How to overcome procrastination – Next steps
Throughout this guide, you learned why we procrastinate and its effects.
There’s no need to be concerned about procrastination unless it begins impacting your daily life severely.
It then becomes more than just a problem of time management. Procrastination is when we put off doing something because it’s boring or we aren’t sure how to do it.
The most common excuse used by procrastinators is that they lack motivation. However, their collection of reasons includes an option for every situation.
For instance, if you have a big project due soon, you may use the excuse that you don’t know where to start. Consequently, at the other end of the spectrum, you may use the reason the project is easy, so you can wait until the last minute to finish it.
Examine why you procrastinate by identifying the root cause. Then, stop saying you’ll do it later next time and ask yourself why.
- Do you fear failure because you have failed in the past?
- Is procrastination something you saw growing up in your family?
- Have you allowed procrastinating to become a habit because you are lazy or just not interested in the task?
- Maybe your self-worth level, confidence in your abilities, or negative thoughts keep you from taking action.
- Putting off a task until you can do it perfectly can keep you stuck in the cycle of constantly putting it off.
Knowing why you procrastinate can help you start taking steps to change that behaviour.
Other guides will give you more ideas, but here’s one that will get you started.
If you are procrastinating, ask yourself if it’s helping or hindering your success.
Then, start the task.
“Once we begin a task, no matter how dreaded, our perceptions of the task change…we don’t appraise the task as quite so stressful or difficult once we get started. Starting is everything.”
Tim Pychyl