Procrastination

Monday, December 14, 2015

I think it's fair to say that most of us procrastinate from time to time. However some of us procrastinate so much that it starts to interfere with things in our lives.

What is procrastination?

Procrastination is when you avoid something important that needs to be done. Instead of doing the important task you decide to do something more enjoyable, less urgent or less worthwhile. In this way you delay doing the task until later.

What are the effects of procrastination?

Procrastination lets you slack off in the short term, but will cause you grief in the long term.

• Important tasks aren't completed.
• You feel guilty because you know you should have done those important task.
• You become stressed because you now have less time to complete those important tasks.
• It can affect the quality of your work because you didn't have enough time to complete the task.

Why do we procrastinate?

There are many reasons why people procrastinate. Here are the 4 main reasons.

• Difficulty - The task appears to be too hard or time consuming.
• Boredom - There are too many distractions around you, causing you to lose focus.
• A Distant Deadline - You don't have to finish the task for a while, so you put it off until later.
• Self-Doubt - You're afraid of doing something wrong, making a mistake and looking like a fool.

How can we limit procrastination?

The key to overcoming procrastination is recognising the reason why you're doing it. Once you know the reason you can work on resolving it. You may not be able to completely stop procrastinating, but you can reduce its effects.

If you're being overwhelmed by the size or difficulty of a task, it helps to break it down into smaller tasks that are more manageable. This way you can see your progress and stay motivated as you progress towards completing the task.

If boredom is your problem, removing distractions from your environment can help you. I find that when I become bored, it's not the distractions that are the problem. The problem is that I have been doing the same tasks for too long and I'm losing interest. Changing up the task you're doing for a little while can help you regain focus.

When a task has a distant completion date, it's easy to think I'll do it later. But what if it takes longer than you thought it would? You should create multiple deadlines for when you will have different parts of the task completed. This way you'll be actively working towards the goal, instead of trying to cram everything together at the last minute.

Self-doubt can be an issue when you have little experience doing something and I find it's the main reason for why I procrastinate. I have high expectations for the outcome of my tasks and assume others expect the same results, so I don't want to get anything wrong. Often though, things don't need to be perfect and recognising this is helpful in moving forward.

When we lose confidence in our own abilities or are scared of making mistakes we need to take a step back and evaluate the situation.

• Have I done this task before?
• Am I expecting too much from myself?
• Can I find more information to help me with the task?

Often we have high expectations of ourselves and our work. But most of the time it doesn't need to be perfect, so we shouldn't stress ourselves out.

hopefully you got something out of this discussion that will make you think about why you procrastinate so you can avoiding it.

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