Practical Ways to Overcome Procrastination
You have something important that you should be doing. However, instead of doing work, you’re fiddling around with miscellaneous things like chatting with your friends, checking emails, and social media, and surfing blogs and forums. You know you should be working, but you don’t just feel like doing anything. We are all familiar with the procrastination phenomenon.
When we procrastinate, we squander away our leisure time and put off important tasks that we should be doing till it’s too late. And when it is indeed late, we panic and wish we had started earlier. Procrastination is deciding for no valid reason to delay or not complete a task or goal you’ve committed to, and instead doing something of lesser importance despite the negative consequences of not following through on the original task or goal. It is important to remember that everyone procrastinates. However, problematic procrastination can be distinguished from more general procrastination by how bad the negative consequences are of our not following through on things.
Why do we put things off?
We often come up with several excuses or rationalizations to justify our behavior. People procrastinate for different reasons. Sometimes it results from pressure in your social environment, from friends, or pressure from family, maybe while growing up in a rigid household. For example, expectations for high performance from parents can make people put off projects out of fear of failure or criticism.
Some of the reasons why we procrastinate include:
I’m not in the mood to do it.
Perfectionism is Uncertainty about what needs to be done; Fear of failure
Depression, inability to concentrate
Waiting until the last minute
•Decision fatigue; a lack of energy; the belief that you can finish it at the last possible moment
• a lack of initiative to start; forgetfulness; waiting for the right time or moment; and needing time to think about the task
How to overcome procrastination
There are several different things that you can do to fight procrastination and start getting things done on time. Consider the following suggestions that can help you overcome procrastination.
1) Discover why you’re procrastinating.
First, to overcome procrastination, you need to have an understanding of the reasons why you procrastinate and the function procrastination serves in your life. You can’t come up with an effective solution if you don’t understand the root of the problem. Whenever you find yourself procrastinating on a task, take a step back and ask, “Why am I procrastinating on this task?” If you know the underlying reason, then you can match it with the right solution.
2) Make a to-do list
To help keep you on track, consider placing a due date next to each item. The best decision you can make towards avoiding procrastination is to plan your days.
Rather than frantically figuring out what you’ll do on any given day, a better way to approach your day would be to take a few minutes at the end of each day to quickly map out what you will be doing the following day.
For example, every night before I go to bed, I write down or review my plans for the next day, like one big task, goal, or project I need to make progress on; my non-negotiable habits like exercise, reading (30 minutes minimum), meditation, mastery-related work, and time spent with my loved ones.
3) Break it down into small steps.
If you’re prone to delaying projects because you find them overwhelming, try breaking them down into more manageable chunks. Organize your projects into smaller tasks and focus on starting them rather than finishing them.
Ask a friend or someone you trust to help you think through and organize the steps. Just be careful to avoid the trap of becoming so focused on the details that you don’t make any progress.
4) Determine Deadlines
It is easier to be successful when you have various small short-term goals compared to one large long-term goal. It is less overwhelming and easier to stay motivated.
Every time you complete a short-term goal, reward yourself. Creating these smaller goals allows you to move away from last-minute panic as a big deadline approaches.
TK
