The Science-Backed Way to Beat Procrastination with Marissa Boisvert and Ali Schiller

Daniel Lamadrid [00:01:18]:

Welcome to the Future of work podcast, Ali. Marissa, it’s great having you back.

Ali Schiller & Marissa Boisvert [ 00:02:36 ]:
Thank you. It’s great to be back.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:02:39 ]:
Awesome. Last time we spoke, we discussed the four types of procrastinators and how accountability can help. Since then, so much has changed because last time we we spoke, it was before the pandemic Right. So a lot has changed since then. Today we’re visiting the topic and we’re exploring how procrastination has evolved to date 2025, and what we can do about it. I took your procrastination quiz, and I am, in fact, a procrastinator. I won’t reveal which one yet. We’ll get to that in a moment. But since our last conversation, hybrid and remote work have become the norm. Have you noticed procrastination manifesting differently in these work settings?

Ali Schiller [00:03:28 ]:
Well, yes, in some ways. I think that what we’re always dealing with, with procrastination is distraction. So for some people, being in the office is very distracting, and for some people, being at home is very distract. So for instance, one of our clients that’s on the hybrid model, it has a much easier time working at home. But when she goes into the office, she gets a ton of interruptions. So for us, it’s about what structure do you have in place to deal with distraction? Because that really is so helpful. And so for her, it was, how do I institute office hours, have people sign up for time with me so they’re not just coming into my office non stop during the day? Because she found she could get a lot done in a day at home and not as much done in the office. But it was really important for her to be there and to help the people that she was managing. So I think what are the structures that you have in place to deal with distraction? Because distraction is probably like the leading indicator into procrastination.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:04:42 ]:
Oh, so distractions are the cause of procrastination, you would say, then?

Ali Schiller [00:04:47 ]:
I wouldn’t say that they’re necessarily the cause. I think Marissa will speak more to some of the causes, but I think that the. What the environment that you said, what’s changed so much from, you know, when we spoke in 2020-2025 is this huge increase in distraction, whether it’s from our devices, whether it’s just from the environment that we’re. The amount of change, like when we went through the pandemic, we were constantly, like, checking in to see what was going on, what was happening. And all of our routines were disrupted. Now we’re going through, okay, how do we create structure, routines that help us stay on task and doing the work that’s important to us while we’re bombarded with information, news, politics, and, you know, environmental disasters, all of this stuff, how do we stay focused? And so I think distraction is one of the big ones that we’re dealing with. Right now.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:05:47 ]:
And distraction. I believe, like you’re saying, a lot of it comes from technology. We’re being bombarded by so many things, and it could be silly things like having our phones there and seeing if someone liked the post that we published, seeing notifications. There’s also the matter of AI. AI before the pandemic was sort of like a unicorn. People talked about it, but weren’t really sure. And now, I mean, me, myself, I. I use AI for everything at work. Do you believe that AI, it’s helping us work faster, it’s working us be more. It’s helping us be more efficient. Do you think AI in it of itself helps reduce procrastination or is it just making it worse?

Ali Schiller [00:06:34 ]:
Well, there’s a couple different things. So one piece of AI is that it’s making the algorithms that grab our attention more effective. So it’s, it’s, you know, when we get those notifications or we get find ourselves online, which we all are online doing our work, it’s grabbing more of our time, it’s getting better at it. And that’s part of the profits that are being, you know, shared is around the attention economy growing. So that is an issue that we have to deal with as long as our attention is monetized. The piece about being more effective in our work, when we talk about the different types of procrastinators, we have the performer, which is someone who says, I work well under pressure. They do really well with AI because AI helps them get started faster. And it relieves some of the tension that perfectionism creates for them. They do great with AI. The self deprecator, which is the one that says, I’m so lazy. Those are actually least lazy people. There’s the least likely to procrastinate. And the reason that they feel like they’re procrastinating is because they’ve gotten so tired, fatigued, burned out that they can’t actually do anymore. And then they feel lazy. They do with AI because it helps them do more work. And they’re really your workhorses already, so they’re really doing a great job. The overbooker, which is someone who says, I’m so busy, they tend to be dealing with a lot of overwhelm. They say yes to everything. They have way too much on their plate and you’d think that it would be helpful, but it’s like one more thing for them to figure out, learn, implement, and it’s just like adds to the whirlwind. The novelty seeker is someone who just can’t stick with it long enough. These people are the shiny objects object syndrome. So they’re really excited about AI, but they’re like, in the midst of using it, they’re like, oh, I could do this with it. I could do this, I could do this. So it depends on which type you’re talking about.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:08:52 ]:
Is it possible to be all four types? Because you just described me in all four of those.

