How You Can Stop Procrastinating
Procrastination is something that everyone does, including you - Even I find myself fighting the urge to put thing off.
What is procrastinating?
Procrastination is putting off something till another day what you could just as easily do today. Lots of people put off something that only ends up getting done at the last minute or not at all.
Procrastination is very common for students who need to do research, write papers or even study for a test. This is generally where the term “cram” comes to play - having to cram for an exam due to not studying before hand.
Why Procrastinate?
The behavior of procrastination affects almost everyone at one time or another in their life. For some it become a continuous habit, a part of who they are; for others it may only be due to a specific situation and does not affect the majority of their day to day events. For whatever the reason, people put things off that they do not want to do.
Reasons why you procrastinate:
- Because you are afraid - no one likes to admit their fear, but fear might be the reason you are putting off doing what you know you should do. Whether it is fear of failure or fear of success, it is still fear. Fear is a paralyzing emotion that has the ability to stop us in our tracks.
- You do not think the task is important enough - if you do not give a high enough priority on the task at hand then it is not worthy of you beginning it. You may already know that you need to do that task but there is always something else more important on your to do list that keeps bumping that job back to the bottom of the pile.
- You do not know enough to do the task - you simply do not know everything you need to know in order to complete the task, so you put it off. This could be because you just have not done all the research and collected the data that you need to complete that project or you just do not want to put the time in to do it.
- Because you are too busy, you have not committed yourself to the job, you just do not want to do it or just because your lazy.
How To Change Your Behavior?
Now that you know a little bit more about why you procrastinate or did you procrastinate and decide to read that section later? How can you expect to stop procrastinating if you do not know why you do it in the first place? Taking a good look at why you put things off is the first step in learning how to change your behavior.
Here are a few strategies to help you stop procrastinating. Not every tip will help every person, so you need to take what works for you and apply it.
- Create a list - Look at all the clues that tell you just when and how you are procrastinating and you will be able to see that you are indeed putting something off. By having a list of clues you can pinpoint your behavior in order to get a handle on it.
- Get rid of procrastination myths - “I work best under pressure.” Once you believe that you can only work under pressure, you are giving yourself permission to procrastinate. “I cannot do this unless it is perfect” perfection is impossible.
- Break down the job - If you have a big job to do, you may think yo will never get it done, so why even start? In order to beat this kind of thinking, you must break down the job into smaller, manageable chunks that you can complete.
- Change your attitude - Having a negative attitude you may tell yourself that a task will be too difficult, disgusting or simply that you will hate doing it. It is all a matter of mind over matter. If you think you can, you can.
- Ask for help - Many think asking for help is a sign of weakness, however it is actually a sign of strength knowing that you do not know everything and getting the right help to get the job done.
Just remember to keep what needs to be accomplished in plain sight, keep yourself on a schedule, be free from distractions.
Basic human nature will always play a role in procrastination. We all seek out things that make us feel good and attempt to avoid anything that annoys or bothers us. Consciously determining why you procrastinate will go a long way in helping you change your behavior.
Do not expect immediate results over night, take small steps in the right direction and you will gradually see better results.