Procrastination

By Aaron Byrd

Having a plan for the season is the first component to having a successful year. The second component is actually accomplishing your plan.

Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator is a great TED talk that discusses why people procrastinate. Most people tend to procrastinate. This talk helps to explain why.

This website at unstuck.com discusses four common reasons we procrastinate and how we can move past procrastination. Common reasons for procrastination include:

• Waiting for just the right time or just the right setting to do the task.
• You are used to working under pressure but not so much when you are not under pressure.
• Productive procrastination, where you work on what needs to be done but not on what is most important.
• Second guessing decisions and waffling back and forth.

The unstuck.com website offers several suggestions to help encourage you to not procrastinate. The key is to figure out what motivates you, both intrinsically and extrinsically.

In an FLL team procrastination can come in to play individually, as sub-groups or committees, and as the whole team. As a coach it will help if you figure out what motivates the team, the sub-groups, and the individuals. Is it having fun and being social? Is it rewards and recognition? Is it the opportunity to accomplish new challenges? You can build motivational milestones into the season for the team. Fun and social? Plan team outings or parties that happen when the team finishes a task. Rewards and recognition? Have visual rewards, perhaps a chart of accomplishments or buttons for accomplishing different tasks. Again, the secret is to find out what motivates your team mebers and use that to help motivate the team.