Breaking the loop of Procrastination & Perfectionisme

My client knows that she irritates others with her procratination. She wants an insight in this habit. We analyzed to see if her perfectionism created a loop. Because she has a fear of being unable to complete a task perfectly, she puts it off as long as possible. Her assumptions and convictions:

• I have to do more research, gather more information, find more sources of inspiration before I start.
• I’ll get started tomorrow — I’ve got time.
• I fear of not meeting the goal and it makes me look really bad/ stupid.
• I fear of not being good enough and therefore being criticized by others.

We started by explaining why procrastination has nothing to do with laziness.

Studies reveal a cognitive aspect: People procrationate when they view concrete tasks in abstract terms.
So we made one of her  assignments concrete. Shifted perceptions. Aligned on expectations, instead of assuming them. And analyzed the anxiety.
Instead of fearing the failure of the outcome she broke the assignment up in steps With help from a colleguae, since she ( as a conceptual thinker) has a hard time thinking in steps. And with the help of the 5 steps in Design Thinking,  where the process is as important as the product, her confidence grew and therfor less fear of failure. Her perfectionisme was a conviction in her head and was therefor not concrete and not aligned.