The Mean Old Procrastination

We all have that one thing we have always wanted to get done but never really got around to doing. From simple small chores to big tasks that might even be a driver to our goals. We always find ourselves extending the deadline for our tasks and usually seem to enjoy the stressful situations that come when the deadline arrives. However, we often miss out the grander problem of how procrastination really affects our life.

Why are we also victims of it?

Procrastination doesn’t essentially come from being lazy or with the inability to stay organized and efficient. Most people associate procrastination with the lack of desire to do that certain task at hand. Procrastination however is a state of mood our mind boggles in to make us feel that the task at hand is not interesting enough to give us excitement. Not only that, we often want to put the task for a later time when it has to do with our weak areas and matters we are not confident to take on.

But given the importance of the task, how does our mind then trick us into believing we will handle it at a later time? Well this is simple; it makes us believe the “us” at the later time is a separate individual which is of no relation with the “us” right now. Thus, we don’t really care if the “us” later suffers as a consequence or not.

More so than the above, we are constantly surrounded by things that can easily distract us. From social media apps bombarding us with notifications to sites which give us a hit of dopamine making our current task less interesting.

How many of us had visited youtube to search for a productive video and ended up watching Tik Tok compilations.

But how is it actually impacting our lives?

“ Days become weeks, weeks become months and months become years and years become a lifetime”

The bad thing about procrastination is that it does show the negative impact single handedly but requires to see the holistic view to realize how it impacts our lives.

1. Unrealized dreams: Small tasks procrastinated, mainly those that have to do with our dreams and goals, will result in our dreams not actually being attained. There is no worse feeling than knowing two and three years have passed and we are exactly in the same place as we were before with no real change in our lives.

2. Unreliability: Not actually getting things done as promised or delivering poor quality on deadline creates a sense of unreliability from our peers and those around us. This might result in opportunities being closed which could have changed our path.

3. Lack of confidence: Some of the tasks as mentioned above are delayed because we lack the confidence in ourselves to do them. Those tasks which never get done limit us from practicing to develop the needed confidence and we end up feeling more worse than ever. This no only affects those specific tasks but altogether our life as we continue to limit our selves to certain boundaries and fail to practice confidence.

4. Most importantly causes anxiety and depression. The need to get things done at the deadline or deeply thinking of all the things we haven’t achieved causes a continued state of panic resulting in unhappiness in our lives and constant reminder of failure.

How can we overcome it?

First and foremost, like all the other mistakes we make in our lives, we have to forgive ourselves. Admitting that we have actually lost months and even years in our lives without having attained what we longed for. Admitting that we have lost opportunities which could have changed our lives. We then move on to genuinely forgiving ourselves. Forgive ourselves for the mistakes we have made. This allows us to let go of what we have missed and focus on what holds next for us. Only then can we start with the practical things we can do to avoid any procrastination.

1. Don’t ever write out a long list of all the things you have to get done. Start small and take it one step at a time. For every single thing you need to do just put out one task that you have to do for it. And only after you have completed that task should you write out the next task. This allows our brain to assume the task are simple and easy.

2. Select the time when you are most productive during the day or night and do the tasks you find difficult during that time.

3. Clear out all distractions. Mute your phone notification or place it in a separate room. Block sites which might drag you in a deep whole and try to concentrate only on the one task at hand infront of you.

4. Reward yourself after a hard work. It can simply be watching your favorite movie, resting, yoga or even a good night out with friends. But always make sure to reward yourself even for the small accomplishments you make.

5. Identify a mentor, a friend or even a partner who can hold you accountable for not getting things done.

6. Don't be quick to punish yourself in occasions you don’t achieve as intended.

7. Just do it. Do not spend time fantasizing about doing the task just go ahead and get it started. You might be surprised how the scariest things are really simple when you just don’t read too much into them and just dive in.

This article was inspired by"Why do you procrastinate it has nothing to do with self control" written by the New York Times.

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