Procrastination and you!

Procrastination and you: what you do to not do your work.  It’s basically when you come up with excuses, distractions, and other tasks to not do the actual important stuff that has to do with your responsibilities.

Reasons for procrastination

Why procrastination happens, though, can be for many reasons. It could be that your task or work is boring, or that it seems too hard to even start, that it feels overwhelming, or you may even be afraid of failure, so you don’t even start your work to avoid it. We may spend more time looking for excuses to not begin the task than actually becoming the productive persona we yearn and know to be. And then later we regret not having started earlier now that there is so little time left and even less focus as to how to start.

How to solve the problem of procrastination

When we procrastinate we don’t look to find solutions to it because usually, we don’t want to work in the first place. Procrastination can also be when the job seems too daunting and we look for ways to not do it, or when we wish to make the end result so perfect that it becomes impossible to finish. But we can’t keep going about our responsibilities in this way, now can we? The work isn’t going to do itself and you are neither going to get good grades or your salary if you don’t put your purpose for work upfront. So, to help understand the always present addiction of procrastination, here are the reasons behind why we do it and how we can avoid it the next time we got work to do:

• First off, understand when does procrastination appear in your life. See if it’s maybe an act of protection against feeling more stress in your already busy schedule, or from a fear of failure should you not do the task correctly. Then, does procrastination only delay things you don’t want to do from hurting you or simply makes it worse by limiting your time to do them? Being aware of what causes your procrastination and how it affects you will help you be aware that maybe it is not the best action to take before a task, so you can begin refocusing ways to become productive.

Losing focus

• Then, see if perhaps you are losing focus by trying to deal with such a “huge” task, or if you are trying to complete unreasonable goals in a short amount of time. Instead, try to divide the task into smaller, more consistent ones that will help you finish your job quicker and effectively. This way you avoid that stressful feeling of too much work and you feel more able to face smaller tasks that in the long run will make you feel more productive.

Lack of interest

• Now, motivation is always an issue when it comes to doing your job, and when you lack interest in what you are supposed to be doing, it’s even worse. It may be that job you have to do is so boring and not engaging for your creative mind that you look for any distraction to not do it. But these are things that we will have to face at some point, whether we like it or not. Because of this, you need to reevaluate what the end goal will be and how it will benefit you. Remove distractions, think about what doing this task will bring you and, again, do it bit by bit but consistently so you will eventually find yourself finishing your work.

Excessive perfectionism

• Often, we strive to be perfectionists when working and only end up setting unreal expectations for it, which take up too much of our time and develops a feeling of dissatisfaction with what we do. And usually, we don’t even end up finishing the job because of it. It is good to have high standards for your work, but remember that perfection is impossible and it’s best to decide when something is good enough to present instead. Try to maintain a deadline for the work that you are doing, and remember that, if you are effective, productive and good in your talent, so is your work.

Always try to identify when you are being a procrastinator to when you are only taking a break from work. Overwork is never good, but avoiding it all together is not effective at all. Do not be afraid of failure, do not think an assignment is too big a task if you are given a reasonable amount of time to do it and find ways to avoid feeling tense in the middle of it. Find ways to work around your procrastination, aim to be productive, and remember to find reasons to focus on your tasks rather than distractions to not do them.