Ali Schiller [00:08:57 ]:
I think some overlap, definitely, but I think you tend to like when it feels really painful when you, you have sort of a way, a place that you are most comfortable in. But I think we all use all the types.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:09:14 ]:
Okay. Yeah. So I took, I took the quiz, which we will share with our listeners, so they can take the quiz and understand what type of procrastinator they are. I am a performer. Right. We’ll talk a little bit about those more in depth as we move forward. But then you just explained the other three, and I should have gotten those responses as well because I’m a little bit of everything. Just a little bit of sprinkles on everything. Have you, have you seen any new trends or patterns in procrastination on top of maybe the technological advances that we’ve been going through since the pandemic that have emerged that we didn’t discuss last time? Have you seen overall in these past, wow, six years already, almost any new patterns, Any new findings? Anything at all from then to now? I have some research that shows that about 20% of adults are chronic procrastinators. And I’d love some differentiation between being a procrastinator versus being a chronic one. Is being a chronic one more mental health related? Is it like a clinical issue? How do people get from here to here? And overall, nine out of 10, that’s what some surveys show, is nine out of 10 employees procrastinate at least one hour of their time every day. What can you say to that? What have you seen with your clients, with your research? Anything?

Marissa Boisvert [00:10:51 ]:
The most recent research and statistics that I have found is that 15 to 25% of adults in the workforce are chronic procrastinators.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:11:05 ]:
Okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:11:06 ]:
And 50% of college students are chronic procrastinators. So when you ask, you know, is, does mental illness potentially, you know, cause somebody to become a procrastinator or chronic procrastinator? I don’t know that I can draw that conclusion. But one of the things that they have found that is one of the causes is emotional regulation.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:11:34 ]:
Okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:11:34 ]:
And so anybody that may have a mental illness, anxiety, depression, adhd, Are the three that we see the most. Any type of high pressure or stressful situation is going to exacerbate procrastination. And so there probably are more likely to become chronic procrastinators. But I can’t. I can’t sit here and say that. That is a definite yes.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:12:02 ]:
Okay. Okay. Because you say that procrastination is tied to emotional regulation. Is it. Is it simply just poor time management or is it a clinical issue, you know, or are people just in their heads, oh, I’m procrastinating this, but in fact, they’re not.

Marissa Boisvert [00:12:27 ]:
Poor time management is a symptom, not a cause.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:12:31 ]:
Okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:12:32 ]:
And I love the way behavioral scientist Dr. Fuchsia Safwa. Are you familiar with her and her work?

Daniel Lamadrid [00:12:39 ]:
I’m not, no. No, no.

Marissa Boisvert [00:12:41 ]:
She’s amazing. But I love how she explains procrastination. She points out that human beings are hardwired to avoid pain and difficult difficulty, which then makes procrastination feel like an instant relief. But then that instant relief can trigger what she calls a shame spiral, which I love. Which means, like, you put off the task, then we feel guilty, and then we feel even worse. So the key is we need to short circuit that loop that is happening. Okay. And she also shared a really fascinating. Some fascinating research showing that self forgiveness and mindfulness can help. In fact, there is a 2020 study that found that after just eight weeks of mindfulness training, university students procrastinated less.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:13:39 ]:
Okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:13:40 ]:
So I’d love to help and break down that loop that she’s talking about. Short circuiting that loop.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:13:46 ]:
Yes, yes, yes.

