the steps down for me so it won’t be hard.
I bet I can figure this out.
Instead of, “Maybe I should go clean instead,” remind your brain:
We scheduled this time for a reason.
Cleaning time is later (back to the importance of a schedule).
Cleaning may be easier right now, but we’re committed to finishing these slides.
I know you don’t want to do this right now, let’s just get started and see how it goes.
Instead of, “I’m not quite sure what to do next,” consider:
I don’t need to indulge in confusion about this.
I know the next best step to take.
I can try something before I give up.
Instead of, “I don’t really want to do this work,” use:
I know you don’t want to do this work right now, brain, but we’re going to do it.
This work is going to pay off.
The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go do something fun.
Instead of, “I don’t see the point of updating these slides anyways. They were good enough,” replace it with:
We’re not remaking the decision right now. We’re committed to following through.
We’re not just aiming to be good enough, brain. We’re determined to be great.
The point is we said we’d do it. So let’s go!
Instead of, “I have five other tasks I could be getting done right now instead of this,” try:
Yep, and we will have time for those other tasks later.
This is important right now because we scheduled it for right now.
Those tasks can wait. They aren’t urgent.
The best time is now to get these slides done.
Try out the thoughts that work best for you to create a feeling of motivation, commitment, or determination. Motivation and inspiration are not feelings that come out of nowhere. They are generated by our thoughts. And we can practice thoughts. We always create our feelings with our thoughts.
Follow-through is also made possible by setting up the right environment. Don’t give your brain the opportunity to be a squirrel and get distracted. When I sit down to work, I create a clear zone.
Consider these practical tips for creating a distraction-free zone:
Stop notifications or sounds of any kind on your laptop.
Email should not be open (or pause it using Boomerang if you need to look at particular emails).
Keep your cell phone in another room.
If you feel a strong temptation to look at websites, use something like Freedom to physically block you. You won’t be able to give in to the urge in that moment.
Keep a list of helpful thoughts nearby in case you begin to drift into feeling discouraged.
Get Going!
Now that you understand that Consistent Scheduling and Follow-Through are the two areas holding you back from getting those slides done, you are equipped with what you need to move in the right direction!
Don’t let your brain overcomplicate the situation as a way to distract you. It’s simple, yet it takes time to develop the muscle of ending procrastination.
I’ve seen plenty of success in this area with my clients. Sometimes, they have the information but they simply need to practice. Building the mental muscles of stopping procrastination for good takes a bit of time. I cheer them on every step of the way, helping them create their own enthusiasm and dedication.
You CAN create the slide presentation you want. I believe in you!
If you want to learn more about how to stop procrastinating, and to have access to the worksheets that will help guide you, join my free Stop Procrastinating program here:
Bio: Caitlin Faas, Ph.D. is a certified life and weight coach who helps professors reclaim 5 hours in their week for themselves. She knows the struggle because she was a tenured psychology professor and department chair before leaving academia.
