The Slow Suicide of Procrastination
How to Overcome Overwhelm
Today is one of those days where it’s hard to focus because I feel so distracted and burned-out. As I come home from work, I do not feel like doing shit. Even though I have a ton of stuff I need to accomplish by the end of this day. The problem is, like most days I feel like I am chasing my tail by staying busy but achieving very little. I have a terrible tendency of wanting to push off until tomorrow what I should be doing today.
As the years go by, I see myself getting older and feel as though I have let these tendencies of procrastination silence my ambitions while slowly steal my dreams.
It feels like a slow and deliberate death as I kept pushing off my tasks until they seem overwhelmingly impossible to accomplish.
For me, procrastination is a real condition as though I am slowly suffocating myself from my potential, while at the same time crippling myself from achievement.
Its power lay in the ability to seduce almost anyone from accomplishment. It subtly whispers for me to wait for the soothing intentions of what tomorrow might bring if I just wait one more day. Deep down I know I shouldn’t wait for the temptation of tomorrow. But for some reason, I have always trusted the voice and reason of procrastination. It feels natural to push something till tomorrow when you know you should be doing it today. But after a while, I began to understand the true nature of its one-sided appeal because its voice whispers to wait till another time, like tomorrow. Conversely, your anxiety starts to build deep inside of you, knowing you should be taking care of business today. This is the exact moment where procrastination turns itself into sheer overwhelm.
The problem is procrastination feels so fucking good of pushing it off till later; while overwhelm feels like complete shit as though you are slowly sinking in quicksand with no way of escaping.
The vagueness of waiting till “sometime soon” gets me in trouble every-single-time. But this is the last round of letting procrastination get the better of me, as it would be the last time. For weeks I have researched the best methods of curing myself of this plague of procrastination, and have decided to take action and do a Procrastination-Detox on myself. I must admit it took a while to get used to some of the methods. But after a while, I started to become a productivity machine by knocking out everything that needed to be complete in a day. I have curated a small list of the top takeaways, and it was the best thing I have ever done for myself.
Five ways that helped me implement a Procrastination Detox:
NOW, not tomorrow:
I began to understand that the smallest increment of time is “now” and the most critical time of all.
While doing my research, I learned that I was too focused on the past with one eye on the future but always underestimated the immediate impact of right-now. Now, as soon as something comes across my desk, I sincerely try to handle it within the first 15 minutes. Granted, this is always not possible, but it allows me to start the process of accomplishing the task at hand. The most significant threat of eliminating the behavior of procrastination is to remove it right from the start. It is powerless over you if you’ve already taken care of whatever needs to be done.
Say it aloud:
I made myself say the words “NOW, not tomorrow” aloud. This may be strange for some people, but my family and friends will call me out on my bullshit if I say it aloud so all can hear it. A great way to hold myself accountable is to let others know what my intentions are by telling everyone. When I tell other people my plans, it becomes a lot harder to flake. Especially my family and friends who love to let me know when I’m doing too much talking and not enough action.
Focus on a single task at a time:
A fantastic way that I handled overwhelm by making sure something gets done was to tell my old buddy procrastination to piss-off by focusing on one thing at a time.
I am blown away by how much I can get done when I just slow down and concentrate on one thing at a time. Most of us get overwhelmed because we try and do too much at once.
The thought of overwhelm makes me want to push it off until another day. And pushing it off was precisely the root of my procrastination problems. But like the adage says, “how do you eat an elephant, with one bite at a time.” So I decided to slow it down and focus on the task at hand until it was complete.
The Small Victories lead to significant results:
While procrastination comes across with a calming innocence by continually urging me to put off whatever I need to finish till it’s too late, a great way to smash procrastination in the face is to immediately take the smallest step possible to secure a quick victory for myself. The most modest wins throughout my day added up to the most significant achievements for me in the future. For instance, making a quick breakfast sets my morning up properly because I have the energy to crush it. Moreover, the instant win gives me the sense momentum that is critical toward killing off pesky tendencies of procrastination like working out.
Make sure the To-Do-List is small:
When I started to gain full momentum in doing things on my daily activities, I begin to notice how amazing it felt. I felt like I was accomplishing a great deal because of the small wins. That feeling made me want to push myself a little harder day-by-day. Like making breakfast was a small victory; followed with the next day of making breakfast and adding a two-mile jog. The next thing I knew I was making breakfast and going for a full workout in the morning. But I made sure that I kept my daily To-Do-List small to ensure that I accomplished everything I did on a regular basis. Adding too much was another source of overwhelm so I also keep my list limited to make sure I finish-what-I-start.
Deadlines are my friends not my enemy:
I used to dread the idea of a deadline. Regardless of how far away it was scheduled I always held feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. However, I began to realize that if I properly planned my tasks per the deadline my tasks would get done quicker. Much faster because a deadline makes me focus while giving a sense certainty with a time-frame while leaving little time fumble around. But the truth is, a realistic deadline can be my best friend when my true enemy named procrastination rears its ugly head. A deadline holds me accountable for staying on track when the distractions of life tend to sway you off course.
Be real about your time:
I’m not going to lie. This one used to kick my butt. The problem of any to-do-list is it doesn’t account for dilemmas, hiccups, obstacles, or barriers. It’s too easy to make a to-do-list because all you have to do is write it down on a piece of paper. When I would plan my day, it was with the thought of a day where everything was going smoothly. As we know, shit happens, and your timetable becomes worthless. So instead I would keep my list super simple. Now I am very strict with my time, taking into consideration unknown variables and surprises when planning my day. The goal is to eliminate all of the bullshit noise in the day.
Write it out the night before:
As far as a productivity-detox is concerned nothing beats writing it out onto paper before bedtime. Yes, we live in a digital age with cell phones, laptops, and tablets but it’s nice to be able to write it out physically. Part of the reason for my procrastination leading to overwhelm is because whatever it is I am thinking of rattles around in my brain and keeps me up at all night. That is why I write down my objectives the night before, so I get it out of my mind and onto paper. I wake up refreshed the next day because it’s out of my head and onto paper.
Don’t believe me? Feel free to take a look and grab my version of the Productivity-Detox. I promise it’ll be the best thing you grab off the Internet today.
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