How To Stop Being A Lazy Perfectionist And Get Things Done
Are you a lazy perfectionist?
Well, great news, I used to be one too and I found out the truth behind this phenomenon and healed myself in the process.
You don’t need to go through the cycle of having high expectations and doing nothing to work towards them. You can finally learn how to get things done the right way.
In this article, I break down the truth about lazy perfectionism (surprise, you’re not actually lazy), explain why you procrastinate and give you 6 handy tips to help you start working on your goals without feeling overwhelmed.
What is a lazy perfectionist?
The term ‘lazy perfectionist’ feels like 2 words that should be mutually exclusive, since, a perfectionist is a person who has high standards for themselves and a lazy person does nothing because they have low standards for themselves.
If you look online there are so many self-described lazy perfectionists who hate themselves for not being able to live up to the high standard they set themselves because they also take no steps to improve.
However, I struggle with this particular term because I see the internal struggle that is going on inside these self-described lazy perfectionists. They aren’t lazy, they just care too much about the outcome and are in a deep state of perfectionism that leaves them feeling too paralysed to take action.
That is not laziness.
You want to be productive, but the thought of not meeting those expectations keeps you from taking action. Instead of starting, you overthink, plan, and then… do nothing.
That is fear, self-doubt and overwhelm all wrapped up in a perfectionism-procrastination cycle.
Related Post: Where Does Perfectionism Come From?
10 signs you are a ‘lazy’ perfectionist
- You keep adding things to your to-do list but don’t tick off anything
- You feel a lot of shame for not working towards your goals
- You would rather not set any goals because you don’t want to let yourself down
- You keep ignoring tasks until they naturally get resolved or they become a big unavoidable problem
- You keep jumping from task to task and never complete anything
- You know what you need to do but you just don’t do it
- You don’t like putting effort into things that you’re not immediately good at
- You never commit to anything because you’re scared more might be required of you
- You’re waiting for the ‘right’ time to start
- You spend hours researching, manifesting and visualising with nothing to show for it
Procrastination or Laziness? Understanding What’s Really Going On
So now you’ve identified with the ‘lazy perfectionist’ title, I want you to drop the lazy part because as I said before, you aren’t lazy! You’re just deep in the perfectionism trenches and lack specific resources and tools to get out of it.
Procrastination isn’t laziness even though it feels like it. When you procrastinate, it’s because your standards for yourself are too high (and possibly unrealistic) so you feel an immense amount of pressure to get it right.
You might find ways to procrastinate actively (e.g. delaying because you have the misguided belief that you ‘work better under pressure’) or passively by delaying the task until the ‘right’ time and the right time never comes. It’s called perfectionism paralysis, the end stage of the perfectionism-procrastination cycle.
Calling yourself lazy is quite reductionist because it doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s really going on inside your mind.
If you were just lazy, you wouldn’t even have the desire to improve yourself, your standards would be so low and you wouldn’t care what other people think because you would be happy with exerting the least amount of energy possible.
The first step to healing is self-awareness, so now that you know, you can stop shaming yourself for being lazy and start empowering yourself to take imperfect action.
Related Post: 5 Signs You’re Secretly Procrastinating and What To Do About It
How to Actually Get Things Done
1. Re-establish trust with yourself
If you’ve spent a long time stuck in this perfectionism-procrastination cycle and started to identify with the ‘lazy’ title, you’ll need to slowly build trust with yourself again. You need to trust that you will do what you say you’re going to do and not leave things to the last minute.
I recommend you choose 1, yes ONE, very small, tiny task that is impossible for you to fail at doing every single day. For example, write 1 single sentence in your journal every day, read 1 sentence in a book, or do 1 stretch before bed.
Put a reminder in your phone if you need to but make sure you do this one task.
You can slowly add more time to the task (e.g. reading a full page) but don’t feel any pressure to because the goal is to build up evidence that you can trust yourself.
When I started my healing journey, I focused on doing 5 minutes of yoga every single day and over time I increased it to up to 20 minutes. Just doing this one activity encouraged me to try new things and trust myself that I would actually do it.
2. Focus on one area of your life at a time
This next step is surprisingly quite difficult for perfectionists which is why I needed to highlight it in this list. Please, please, please, focus on one area of your life at a time. Everything else can wait!
