Procrastination is a challenge we have all faced at one point or another. For as long as humans have been around, we have been struggling with delaying, avoiding, and procrastinating on issues that matter to us.

During our more productive moments, when we temporarily figure out how to stop procrastinating, we feel satisfied and accomplished. Today, we're going to talk about how to make those rare moments of productivity more routine. The purpose of this post is to break down the science behind why we procrastinate, share proven frameworks you can use to beat procrastination.

Effects of Procrastinating

People experience the effects of wasting time and not meeting deadlines is devastating at both the business and personal levels. Procrastination may result in stress, a sense of guilt and crisis, severe loss of personal productivity, as well as business and social disapproval for not meeting responsibilities or commitments. These feelings can combine and may create further procrastination.
For some the anxiety and stress caused by procrastinating does, end up being a motivating force to initiate action for various tasks – however this is usually followed by attempts to justify the delay which further reinforces the same type of behavior from the individual. While it is regarded as normal for people to procrastinate to some degree, for those wanting to stop procrastinating need to raise themselves above any attempts to justify or minimize procrastination being acceptable in any form.
There is, in counseling psychological circles those who see people who exhibit chronic procrastination as a sign of an underlying psychological disorder. Yet others who regard procrastination as a useful way of identifying what is important to us personally – as it is rare to procrastinate when one truly values the task at hand.
The procrastinator however, must learn to raise the value of certain priorities even if they do not truly enjoy doing them – in order to continue to be productive in all aspects of their lives. The public perception of those who procrastinate is the belief that task-aversion is accompanied by laziness, low willpower, irresponsibility and low ambition. While this is not the attitude of those who research or treat procrastination in a psychological or clinical area – it is how the general public (your friends, boss, clients) see you.

Guideline To Help You Overcome Procrastinating

* Recognize That You're Procrastinating

You might be putting off a task because you've had to re-prioritize your workload. If you're briefly delaying an important task for a genuinely good reason, then you aren't necessarily procrastinating. However, if you start to put things off indefinitely, or switch focus because you want to avoid doing something, then you probably are.

* Get clear about what you want in life

Take 20-30 minutes to do this quick goal planning exercise.
Write down all your goals in some or all of these categories: career, education, relationships, financial, physical, mindset, creative, spiritual, public service, travel, leisure, and other.
Once you have your list, then whittle it down to your top 10, then down to your top 5, and then your top 3.
Do this by asking yourself, Can I live without this? Let your less important goals lie dormant on a maybe list that you can check on again in a few months.

* Link tasks you don’t like to your goals

It helps to mentally (and in writing) tie these tasks to one of your main goals or values. For example, Keeping a tidy and clean home and desk allows me to have clarity of mind which is something I highly value. By having clarity of mind I will be better able to work on my goals and have less anxiety.
By linking the task to the pleasure of being able to think clearly, I now have a reason that will motivate me to take action.

* Plan your day each day

This is not a big task. It should only take about 10-15 minutes of quiet time.
Do the most difficult and most important things first and work your way down to the easier stuff in the afternoon. You’ll feel really good if you do this.
Focus on that to motivate you to wait to check email and such until after you’ve finished your first big task.

* Get help making decisions

Decisions are tough for me. I like to use the pro/con method and assign points.
I also recommend getting help from a friend that you know is good with making decisions.
Once you’ve made your decision, then break it down into tasks and schedule into your calendar.

* Just do it, but don’t over do it.

We often put pressure on ourselves to do certain tasks more often than we really need to, such as cleaning, tidying and laundry etc. So give yourself a break and set a schedule for these things that is not overwhelming.
Do thing on a need to do basis and let go of the notion that you need to keep up with some perfect schedule. Ever heard of the business concept just in time inventory, well this is just in time task management.

* Break down big tasks into smaller components

We procrastinate on tasks that are vague and nebulous because we don’t have clear instructions what to do next.
Take a few moments to think about how to break down a larger task and schedule it into your calendar in pieces. This is good for when you are feeling overwhelmed.

* Believe in yourself and in your ability to accomplish anything you want.

If you’ve lost hope, know that you can turn things around.
Release the fear of failure. Failure is just a learning experience.
Slow and steady wins the race. A little bit done every day adds up to a lot over a year. If you have to, just fake your belief until it becomes real. Remember, you can do it!

Final Verdict

Procrastination is not so much an effect of laziness – it is a higher trait influence of being impulsive and avoiding what we consider boredom. Most of us can recognize when we are procrastinating, we are able to reflect on what we need or intend to do and then justify to ourselves why we are not taking action. Procrastination is more likely to occur when we fail to have control on our impulsive behavior and lack the discipline to get ourselves back at the tasks at hand.
At the fundamental core, we procrastinate when we allow ourselves the emotional pleasures of the moment to have more influence on our motivations than the perceived unpleasant emotional payoff of the task at hand. It is possible to learn new ways of manipulating the emotional intensity of the importance of our goals, and systems of strategies to increase compliance to the plans we have made for ourselves.