How to Get Things Done When You Don’t Want To

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | April 3, 2025 |

If you’ve ever had a major task or project or some kind of deadline due by the end of the day, chances are you worked on it until it was completed because you didn’t want to miss the deadline.

But if you had a lot of open time during the day, and you just had a little bit left to work on, did you piddle around and work on less important things until just before the deadline – and then you cranked it out?

Or have you experienced a non-pressure day – no immediate deadlines – and you had the chance to complete everything ahead of time, but you decided to work on everything else that was a lower priority (or perhaps not even a priority at all)?

If you’ve ever experienced something similar, don’t worry. You’re not alone. It’s human nature to want to wait until we really have to do something. For some people, they don’t get fired up until they feel that adrenaline rush about the impending deadline. And that’s a bad thing. That adrenaline rush is actually the stress hormone cortisol being released.

We all have some cortisol in our bodies. The problem is when we allow ourselves on a daily or almost-daily basis to rely on this rush to get things done. Elevated levels of cortisol in your body over time can cause a long list of very bad things. According to Premier Health in Dayton, Ohio:

“If your body experiences chronic stress, you may begin to feel unpleasant and even dangerous effects, such as:

  • Fatigue
  • Irritability
  • Headaches
  • Intestinal problems, such as constipation, bloating or diarrhea
  • Anxiety or depression
  • Weight gain
  • Increased blood pressure
  • Low libido, erectile dysfunction or problems with regular ovulation or menstrual periods
  • Difficulty recovering from exercise
  • Poor sleep
  • Muscle pain or tension in the head, neck, jaw, or back”

 

So, the next time you find yourself dragging your heels and working your way around a project instead of on it, look at the list above. That is what you are doing to yourself. Use the avoidance of detrimental health problems to motivate you to work on that task or project!

 

 

 

For more tips on how prevent procrastination or redirect it more quickly, check out The Inefficiency Assassin: Time Management Tactics for Working Smarter, Not Longer.

About Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO®

As The Inefficiency Assassin™, Time Management Fixer Helene Segura empowers professionals on the go with the tools to slay lost time. Personal inefficiency at work leads to increased stress levels, lower morale, higher absenteeism, more turnover – and rising spending on employee health care and hiring. Why not improve productivity, decrease stress levels, and increase profits instead?The author of four books – two of which were Amazon best-sellers – Helene Segura has been the featured organization expert in more than 200 media interviews. She has coached hundreds of clients to productivity success and performance improvement by applying neuroscience and behavioral modification techniques to wipe out destructive, time-wasting habits.Helene turns time management on its head by sharing both client case studies and pop culture examples to teach her mind-bending framework for decreasing interruptions, distractions and procrastination so that companies can spend more time generating revenue.

Leave a Comment