How to overcome procrastination

“I’ll think about it tomorrow”: what is procrastination and how to stop postponing life for later?

Procrastination is the constant postponement of important tasks for later. People who procrastinate cannot start doing the work, which is truly important; instead, they make themselves busy with petty, unimportant tasks. Procrastination can often be accompanied by panic attacks, neurosis, and suicidal thoughts. The dangers of procrastination also include poor quality of work and high levels of stress. Insufficient attention paid to the task and the inability to track all the details are then reflected in the quality of the result. Moreover, this happens not because procrastinators do their job poorly, but because they spend too little time performing it. Procrastination is not about rest or laziness at all. It is about some psychological problems, which make us put off important tasks until it’s too late to perform them sufficiently which often leads to feelings of guilt. Among the causes of procrastination are lack of interest in work, anxiety due to the completion of the task, acquired procrastination, perfectionism, procrastination as a protective mechanism, and justification of our own inaction.

Lack of interest in the task:

This is manifested very often: a person puts off a certain job because it is uninteresting, boring, and not satisfying. In psychology, there is no concept of laziness. If a person does not want to do something, there must be reasons for that, which are worth looking for. It often turns out that people do not always fit into the deadlines because a certain field of activity is boring for them, or they have burned out or outgrown. What to do with it is the next question and to admit the problem is already the beginning of a solution.

Anxiety:

In each case, it manifests itself very individually, but you should ask yourself: “What is there in this task that scares me?”

Systemic (acquired) procrastination:

This happens when certain patterns of behavior are regularly maintained in the family or team. For example, when a manager gives a task and then it turns out that the task did not need to be performed. Then, firstly, the motivation disappears, and secondly, the reflex “to postpone the task for later, because it can be canceled” is formed. In the family, systemic or acquired procrastination may be manifested in the fact that parents give the task but then immediately begin to perform it themselves. This leads to the acquired helplessness of the child –the belief that he cannot cope with the task on his own, and in the future may lead to the child unconsciously waiting that someone else, more experienced, will do all the important tasks for him.

Perfectionism:

“I’ll start when I finish another course”, “I need more experience in this field”, and “I’ll be able to do it when I get another degree” – are the most common signs of procrastination due to perfectionism. The person has an affirmation “do either perfectly or do not do at all”. However, often it does not work out because there are always reasons for many imperfections: the conditions might get in the way(maternity leave, the season is depressing) or the lack of knowledge (requires a certain degree). Then when you start studying and gaining knowledge there is a lack of experience, and when you get the experience you need highly specialized skills, and so on.

Protective mechanism:

Procrastination can be the body’s response to fatigue. In modern society, we see a crazy cult of achievement. When you need to feed a child, run a marathon, and give instructions to your subordinates at the same time because you have a huge business, and most importantly –you mustn’t get tired because it somehow does not look very nice. This applies to both women and men. A person may not notice that procrastination is a request of the body “I need to rest.” When a person tries to squeeze another course into his life, and his brain tells him: “Oh, what an interesting video about a duck, and here’s a new trailer you have to watch.” The nervous system rests in such a way.

Justification of inaction:

Often people do not even try to do something, calling themselves procrastinators. “I’m such a person, I’m procrastinating” is the opposite of those people who are trying to reach more and more. People have faced procrastination at all times. Even Greek and Roman philosophers complained about this phenomenon in the highest echelons of power. There is probably not a single person on the planet who has never put something off.

How to overcome procrastination? Admit that the problem exists.

Sometimes it’s not easy, but it’s necessary anyway. Then it is necessary to divide work into processes and to understand where you slip. “Maybe I’m slowing down at some specific stage: I like to cook, but I hate washing dishes, I like to clean, but I can’t stand wiping dust”, and so on.

Divide and delegate:

Any work can be divided into stages. When you clearly realize that this giant “elephant” consists of small puzzles that you can handle, it becomes not so scary.

Remove distractions:

Today, people have more distractions than ever before -from social media, news, and e-mail to traditional calls or conversations in the office. So, the first part should be removed by willpower -say, for an hour. That is, you tell your brain: “Let’s concentrate well for an hour, and when we complete a part of the planned or there will be time for social networks, then we’ll work again,” and you work at this pace.

Find the purpose of the activity:

There are some things, which cannot be avoided and delegated. You just should tell yourself: “I do it because…” That is, you clearly know that this bitter pill will help you, so you need to swallow it quickly -and move on to your goal. However, here the main thing is to have a balance. Because if all the work becomes a “bitter pill” and brings nothing but negativity, then it is time to change something in your life.

Procrastination as part of the work:

You can try this method as an experiment -to perceive the postponement of work as part of the working process. Admit to yourself that you still postpone the task, so have fun with it. How exactly? Let’s say you have a week to create a presentation (product, project, report, etc.) but you know from previous experience that you can do it in two days. This means that you can rest peacefully for five days –and work only for two days.

What is the main problem of procrastinators?

They put something off, and then, all the time until it’s done, they live in some kind of hell: “I can’t go for a walk with friends because I have to work,” “I can’t watch this movie because I don’t have time for it,” ” I will not go to bed until I finish this work. “Therefore, instead of blaming yourself for inaction and increasing the feeling of guilt -just set yourself a specific deadline and a specific day. We often create prohibitions for ourselves: “Until I do this and that -I will not go anywhere on vacation / I will not go to the museum / I will not watch a movie.” However, you can “hack” the system, admitting that you will do the planned not only before, but also after rest, which will increase both the quality of rest and the quality of work performed.