The Triple Check Method: Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination

The Moralization of Productivity

• 💡 Society has historically moralized productivity, equating it with self-worth and viewing procrastination as a character flaw.
• ⏳ This industrial-age "efficiency worship" has fueled a massive productivity industry, making it difficult to resist societal pressure to be constantly productive.
• 😔 When we procrastinate, the societal pressure leads to self-blame and judgment rather than understanding.

The Triple Check Method

• 🧠 The Triple Check is a self-discovery tool to understand the root cause of procrastination by asking: Is it coming from the head, the heart, or the hand?
• 🎯 Head: Rational doubt about the task's validity or approach.
• ❤️ Heart: Emotional aversion to the task, finding it unenjoyable.
• 🛠️ Hand: Practical barriers, lacking the right tools, resources, or skills.

Actions for Each Cause

• 🗣️ If the issue is from the head, redefine the strategy or brainstorm with colleagues.
• ✨ If the issue is from the heart, redesign the experience to make it more fun or work with a colleague.
• 🤝 If the issue is from the hand, ask for help, mentoring, coaching, or training.

Beyond the Individual: Systemic Barriers

• ⚠️ If the Triple Check doesn't resolve procrastination, look for systemic barriers in your environment or with stakeholders.
• 🚪 Sometimes, removing yourself from an unconducive work environment is necessary.

Mindful Productivity and Magic Windows

• 🚀 Magic windows are moments of effortless focus, creativity, and high productivity where time seems to disappear.
• 🔍 Identifying and intentionally creating these windows is key to mindful productivity.
• 🔋 Mindful productivity shifts the focus from optimizing time to optimizing energy, considering physical, emotional, and cognitive resources.

Reconnecting with Emotions

• 💬 Viewing procrastination as a useful signal allows for better connection with underlying emotions, fostering self-understanding and improving the relationship with work.
• 🏹 The "Death by Two Arrows" concept highlights that shame and self-blame (the second arrow) are optional responses to difficult emotions like procrastination (the first arrow).