How to Overcome Procrastination: Are There Unique Strategies for Women in Tech?

Women in tech can tackle procrastination by setting clear tech goals, engaging in pair programming for accountability, joining networking groups, using time management strategies like time blocking and the Pomodoro Technique, viewing failure as a learning opportunity, creating reward systems, prioritizing self-care, seeking regular feedback, and establishing accountability partnerships.

Women in tech can tackle procrastination by setting clear tech goals, engaging in pair programming for accountability, joining networking groups, using time management strategies like time blocking and the Pomodoro Technique, viewing failure as a learning opportunity, creating reward systems, prioritizing self-care, seeking regular feedback, and establishing accountability partnerships.

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Monique Montanino
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Create Tech-Specific Goal Setting

Women in tech can overcome procrastination by setting clear, technology-specific goals. This involves identifying specific outcomes they wish to achieve in their careers, such as mastering a new programming language or completing a certification. By breaking these down into smaller, manageable tasks and setting strict deadlines for each, prioritizing becomes much easier, and the motivation to not procrastinate increases.

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Engage in Pair Programming

Pair programming is not only an excellent practice for coding accuracy but also a great strategy for overcoming procrastination. By collaborating with a colleague on a project, women in tech can hold each other accountable, maintain a steady pace, and reduce the urge to put off tasks. The social interaction and shared goals make it much harder to procrastinate.

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Leverage Networking Groups

Joining women-focused tech networking groups can provide a supportive environment that motivates one to stay on track. Through regular meet-ups, workshops, and mentoring sessions, the sense of community and shared experiences can inspire women to tackle procrastination head-on. It's easier to stay motivated and push through challenges when you know you're not alone.

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Utilize Time Blocking Techniques

Time blocking is a powerful technique for managing one's schedule effectively. Women in tech can designate specific blocks of time for different activities, including deep work, meetings, and breaks. By planning their day meticulously and sticking to these blocks, it becomes easier to focus on tasks without succumbing to procrastination.

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Implement the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that involves working in short sprints (typically 25 minutes), followed by short breaks. This method can be particularly beneficial for women in tech, as it helps maintain focus and momentum on coding tasks or other project work without feeling overwhelmed, thus reducing the urge to procrastinate.

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Embrace Failure as a Learning Opportunity

Fear of failure often underlies procrastination. Women in tech can overcome this by shifting their perspective on failure, viewing it as an essential part of learning and growth rather than a setback. This mindset change can reduce the pressure felt when tackling challenging tasks, making it easier to get started and keep moving forward.

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Veronika Lukyanchuk
Learning and Development Specialist at Forte Group
Thu, 04/11/2024 - 16:15

Failure may definitely act as a great learning source. If women in tech are focused not on the failure itself, but on the lessons learnt they are highly likely to get the most out of it.
Not to mention, they may combine this idea with the one mentioned above “Leverage Networking Groups”. If women in tech share not only the wins but also their failure stories they may kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand they are likely to inspire others illuminating the fact failures may take place.
On the flip side there’s a strong likelihood they may ramp up their own self - belief underlying the lessons learnt.
For instance, consider the storytelling STAR method which stands for “situation, task, action, result”. The end point highlights the outcome. So, everything comes down to lessons and takeaways.
Women in tech may share their failures as learning opportunities while acting as mentors, speakers, community and professional groups contributors. Their lessons learnt may end up becoming someone’s success story.

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Develop a Personal Reward System

Setting up a reward system can be an effective way to combat procrastination. Women in tech can promise themselves rewards for completing tasks or reaching milestones, whether it's a small treat, a leisure activity, or purchasing something they've wanted. This positive reinforcement encourages starting and completing tasks promptly.

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Prioritize Self-Care

Procrastination can sometimes be a sign of burnout or stress. It's crucial for women in tech to prioritize self-care, including regular breaks, physical exercise, and mindfulness practices. By ensuring they are mentally and physically recharged, they can improve focus, productivity, and reduce the tendency to procrastinate.

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Seek Feedback Early and Often

Waiting until something is perfect can lead to procrastination. Women in tech can overcome this by seeking early and frequent feedback on projects or tasks. This allows for iterative improvements and reduces the pressure to deliver something perfect in one go, making it easier to start and continue working on tasks.

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Establish Accountability Partnerships

Having an accountability partner can greatly reduce procrastination. Women in tech can pair up with colleagues or friends, sharing their goals, deadlines, and progress. Knowing that someone else is aware of their commitments and will check in can provide the motivation needed to stay on task and avoid procrastinating.

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What else to take into account

This section is for sharing any additional examples, stories, or insights that do not fit into previous sections. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

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Monique Montanino
Executive Career Coach at Resume Tech Guru
Tue, 04/09/2024 - 13:09

Can’t Start Your Job Search? 4 Steps to Quit Procrastinating

On New Year’s Eve within the past decade, I bet you told yourself it’s time to start exercising to drop those pesky holiday pounds. But, come the end of January, were the new running shoes still in the box, yearning to pound the pavement?

