Procrastination. Just one simple word but one that has a powerful and dreadful meaning. Dreadful in the sense that we feel like everything around us is coming to a stop as if time has frozen.The more we procrastinate, the harder it seems to hold us get back.
As if that isn’t enough, we also feel guilty for procrastinating something important only to do something unproductive. Deep inside we know that delaying the task at hand means delaying our success.
“My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.” – Charles Dickens
The number one reason why we procrastinate is that we feel like the work or task given to us is tremendous, complicated, and a tedious. Instead of worrying about how you can finish that project on time, try to break it into segments, sub-tasks, and milestones. In this way, your burden will be alleviated, and you’ll find it easier to achieve your goal.
List down the tasks or steps that need to be done to fully accomplish your project. And when you’re done, focus on completing these sub-tasks one at a time. Don’t let worry about the other tasks. You only need to concentrate on achieving one. When you’re done, move to the next one. Setting up a quick, tangible goal will motivate you in accomplishing it sooner than later. And you’ll find yourself completing the entire task without realizing it.
This is actually in relation to number 1. Once you’re done writing or listing down your milestones or subtasks, things don’t end there. The next step is to set a realistic, specific, and tangible deadline to each task. By “specific” we don’t mean that you set “this coming Monday,” or “Next Week,” “Next month.” Why? It’s because it’s not specific at all. Instead, you should write “January 30, 2017” or “First Week of March 2017.”.
The problem with not setting a specific deadline is that you tend to delay your progress by thinking that there will always be a tomorrow to do it. Sure, you may set your deadline to “next week” but be mindful that there will always be a “next week.” Do you mean “next week” of July, the week after, or the next week after month?? You need to be specific with your deadlines.
Now that we’ve listed the goals you need to accomplish and set up a specific deadline to beat, it’s time to get rid of your procrastination triggers. We need you to do the actual working. Otherwise, your plan will remain a plan and you will still procrastinate. So, how do we do that?
We can get rid of procrastination by monitoring your work time or your browsing history. Identify what apps, software, or activities take most of your time. Then, identify whether the said activity is productive or not. If it’s the latter, then you need to get rid of that activity and spend your time doing tasks related to your goal. Surely, spending four hours browsing through Facebook is counterproductive, right?
Now that you’ve sorted out your internal conflict, it’s time to reflect it to the outside. No matter how strong your willpower is, if the people around you are discouraging you from doing something good and leading you to procrastination, you’ll get nowhere. So surround yourself with individuals who support you in your goals and who inspire you to keep pushing towards dreams.
“The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They’re full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.” – Norman Vincent Peale
