It's sunday night and your mind is running mad. You're working so hard to get your task done before the submission. The feelings you are having are worst, kind of hating yourself for not starting it sooner.
What is Procrastination? Why we (humans) procrastinate? What are we doing wrong? Is it possible for us to overcome this lethargic behavior?
Procrastination is a term which is used to describe a nature in which we delay things that needs to be done until the opportunity is lost.
The reasons are apparent. You had time but you were busy for hours and hours in checking the notifications from numberless social media sites. You had to reply , you had to comment , cause it was the most important debt on you to take off at first place . so you did that, perhaps while doing all that worthless work your mind was in consistent battle. The battle was against that reminder which was again and again popping back in your head for your important work and commitments.
After all is finally done . You decide to start the work. Now wait again there's a battle. Now a thought pops up in your head that there are few things which needs to be done first e.g. the plan and arrangements (coffee, paper, sharpening your pencil, putting lamp , cleaning lamp etc.).Does it sounds familiar to you ??? if it does , you are not alone! Procrastination is an awful prey and we many of us fall into its trap. We humans are very similar 95% of us procrastinate and it feels relieved that you are not alone but disappointed at the same time cause it hold your back from duties and aims.
Is the procrastination and laziness the same thing ?
Laziness is often confused with procrastination . But, they are highly distinct. Procrastination is an active process in which you decide to do something which can be done later or which is least important. Whereas, laziness is inactive state in which a person is unwilling to do anything. Procrastination involves the process in which you choose to ignore the unpleasant tasks which are highly important over the ones which are enjoyable and easy to done. Procrastination has two major kinds:
Minor: it is the one which is not much severe but can also have the saddest consequences e.g. feeling of guilt and ashamed. It inculcates the inability of achieving the goals and our minimizes the amount of productivity.
Major: If there are recursion of minor attacks and if it becomes your daily habit then there is a serious issue which can leads you to the devastating consequences e.g. ending up in severe depression , losing job or dropping off from schools etc.
Is it possible to shun this habit of procrastinating ?
Yes ! certainly there are many ways which if are adopted with full determination can minimize the amount of procrastination in our daily lives.
Step#1: identify if you are procrastinating but how ?
There is a possibility that you are postponing your tasks because you have had to reschedule your workload. If you are doing this for a genuine reason then you are not necessarily procrastinating.However, if you go contrary to the above mentioned possibility and you are intentionally switching your attention, then you probably are.You are also procrastinating if you:
- Spend your whole day with things that were not important.
- If you are realizing that you should not be doing this but, be doing your work but you can't and still focuses on wasting time.
- Checking notifications from social sites or emails or watching seasons and movies.
- Starting your important work but then interrupting your mind with various thoughts e.g. coffee or tea.
- Waiting for the “right time” or “right place” for your tasks to be done.
- Taking part in futile arguments with others.
Step#2: find out why are you procrastinating ?
It is very important to know the reasons why are you showing the interest in the process of completing the assigned task on time. Once, you know the reasons, only then you can find a way out to tackle it. For instance, if you find your task less attractive or if contradicts your area of interests then you should find the immediate ways to get it out of your way so that you can focus on the other aspects of your job/study which you enjoy the most. Your nature and personality has a lot of effect on the level of procrastinations. It is said that people who are organized are less likely to be the victim of this disease because they successfully overcomes it by using over prioritizes TO-DO lists and creative effective schedules. Discipline and organized nature can be a very significant tool in helping you with the tasks and deadline.
Even, if you are a person who is very disciplined you still can procrastinate because maybe you are overwhelmed with it.Perhaps, you doubt your potentials and are fearful of consequences. Humans are fearful of nearly everything. They fear failure as well as they fear success. They take success as there challenge of more tasks. Another major problem is “ Lack of planning”. When you can’t plan your schedule or when you can't decide what to do first you can get a lot of trouble in the completion of your tasks on time.
Step#3: adopting few very crucial strategies in order to suppress procrastination :
Procrastination becomes a habit a deeply engraved pattern of behavior. This clearly means that it won't be possible to shun it overnight. Habits can only be stopped if there is a habit of avoiding practicing them. So you have to try hard in adapting few strategies, which are listed below to give yourself the best possible way out for succeeding in life and suppressing procrastination that can hinder in your way of success.
- Self pity and self forgiveness : it is important to forget about the past procrastinations and to less pity towards yourself for being incapable of defeating past procrastination. It is said that when a person's forgives themselves they mind and body becomes more positive and ready to fight the procrastinations.
- Determination and consistency in behavior: consistent motivation and behavior is very important for the success because studies have shown that a lot of people feel like conquering the world in a day because they are highly motivated and overwhelmed which lasts for hours or days and finally they quit thinking it's not what they can do or it's not what is meant for them without giving it a full time.so one should write down all the tasks and there deadlines and stick to them till they are nicely completed.
- Repeating your internal motivating phrases : Repeating few phrases e.g. I need to , I have to . In order to think that you have no other choice can make you feel helpless and incapable and can end in destroying your morale. However, saying words like “i wish to” can help you summing up all your positivity in the project by thinking of it as if it's your own choice it's what you want to do.
- Taking a good control on to yourself in avoiding interruptions: Make sure you are not thinking about all the activity happening in your social accounts or emails or anything which is urging you to take focus out of your project.
- Aim to finish the least pleasant tasks first : it is very crucial to complete all the tasks that you find least attractive in order to enjoy the rest and to have that happy feeling best yet to come.
If you are a confused personality then follow below listed ways to get control over your procrastination habit :
- To make a list of all the tasks ( TO-DO LIST) : This will help you in remembering all the things which you need to do on time. And feel restricted to obey it.
- Set the priority list : first comes first , decide what are the most important tasks that needs to be done first. Make a flow chart according to priority and follow it.
- Choosing the right time for right task : Make a schedule which nicely fulfills your all tasks and sleep as well , it is noted that morning time are the best time to study because it is fresh and ready to observe the knowledge and challenges. But, it can vary from person to person as few are active at morning time or some feel energetic and active at afternoon so choose your time and get your major work done in that time.
- Set your own deadlines : Set the time in which you have to complete the task no matter what happens. This can help you challenge yourself and to motivate you till the tasks are finally done.
- Study or complete the tasks with some competition or with your competitors : it is highly noted that when it comes to challenge our capabilities with someone else . we work more efficiently than ever. And that challenge gives you the energy and spark which is very important in fulfilling your projects and duties. Challenge is not a bad thing , cause if your heart and mind has good intentions e.g to prove you are worthwhile and to get positivity for you own soul then its highly productive, not good if you want other to feel inferior.
This post is written to help you with this beast of procrastination. So, that you can easily and happily finish your all due tasks on time .
I HOPE THIS POST CAN HELP YOU ALOT . THANKYOU
REGARDS,
BLUE-EYE012