Marissa Boisvert [00:13:47 ]:
Okay. So the first thing that’s really important to understand is that your ability to emotionally regulate yourself is dependent upon your level of self awareness.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:13:59 ]:
Okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:14:00 ]:
Okay. So what mindfulness does, and the reason why it was successful in that study is that mindfulness gives you permission to have emotions. So I think we can all relate. Right. When we are procrastinating, we feel emotions like embarrassment or frustration or shame, and none of those feel good. And our tendency is when things don’t feel good, we want to stuff it down.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:14:30 ]:
Yeah, yeah.

Marissa Boisvert [00:14:31 ]:
Resist it. Right. But when we resist something, it gets louder. And in this case, it’s an emotion. So that emotion starts to have a hold on you.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:14:44 ]:
Okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:14:44 ]:
Okay.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:14:45 ]:
Yeah, that makes sense.

Marissa Boisvert [00:14:46 ]:
Instead of you being in control of.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:14:48 ]:
It, It’s a vicious cycle.

Marissa Boisvert [00:14:50 ]:
It’s a vicious cycle. Vicious cycle. So mindfulness giving you the permission to have that emotion. What’s happening there is that you are acknowledging it and allowing it to be There. And in that allowing, you are accept, essentially accepting it. Okay, so now you’ve accepted this emotion, so it’s losing its power and it begins to fade away. Okay, so as an emotion fades away, you are freeing up mental bandwidth. So let’s say you’re in the workplace, you’re doing your job, you’re procrastinating. You go through this entire cycle, you are using so much mental bandwidth, resisting whatever’s coming up for you, which is preventing you from moving forward with whatever it is that you need to be doing. Right. So by going through this process, the practice of feeling an emotion, allowing it to be there, and in that allowing feeling, that shift of it getting quieter now, you can refocus and you can move on to your next task.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:16:10 ]:
Yes.

Marissa Boisvert [00:16:11 ]:
Okay, so this is a skill that you want to build. This is how you short circuit that loop because it gets you out of that emotional suffering loop that comes from procrastination.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:16:25 ]:
Yes, that makes a lot of sense. And at least in my experience, I don’t know if this is what that. This productivity rule is called. It’s the three minute rule, I think. I don’t know if that’s the real term, but I tend to remember that one for when I’m procrastinating something or about to procrastinate something. It. It basically says, if there’s something you can do now in less than three minutes, do it now. Do it now. You know, and almost everything we do at work can be done under three minutes. Well, I mean, not everything, but that little strategy there sometimes helps me shift my. My mindset. I can do it now. Why don’t I. It will take me three minutes, and then, boom, let’s do the next one three minutes. It sounds easier than. Than seems easier than it sounds sometimes, but that’s one little strategy that I’ve learned in trying to fix my. My procrastination, if you will. Are there other ways to break the cycle to. To. To. Because I think it’s very interesting what you’re saying. Allowing us to acknowledge that we’re procrastinating, basically being aware of it will allow us to understand if we really are in fact procrastinating, what the reason behind it is. It’s awareness. Are there any other ways to be more aware of this and understand it and sort of push through it?

Marissa Boisvert [00:18:07 ]:
I think a way to think about it is procrastination is a habit.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:18:13 ]:
Okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:18:15 ]:
And in order to break any habit, it does start with awareness. You have to really know what’s going on and that takes us into kind of what I was explaining. But I think what you’re also asking is, like you said, what can you do under three minutes? A lot of times when we think about starting something, especially something that we are avoiding, we make it bigger than it is.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:18:48 ]:
Yes, yes, yes.

