Written by JoyGenea with assistance from ChatGPT
I coach unconventional leaders and professionals with neurodiversities. Those who carry two calendars in their head, three ideas in their pocket, and a whole community on their back. When their progress slows, they tell me, “I am procrastinating.” Then they try to muscle their way through it with more willpower.
That is like trying to push a car with the engine off. No amount of pushing will help if you never turn the key.
In my world, procrastination is not a flaw. It is information. It is a dashboard light asking for attention.
Here are four of the most common lights and what they can teach you.
- Competing Interests
You are running a full internal system. Family, team, clients, health, and about a dozen worthy projects. Add one more and the whole browser freezes. This is not a failure. It is a full load indicator.
Action:
List everything you are juggling right now. You can ask AI to help, and it will go faster.
Circle the four that matter most this season.
Put the others in a waiting room with real dates.
Delete the things that belonged to an old version of you.
- Uncertainty
Uncertainty is like trying to get to a destination on time without a map. You are capable, so you guess your way forward, but every guess drains energy.
Your brain is not resisting the work. It is resisting doing the work without direction.
Action:
Borrow a map.
Ask a mentor, talk to AI, find a playbook or a checklist.
Brendon Burchard says, “Competence builds confidence. Confidence unlocks action.”
He is right.
- Fear of Social Judgment
Starting something new feels risky, especially when people know you for being excellent somewhere else. If you catch yourself asking, “What will people think?” you found your brake pedal.
Action:
Name the fear on paper. It lowers the heat.
Write down the cost of staying the same.
Remember, future you is part of your community too.
Decide whose opinion will matter at the finish line.
- Missing Accountability
When no one is waiting for the work, ‘tomorrow’ becomes very convincing. If you are the only one holding yourself accountable and you keep slipping, you are not broken. You just need a witness.
Action:
Create gentle pressure.
Tell a peer what you plan to finish.
Book a working session.
Make your progress visible.
Accountability is care placed gently on your calendar.
Try This 10 Minute Reset
- Set a 5 minute timer. Do a full brain dump of everything competing for your attention.
- Set a 2 minute timer. Choose the one outcome that matters most this week. Define what “done” looks like.
- Last 3 minutes. Write the first two steps and add one small piece of accountability.
Your brain will thank you.
Leadership Note
Unconventional leaders talk to me about procrastination every week. My clients with ADHD, dyslexia, or autism carry a level of shame, guilt, and sense of failure because of how they see not doing something. For those clients in particular I like to point out that they have more thoughts and ideas in one hour than most people have in months. Of course they are procrastination on things, no human can do all the things they think they can accomplish in a week. What I see is that procrastination is rarely about not wanting to do the thing, it is more often about how, when, and why. And the best next step is also getting some momentum on the things that really are needle moving. It is about directing your attention and energy toward what is true and timely.
The number one thing to remember and to teach others
When you treat procrastination as a dashboard light, you lead yourself, and the people who depend on you, with clarity and care.
If you believe procrastination is holding you back and doing these steps does nothing, it’s time to meet with me to help you build out your custom map.
Thanks for reading through this and let me know your thoughts.
JoyGenea
Video transcription:
I’m at the airport flying to Dallas, because a client has hired me to work one-on-one with them for the weekend, and I’m picking up an addition to my camper setup. So, the camper purchase is a great example of patience and timing, not procrastination. I figured out the make and model that best met our needs and then waited for the right price, location, and accessories. Then I have to make a choice in less than hours to make the deal happen. Standard leadership right? Sometimes in leading ourselves and others, we can delay. Too often unconventional leaders and people with autism, ADHD, and dyslexia call that procrastination.
Let’s talk about procrastination in a way that actually makes sense for different thinkers. It is not laziness. It is not resistance. It is a dashboard light- that’s a really nice way I like to talk about it. For most of the unconventional leaders I coach, procrastination shows up for four reasons. Right? Competing interests- that just means they have so many things going on it’s competing for their time and attention. That means they need to clear that up and figure out the priorities, uncertainty so often, they’ll be really uncertain about what action needs to happen next. Another one is fear of judgment. It sits in there. What will other people think? How will this be perceived? How will the employees handle it? And missing accountability so often I can tell if something’s a little hung up, because they don’t have a timeline on it, and we can add that in.
When you name the real reason, the fog lifts, and when the fog lifts, you can take action. It gets a lot easier. This is one of the ways clients and I create a great shift in their lives.
Thank you so much for tuning in, watching my videos. Please leave a comment, like these, pass them along.
You can change how procrastination shows up in your life, and it might just be listening to the dashboard light that’s coming on
about why you’re feeling that way, or why you’re putting something off, or why right now isn’t the right time.
I’m JoyGenea, Unconventional leadership coach and international neurodiversity coach.
Thank you so much for stopping by and hanging out with me at the airport. Bye.