If you identify patterns of procrastination in your search activities, the following suggestions can help you break out of the anxiety procrastination cycle.
Schedule tasks on which you tend to procrastinate for your best time of day (or night)
Suppose you tend to put off writing follow up letters. Suppose, also, that you write best after 11 p.m., when quiet reigns in your household and the potential for interruption is low. Then, you should try scheduling your follow up letter writing for 11 p.m. to midnight each day.
Break difficult tasks into smaller, less daunting steps
Instead of putting on your to do list, "Write letter to Mr. X," give yourself a more modest task by breaking letter writing into smaller steps. For example, step one might be to brainstorm on paper and create a list of points you want to include in your letter. Step two might be to write a rough draft of the letter. Step three might be to revise and edit your rough draft, and step four might be to type your revised letter (or enter revisions to your computer). Step five might be to proofread the letter and address the envelope, and step six might be to take it to the post office for mailing. Having reformulated the task of letter writing as a series of small, readily doable steps, you will probably find the job easier to start and less frustrating to finish.
Reward yourself for taking steps as well as for reaching your ultimate destination
Procrastinators tend to appreciate only a finished product or task and to find little joy in the actual process of getting there. As a result, tasks often seem frustrating and unrewarding until completed, which makes starting and sticking to them a tall order requiring almost super human self discipline. Breaking tasks into steps as suggested above helps combat this tendency. Equally important, however, is developing the habit of rewarding yourself for taking each step. Rewards need not be extravagant or expensive to be effective: allowing yourself to make and drink a fresh cup of coffee or to take a walk or to do five minutes of stretching exercises can serve as self reinforcing rewards for taking steps. Simply switching to a different, less taxing task can even be rewarding.
Rehearse and prepare for difficult tasks
One of the reasons performers rehearse is to build self confidence. When confident of their ability to perform a task expertly, most people actually look forward to performance. Most communications can be rehearsed or prepared for in one way or another before the actual performance, and the confidence rehearsal builds can help combat the urge to procrastinate.
You can rehearse for interviews by mentally switching roles with your interviewer. Imagine yourself interviewing candidates for the position you seek: write out a list of questions you would want to ask and imagine the kinds of answers you would find most persuasive. In a sense, creating outlines and rough drafts are rehearsals for writing a final draft. You can rehearse phone calls, too. List the possible responses to your call for example, connect with answering machine or phone mail system; reach a secretary, receptionist, or assistant; connect with your ultimate target.
Then map out your strategy for handling each possible response. Preparation rituals like clearing the desk before letter writing or selecting the clothes for an interview the night before also have a calming and reassuring effect on many people. Suppose you find yourself feeling anxious the day before an interview and trying to figure out ways to put it off. Stop plotting your strategy for procrastination and start preparing for the event. Pick out the suit you want to wear; iron your best shirt or blouse; shine your shoes; pack your briefcase with resumes and anything else you might want to take to the interview; practice answering questions to your bathroom mirror; take a dry run trip to the interview site. And don't forget to reward yourself for your preparation efforts.
Learn more about the origins and motives for your procrastination
If procrastination is an anxiety avoidance tactic you employ frequently and to which you were prone before the start of your job search, make dealing with it one of the immediate objectives of your career transition. Self exploration should be the focus of your activities during the first phase of your transition, so now is an excellent time to work on understanding your use of procrastination as an anxiety - avoid - dance tactic.
Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen are psychologists who have worked with many procrastinators and written extensively on the topic of procrastination. If you are a perpetual procrastinator, I strongly recommend working through their book. Procrastination: Why You Do It, What to Do About If (Addison Wesley, 1983). Procrastination during a job search, however, often results from the emotional residues of job loss, rather than from a pronounced and long standing inclination to use procrastination as a psychological tactic.
Job loss can have many potentially damaging emotional consequences. Before, you can take full advantage of the seven step strategy for vocational transition (or any other strategy), you must work through the strong emotions of job loss, and using them to move your transition along. Otherwise, they will stand in your way.