Marissa Boisvert [00:18:51 ]:
So we always say, just think of the tiniest way you can get started on that task. And oftentimes that is enough to get you going. So, for example, you’re at work, you have this big, important proposal you have to create. So you just think it has to be perfect. You’ve got to get this deal, the whole thing. Just open the dock, you know, open the dock. And a lot of times that is enough.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:19:25 ]:
Yes.

Marissa Boisvert [00:19:26 ]:
And, you know, 30 minutes later, you. You just, you know, you’re three slides in, and it feels very, very different.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:19:33 ]:
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Sometimes we’re just procrastinating things in our minds.

Marissa Boisvert [00:19:39 ]:
Oh, yeah.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:19:39 ]:
I mean, and that, that example that you just gave, that is a literal example of a thing. I tend to procrastinate a lot of proposals. I do proposals with clients and stuff, and I do that. And I’m thinking about the proposal and I haven’t even opened the document yet, you know, And. And like you said, once you open the document, it starts pouring out. It starts pouring out. That’s very good. And I’m pretty sure Astrid, our producer, is giggling in the background because she knows I’m like this, and she’s like, oh, my God. But, yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s very interesting. We’re. We’re in our heads most of the time, I guess.

Marissa Boisvert [00:20:20 ]:
Yeah, we’re in our heads a lot.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:20:26 ]:
So we, we. We’re talking about procrastination. There’s chronic procrastination. There’s mild procrastination, if we can call it that. There’s basically four types of procrastinators, right? We have the performer, the self deprecator, the overbooker, and the novelty seeker. I took your quiz, and I am the performer with sprinkles of the others on top. I’d like to get into these a little bit so that our audience can start identifying with one or multiple. I do encourage our audience to take the quiz. It’s a very interesting one. It’s short, it’s friendly, and you’ll get the result you are. And then some tips on how to act upon it. It. Before we get into the four types, I gotta ask you, are you guys procrastinators? And if so, which kind you. You got you gotta be truthful. You gotta be truthful. I already said I’m the. I’m the performer. What do you guys have to say?

Ali Schiller [00:21:28 ]:
You are looking at two performers here.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:21:31 ]:
Oh, okay, okay, okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:21:34 ]:
Textbook performers.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:21:36 ]:
Okay.

Ali Schiller [00:21:38 ]:
Definitely. Performers have a good bit of perfectionism. So that is part of it. And I think that, you know, what we’ve learned is the strategies that work best for us, and we use those a lot. And because we’re both performers, we use them together in our business a lot. It’s like, built into how we structure things so that we are getting around it.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:22:08 ]:
So the performer. What are some. Or your favorite strategy that at least you. You have used and continue to use to not be a performer?

Ali Schiller [00:22:23]:
Well, I think the performer becomes a really good planner. That’s the transformation that you see. So each type. What we’ve discovered over the last five years since we saw you the last time, is that there is a transformation that each type of procrastinator can experience. And the transformation that the performer has is they become a much better planner because the tendency is to leave everything to the last minute. And this is really painful because performers are also perfectionists, and they can never do the job they wanted to do because they left it to the last minute. And so the time crunch makes them have to do it. But they’re always a little disappointed in their work product.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:23:11 ]:
Okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:23:12 ]:
Yes.

Ali Schiller [00:23:12 ]:
So getting around that requires starting earlier. And so one of the strategies that we. That we talked about in 2020 was, you know, setting start dates and in how we work on things as a partnership is we start things really early, we get a meeting on the books, we have an agenda. One of us does. Was. Does the agenda, and we start working on something way before we need to.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:23:41]:
Yeah, okay. How about the self deprecator? Remind us a little bit of what that type of procrastinator is. And if there’s a strategy, at least one for these.

Ali Schiller [00:23:55]:
So the self deprecator, they are the ones that have the tendency towards burnout and fatigue, and they get sick. Like when there’s. When they’re procrastinating, it’s like literally like they’ve run out of energy to do the thing and they. So they’re. Are least likely to procrastinate, but they view themselves as procrastinators. So they. They see that they. They are. That’s why they’re the self deprecator.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:24:24]:
And the victims, they play the victim role, if you will. Yeah, okay, okay, okay.

