How to Overcome ProcrastinationJun 3, 2022
Do you know that 95% of us procrastinate from carrying out tasks relevant in the present moment?
Procrastination is the act of unnecessarily delaying tasks until the last minute or past the deadline. Prolonged procrastination can cause guilt/shame and eventually result in depression from being unable to carry out tasks at the right time and can gradually affect our productivity.
Most often, we procrastinate over tasks that are mostly unpleasant and do not provide us immediate rewards. We tend to sometimes over analyze the tasks and let fear control our judgment leading to postponing the task as an easier option rather than executing it. This slowly leads us to a place of stagnation that prevents us from moving forward in our life.
According to Newton’s law if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force. Similarly, in order to move out of procrastination we need to carry out some steps that help us to perform our activities
The steps are
Acknowledge - In this step, accept that you have a tendency to procrastinate while carrying out certain types of tasks. For example - One of the activities that I always used to procrastinate was while having to carry out a new task that I have very little knowledge or experience about. Recently, I experienced it while preparing for my citizenship. I noticed that I was intentionally postponing the date of my exam to a further date believing that the more time I get to prepare, the more are the chances to succeed.
**Assess the task ** - Assess the nature of the task, priority, reason behind performing it and the possible areas that are lacking inorder to complete it.
**Start small **- Break down your task to the smallest task possible and pick the one that you can complete quickly based on priority.
Set a deadline - Give yourself a deadline to complete each small task related to the work and commit to the deadline by removing all the possible distractions that can prevent you from achieving the goal.
Celebrate - Celebrate the achievement of your goals by rewarding yourself a special gift to recognize the hard work and commitment that you had invested towards fulfilling the task at hand.
By carrying out the 5 steps, you will be able to execute the tasks without leading into procrastination.
Procrastination is just an indication that is alerting us to take necessary action to achieve our goals. Instead of leaving the task in an incomplete state, taking effort to overcome procrastination can improve our mindset and overall well-being towards becoming the best version of ourselves.
You don’t have to see the whole staircase , just take the first step - Martin Luther King, Jr