I recall living in Dallas and purchasing an annual membership at Gold’s Gym. I drove by every day on my way to work. And never stopped in. I was motivated to get in better physical shape, yet my desire waned. One day I planned to park the car in the parking lot and venture in …

“People procrastinate because their drive to delay is irrationally stronger than their drive to act,” according to Dr. Itamar Shatz. The most common procrastination reasons are fear of failure, feeling overwhelmed, fear of success, or lack of motivation.

I’ve noticed the same procrastination behavior occurs with tech executive clients at the crossroads of their careers.

For example, Greg*, a former work colleague from my days as a tech sales executive at CenturyLink, procrastinated for 2 years about leaving his company to pursue a new passion. Greg's skillset is talking to C-levels because he's engaging, customer-focused, and can talk sports all day long. He always hits his quota, which parlays into over $300,000 in annual compensation.

At the end of the year, like clockwork, Greg contacts me regarding changing jobs, especially now since the company’s stock price is under $2. I send him a career consulting proposal, and then nothing happens. Crickets.

A DePaul University in Chicago Psychology Professor reveals that everyone procrastinates, but not everyone is a procrastinator. Based on research, which of the following procrastination subgroups do you fall into?
 mild to average (53%),
 severe (22%)
 primarily depressed (11%)
 well-adjusted (14%)

Somewhat of an oxymoron to be a well-adjusted procrastinator, but I digress.

For me, procrastination depends on the task at hand. Reflecting on my former career job search, I landed in the mild subcategory, especially when I heard the soul-crushing response, "Unfortunately, we're going with another candidate.” Searching for a job is work, and it takes my clients, on average several months to succeed in obtaining their next role.

Making Yourself A Priority

Most of my clients drag their feet somewhere along the job search process. I am astounded at the number of people interested in advancing their career journeys and then procrastinating. My minimum condition for client engagements is that we can start working within 1-2 weeks. That’s the virtual handshake, but it’s not the reality.

Most executive clients fall into four major categories when it comes to prioritization.
 The Out-of-Towner: 15% of clients travel for work or vacation and don’t utilize that time to complete our consulting collaboration. For example, in Ashok's case, the questionnaire remained unanswered, and his resume edits were put on hold even though he was on a 16-hour flight from the U.S. to India.
 The Work Perpetrator: 25% of clients prioritize their current workload over looking for a job. The irony is that they dislike what they are doing but focus more on that than a job search implementation strategy.
 The Ghost: 25% of clients contact me, agree to move forward, and then I never hear from them again. Sometimes, they even prepay my consulting fee 100% upfront; I call it procrastination money. Hey, I will take it to pay my business operating expenses.
 The Action Hero: 35% of clients meet with me, and we complete their initial project within ten business days. They prove that actions speak louder than words; the majority, like my client Amaira, land jobs within 1-4 months.

4 Steps to Quit Procrastinating

Since research shows we all procrastinate, creating a job search action plan is essential.

1) Hold Yourself Accountable: When I put my intentions out in the Universe, my pride kicks in to achieve them. MIT and INSEAD behavioral researchers call this “precommitment,” the idea of setting personal deadlines. Based on my husband Pat’s encouragement, I blogged about writing a book in the Fall of 2020. Initially, Pat would ask me daily if I had started writing. Besides some high-level research, I had yet to commit fully. It changed when I began my new year in earnest with a 2021 publishing deadline. It worked.
2) Break Things Down: In the book mentioned above, Clicks, Tricks, & Golden Handcuffs: 5-Point Roadmap for Tech Executives to Land Big-Impact Roles, the reader ventures through career search execution exercises; in turn, they compile a list of approximately 18 items to achieve success. It’s a checklist for moving forward in your job search.
3) Challenge Yourself: Create SMART goals and refer to them weekly to challenge yourself to address timelines. For August, I challenged myself to edit a book chapter within two days. I achieved my goal of editing 20 chapters by documenting results on my word tracker Excel spreadsheet. It provided peace of mind and a sense of accomplishment for meeting my goals.
 Specific: What are you trying to do? Why are you trying to do this? When will you do what you need to do?
 Measurable: How will you measure what you are trying to do? Is it by the number of people you will contact or interviews you want to obtain?
 Assignable/Attainable: Do you have the background and contacts to reach your goal? If not, where is the gap, and how do you fix it?
 Realistic: Can you reach the goals you have created? If not, what do you need to undertake to do it?
 Timely: It is time for reverse engineering by working backward, beginning with your final job search objective and creating the outline for success.
4) Identify an Incentive: When I was in sales, there was an annual incentive to go on the company's Circle of Excellence trip for top quota-achieving producers. The year I left CenturyLink, I reached my sales quota pinnacle, so my husband joined me on a trip to stay at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, for several days. We have fond memories of that trip, including sailing, cooking classes at Sur Le Table, and being treated in a top-notch fashion. Take a moment to identify an incentive to spur you on your job search, whether a trip with your family, home renovation, funding your child's education, or buying that EV-charging car.

That’s a Wrap

Since the 1st quarter is complete, how about starting your job search instead of thumbing through Instagram or playing video games? Make that precommitment to yourself or tell your family that you're ready to commit.

It’s time to overcome procrastination. I know you can do it!

* Names changed to protect client confidentiality

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