Ali Schiller [00:24:30 ]:
And they are their transformation where we see them really thrive. This is like your classic Ariana Huffington. Like, they learn to rest. So that is what the outcome looks like. The strategies to employ are all the ways in which you start to take care of yourself a little bit more. Implement breaks, take walks. Um, it starts really small with the self deprecator because they’re so hardwired for overwork that, you know, they ha. They almost won’t give themselves permission until it comes to this, you know, falling off a cliff point. And so that strategy for them, the most important one, is to incorporate breaks and rest into their. Into their day, into their week, and eventually what they become is somebody who’s really good at rest.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:25:23 ]:
Okay, it’s interesting. I’m gonna link. And I’m gonna link a recent episode I had with Dr. Sandra Dalton Smith, who talks about the seven types of rest we need. People think of rest as, oh, I need a nap. It’s not just that it’s going nature. It’s. It’s communicating with loved ones. It is sometimes taking a nap. Why not? There’s also creative rest, doing something for yourself that you love that is not work.

Ali Schiller [00:25:49 ]:
Work. I’m really a big fan of the seven types of rest. I think that’s.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:25:52 ]:
Oh, you’re familiar with it. Awesome. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. When I had that one episode with Dr. Sandra Dalton Smith, it was. It was mind blowing. Mind blowing. And it also turns out I need the seven types of rest.

Ali Schiller [00:26:06]:
So I think she needs digital rest in there. And I think that’s one that we need to.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:26:12 ]:
Yes, yes, yes. The overbooker. Is this the one that. That always says, I’m busy, busy, busy, busy, but they’re just in their heads, busy.

Ali Schiller [00:26:23 ]:
There’s. They are busy. No, they’re busy. They have a lot. They’ve said yes to too much. So they are. They are literally busy. They’ve overbooked themselves. The transformation that they get to is learning to set boundaries. And one of the things is, like, overwhelm is serving them in some way, having chaos. And overwhelm has them. It provides a way to avoid, you know, so there’s usually something they don’t want to look at. So setting boundaries allows them to get more grounded and to, you know, do the work that is. That’s necessary for them. And so their. Their big learning is setting boundaries.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:27:07]:
Okay, setting boundaries. How about the. The novelty seeker? I read somewhere, I’m going to try to look for it and include it in our. In our transcript if I can. But I heard that I. I saw that the novelty seeker is Incrementing the amount of people that identify with novelty seeking is incrementing because of AI. And we talked about this previously. There’s so much we can do with AI, so much that we’re just looking for something new to do instead of actually doing what. What, what. What do you think about this?