You want to make a lifestyle change and not just follow some popular productivity hack that only lasts a week.
I know once you start getting momentum and trusting yourself, it’s easy to try and change everything at once but I’m here to tell you, that voice in your head that is trying to convince you to get in shape, run a marathon, join a new online course, organise a weekly games night and so on, is your PERFECTIONISM talking to you with a new found confidence.
Don’t believe it because you will crash and burn and lose trust in yourself again. I’ve seen it happen so many times with clients and even with my past self so try to take it easy.
So just pick one area in your life to focus on (e.g. health and fitness) then within that pick one small goal that is based on effort rather than outcome, for example, exercising for 30 minutes 3 times a week, rather than losing 50 pounds in 4 weeks.
Related Post: The Truth About Recovery From Severe Burnout
3. Use the 2-Minute Rule
The 2-minute rule is a great way to break the cycle of letting small tasks build up into much bigger overwhelming shame-riddled obstacles.
It’s a simple idea popularised by David Allen in his best-selling book ‘Getting Things Done’, which states “If an action will take less than two minutes, it should be done at the moment it’s defined”.
So, you don’t even waste your time adding it to your to-do list and instead just get it done right away without it cluttering up your brain or making you feel overwhelmed and anxious.
4. Prioritise ‘Done’ Over ‘Perfect’
Now to actually get things done and move the needle forward, you need to get rid of the idea that your work will ever be perfect.
Perfection doesn’t exist. I know, I’m sorry to burst your bubble but someone had to. You are breaking your own heart and wasting your time striving for perfection.
So instead, embrace this old saying with your whole heart ‘DONE is better than perfect’.
Just get it done, you can always edit and ask for feedback but you can’t edit or receive feedback on nothing.
5. Create a Bare Minimum to-do list
I recommend you create a bare minimum to-do list which is basically what is the absolute bare minimum you need to do today that would make you feel like you’ve made a start on your goals.
Please use your discernment when choosing these goals. If you are at the start of your healing journey and are struggling with completing any tasks, then I recommend you include tiny impossible-to-fail tasks like opening your laptop or putting a book on your bedside table.
Start small and slowly build up to more complicated tasks that you KNOW you can definitely complete.
6. Build in accountability
You need to find ways to build in accountability with yourself and with others.
To build accountability with yourself I recommend you keep a habit tracker and try to journal weekly.
Ask yourself simple questions like:
- What went well?
- What didn’t go so well?
- Did I do what I set out to do this week?
- Between 1-10, how much do I trust myself?
This review shouldn’t take you too long, it could be as short as 5 minutes or as long as 30 minutes depending on how detailed you go. Ideally, keep it short and sweet to start with.
You can also get accountability from other people by joining community groups on Facebook and Skool, and explaining your goals to your friends and family. You don’t have to do it alone.
Related Post: The ultimate minimalist bullet journal for busy people
So are you going to STOP being a lazy perfectionist?
Hopefully, you now understand that being a ‘lazy perfectionist’ isn’t actually about laziness at all and is about your fear of failure that manifests itself in perfectionism.
It sucks being stuck in the cycle of having high expectations and standards for yourself but yet, still displaying low action. I wouldn’t wish the associated guilt and shame on my worst enemy because it’s a horrible type of self-loathing mindset that spills into all areas of your life.
Recognising your perfectionism is the first step towards healing it. You don’t have to be paralysed by your fear, you can take small, messy steps forward towards your goals and acknowledge that done is much better than perfect.
Hopefully, these tips help!
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Related Posts:
- Are You Stuck in the Perfectionism-Procrastination Loop? Here’s How to Get Out
- 5 Delegation Mistakes Every Perfectionist Manager Needs to Avoid
- Perfectionism vs High Standards — Are You Pushing Yourself Too Far?
- Where Does Perfectionism Come From?
- 13 Subtle Signs You’re A Perfectionist And Don’t Even Know It
- 11 Perfectionist Productivity Myths You Need To Let Go
- 7 Important Boundaries Perfectionists NEED To Set Without Guilt!
- The Healthy Striving Mindset: How to Stay Ambitious and Keep Your Peace
