Procrastination Isn’t a Choice. Your Surrounding Chooses It for You
So they are the main culprit.
I am a procrastinator, but I do not choose to be. My phone, social media, news, etc., take the plunge of my life and put into the hot mug of procrastination.
Since I am a self-employed nerd, at least for now, and I don’t have to follow any deadlines, it makes it even more difficult for me not to procrastinate.
The most excruciating thing is when I go for some motivational video on YouTube, the comments there definitely motivate me, but to procrastinate more. You would think how?
There’s no video I find about procrastination where procrastinators comment, “how many of you are procrastinating right now by watching it?”
Several procrastinators raise their hands there, and I feel an epiphany that there are many people like me on the planet, so I need not worry. It acts like a drug to me, gives me relief.
Procrastinators are cool and bush! I am there with them. Certainly, this is how motivational videos on procrastination works for me.
How Surroundings Impact You to Procrastinate More
James Clear, in his book Atomic Habit, says — “The environment where we live and work often make it easy not to do certain actions because there is no obvious cue to trigger the behaviour.”
Procrastination comes in disguised form through the surroundings. It doesn’t matter if you make a to-do list, break your task into smaller pieces, or give your phone to your mother.
The vivid environment makes it easier for us not to behave as planned and procrastinate.
Procrastination Cues
When I wake up in the morning, the first cue I find just beneath my head is my phone. My phone triggers me to put it first in my hand and check what astonishing sensation has happened overnight in my absence. It brings me to hover over every social media platform that I use, and hence, I don’t get out of bed for at least an hour.
Since I had mentioned in my to-do list the previous night to exercise for 15–20 minutes, which got turmoiled now ruins my whole mood because I failed in accomplishing the very first task of the day. And there arises the first step towards procrastination.
The other cue that promotes my procrastination is an unorganised room that comprises a messy bed, working table, television, bookshelf, etc., all together.
It is certain. If I feel even a minor unwillingness not to write or study the following day, then the television, phone, or bed makes it easier to dominate the working table or bookshelf.
More cues to procrastination:-
- An abrupt call from your friends to hang out despite knowing that your deadline is near.
- Thinking repeatedly about your thriving colleague/friend and feeling overwhelmed.
- If encountering difficulties in concentration, entirely put work off for later.
- Setting unrealistic goals that are the most probable way to procrastinate.
All the above-highlighted words are cues that sprinkle triggers of procrastination throughout your surroundings. These cues dominate your mind because it provides instant gratification or hunts instant gratification to avoid real-life problems.
It becomes excessively daunting to overcome procrastination when you can not refuse the fear of missing out on instant gratification.
Instant Gratification is All You Need to Lay Off
You know that if you hit the snooze button, you will miss working out. You know that if you use your phone early morning, you are not gonna have the day according to your plan.
- If you delay the gratification of using your phone every morning, you know you could save yourself from being excessively disturbed by some goofiest trend.
- If you delay the gratification i.e. your phone every morning, you will find yourself fit and healthier after a few days.
You just have to learn where to use ‘Yes’ and where to use ‘No’. These are life-changing skills. If you want to succeed at something, you will need to find the ability to be disciplined and take action instead of getting distracted and doing what is easy.
Make it Easy and Fun. Make it a Choice.
Yes, we do want to get stuff done efficiently, and that is actually hard.
I have tried a lot of stuff to be able to finish my work. Then I realized it wasn’t the process that was hard. It was my organizing mindset making even a straightforward task a go-to mission.
I need not reduce the work quantity or increase the deadline to get more hours to finish my work, neither did I need to learn tips and tricks to reduce the process. It was just a waste of time.
A simple start and finish mindset without too much crap in between could help you much.
Make the process fun and as much less hectic as you possibly can. Make your work a choice, or else it’s never going to meet the same expectations as you did.
Motivation do not Cause Your Procrastination to Stop.
Have you ever felt a lack of motivation just before doing anything? I have a ton of times. And then, I switch to consuming motivational content.
Today we have an unimaginable amount of success stories that are way too much to motivate you to do/achieve something.
No doubt, success stories help to inspire you to keep on the path. But what I have personally felt about those things are that success stories nowadays are BS exaggerated cooked falsehoods anywhere and almost everywhere on the internet that isn’t much impactful.
Today internet encounters us with the most successful, hard-working, and happy people that we hardly encounter in real life. And that’s a robust motivation killer.
Motivation definitely is a game-changer, but it doesn’t cause your procrastination to stop. So stop relying on motivation to beat your procrastination.
Final Thoughts
Our surroundings have a massive impact on us, be it comprising anything you think is not that impactful.
Comprehending the procrastination cues has helped me significantly understand my surroundings and not mould as per what serves instant gratification.
Making my task easy without adding too many missions in between with different apps or tools and not acknowledging motivation as my strength to finish any task was that super pill to beat the procrastination beast.
Control your environment or else it will control you — Mike Ferry
If you liked this, consider joining my newsletter and grow yourself as a creator. It’s free! Also, consider joining Medium membership with my link. It will motivate me to write more.
You may also like —