Ali Schiller [00:27:41 ]:
Yeah. The novelty seeker is your sort of chronic entrepreneur. They are so excited about so many things and they’re fantastic to work with. They’re a lot of fun, and the idea generation is just amazing. And they also have FOMO because they don’t want to not do something because it’s such a great idea, but they don’t ever follow through. And so then they have the pain of not having followed through on a good idea. And so the novelty seeker really learns how to commit. And so their transformation is commitment. And so one of the early strategies before they’ve gotten to the transformation place is to just put your ideas on a post it. Put your idea on a post It. It’s not that you’re not going to do it right now. It’s that you’re. Or it’s not that you’re not going to do it at all. You’re just not going to do it right now. We’re going to follow through on this. You know, our program is structured into 12 weeks. So for 12 weeks we’re going to do this idea and then we’re going to do that one. And 12 weeks is short and it goes by fast, but it’s long enough to see, you know, to really implement something. So that’s been an effective strategy for them, but they really learn how to commit. And I think that’s an important piece for the novelty seeker because it causes them a lot of pain. So to let them still have all their ideas, but to choose their favorite to work on.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:29:08 ]:
Oh, yeah. Or prioritize. Right. I mean, I. I actually do that in a. Where’s my notebook? I have a notebook and it’s my ideas notebook. And I write things down there because I. I fear that I will forget them. Right. And that’s my way of doing precisely that. Trying to. All the good ideas that I have, write them down. And they may not be for today, but they might be for later. And something we do internally is maybe every two to three weeks, we idea session at work. And pull out your notebooks, everyone. Which one should we tackle this week? Did we finish the last one? But that’s actually a great, great strategy. And it’s. It does work for me. You know, it’s kind of mind blowing that because I have friends and colleagues that don’t really know what procrastination is and they are procrastinators. And it’s really mind blowing for me that we’re having this conversation and I believe that not a lot of people, professionals, in this case leaders, are having these conversations at work. Do you guys believe that talking about procrastination is something that is more the responsibility of a company or a leader rather than professionals individually? Or is it more of a responsibility for us as professionals to understand procrastination or is there a fine line? Because if companies knew more about this and started implementing plans and accountability plans like the ones you guys offer companies, I’m pretty sure that their productivities would skyrocket. Understanding the problem and the underlying issues would help not only productivity for a company, but for professionals as well. Who do you think should be leading these conversations?

Ali Schiller [00:31:11 ]:
That’s such a good question. I think that the, you know, people don’t want to self identify as procrastinators at work because you feel like, oh, that’s reflects badly on me. But we all know that we do it. And I think, you know, you had that one hour stat at the beginning of our conversation at one hour wasted time procrastinating. So I think leaders know that it’s happening as well. The misconception, I think, is that everybody knows what they need to be working on and should just be doing it. And I think what, you know, what we’re doing in our work, whether we’re working with individuals or companies, is providing a structure for clear communication around expectations and the opportunity for a regular check in. And knowing that you have clear expectations and a regular check in just eliminates a lot of the procrastination because you don’t have that time to let things get out of hand. And so that’s what we encourage. I think leaders thinking more about what is the structure that allows for clear communication of expectations? What’s the feedback mechanism where we know what people are working on and where’s the check in point where we can talk to people and see if they’re having any issues or any problems or anything that needs to be resolved. And as long as you have that in place, you can at least circumvent a lot of it for individuals. I think the biggest thing for us as individuals that we have to deal with, like I said at the beginning, was distraction.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:32:58]:
Yeah.

Ali Schiller [00:32:59 ]:
And setting up a situation for ourselves to be as focused as possible because it used to be when people were coming into a session with us and we would read the questionnaires of their pain points. It would be procrastination, procrastination, procrastination. And these days it’s lack of focus, lack of focus, lack of focus. And they sound different, but they’re the, they’re. The result is the same not getting the work done the way I want to get it done or in a timely fashion. And so the lack of focus, of course, comes from distraction and then comes procrastination.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:33:38 ]:
Really is impressive. How? Yeah, I mean, I think, I mean in, in conclusion, procrastination is pervasive but conquerable. Would you agree? It stems from us as humans. It’s in our wiring. We need to understand that it’s that way. And we need, by through acknowledgment, awareness and accountability and support systems and strategies, we can, we can sort of start fixing it. Do you believe there is a point in time where someone can fix, fix completely their procrastination or once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator. What do you think? Ah, I think.

Marissa Boisvert [00:34:24 ]:
I think that as Ali put it earlier, you can recover from it. I do think you can really rewire that habit. But I think an important thing to note is there’s a difference between delay and procrastination.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:34:41 ]:
Okay.

Marissa Boisvert [00:34:43 ]:
And this is important because once you conquer the habit of being a procrastinator, there’s going to be times where maybe you say you’re going to do something or you’re headed a certain way and you get information, and that information says, oh, I’m still going to do this, but I need to do that in a month from now. Or you know, there is a definite difference. So. And I think that’s important to say because you can be like, well, I stopped procrastinating. I’m doing the things now, but why am I still pushing certain things off? And I. And if you find yourself in that place, I just urge you to just check in and go, is this intentional delay or am I, you know, regressing back?

Ali Schiller [00:35:35 ]:
Right.

Marissa Boisvert [00:35:35]:
Because I think with anything like you learn things and we can regress and then we get, you know, it’s a normal ebb and flow as you’re, as you’re overcoming something. So that’s sort of where I’m at with it because I, I thought about that a lot, my own self reflection. And I’ve realized now I, I intentionally delay things and I, for a while I was like, is this procrastination coming up? And I was like, no, this is like informed delay.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:36:04 ]:
Okay, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. I mean, we all put things off because of whatever, but understanding the why behind it is what will make you a procrastinator or not.

Marissa Boisvert [00:36:16]:
That’s right. That’s right. But, Daniel, I am not giving you an excuse not to open up that proposal.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:36:25 ]:
Oh, my gosh. No, I mean, this, this, this talking about this is really helpful. Helpful for myself and because I know it’s helpful for myself, I know it will be very helpful for our listeners. For leaders who find themselves with a team that they believe is procrastinating, I think the constant expectation right now that we have, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon as we continue moving forward in the future of work is productivity, productivity, productivity. We need to be productive. We need to be productive. And that sometimes can also make us procrastinate. That stress, that perfectionism, that everything. Do you guys, if you could give our listeners just one mindset shift. We’ve talked about several in our episode, but just one mindset shift to help them stop procrastinating today. What, what would it be? What. What would you like to leave our listeners with today?

Ali Schiller [00:37:36 ]:
Well, I think that the one that comes to mind, because I use it all the time with people, is what is the next right action? What it. And what is the smallest increment? Because they think right now, specifically, because we’re in a lot of uncertainty, and there’s a lot of kind of. There’s just a lot of uncertainty of what’s going to be next week, what’s going to be next month, what’s going to be next year is, Is not to go. It’s just like, what is the next action I can take and the smallest against this thing that I, I need to get done. And if I can do like, the. If I can identify the absolute smallest increment of positive action, it just gets the ball rolling. And once the ball is rolling, all of that stuff sort of starts to kind of dissipate. But, I mean, I can’t tell you how many times people make commitments around doing a really tiny increment of something that is a giant project and come back the next week and say, oh, my God, I got so much done. I ended up working on it for like 2 hours or 4 hours or whatever it was commitment for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and it was, you know, super successful.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:38:49 ]:
Turning, Turning. I’ll do it later into. I’ll start with a small step now.

Ali Schiller [00:38:55 ]:
Yeah.

Marissa Boisvert [00:38:56 ]:
Yes.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:38:56 ]:
And that small step could even be the biggest one and then the rest is so easy.

Ali Schiller [00:39:01 ]:
Yeah.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:39:01 ]:
Yeah, I love that. That’s a good one. Thank you so much for taking the time again to. To to come on the podcast. I. I truly believe that these conversations need to happen more in the workplace amongst ourselves as colleagues with family, because the first way to fix any problem is to identify it, right? Where can listeners find you and learn more more about Accountability Works? Where we’re obviously going to link all your details, the quiz, and everything within our episode page. What’s the easiest way a company can get in touch with you?

Marissa Boisvert [00:39:46]:
To learn more, go to our website, which is accountabilityworks.com you can take the Procrastination quiz and find out what kind of procrastinator you are. We have all of our information on how we work with individuals and businesses. You can schedule a call with us if you have questions or you just want to drop us a note. We’d love to hear from you.

Daniel Lamadrid [00:40:09 ]:
That’s amazing. Again, thank you both for coming back and sharing your wisdom and your findings. And to our listeners, if this episode resonated with you, subscribe to the Future Work podcast and share it with a friend who needs a little extra accountability. And don’t procrastinate it. Thank you guys so much for coming. Thank you so much.