5 ways to beat chronic procrastination

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A study from Stockholm University confirmed that procrastination is not due to poor timing, but to underlying emotional causes. Beliefs, thoughts, mood make us delay doing things until the last moment.

The need to do something - to clean up, complete a work task, write a resume - evokes negative emotions in us. And now you feel tired, in a bad mood and unable to do something. And you decide to do something enjoyable, for example, check out social networks or watch a series to improve your mood and get down to work in a high state of mind. But for some reason, after this break, you feel even worse and powerless.

All time management techniques are sheer nonsense for chronic procrastinators, they do not help them. You need to change the mindset and the mood with which you take to work. And we'll tell you where to start.

1. Find the root cause

Why aren't you doing the tasks that need to be done? What kind of feelings arise when you understand that you need to do a task at work or a call? What really bothers you?

For many, the reason for procrastination is anxiety that the task will not be done well enough or will not be completed on time. And ironically, these worries lead to the fact that the work is postponed until the moment when you really have no time to do it well, or to do it at all.

2. Don't avoid tasks, but reward yourself

If your mood is always getting worse from the thought that you need to get to work, then you need to fight this first. This is what psychology professor Timothy Pychyl writes in an article for the Wall Street Journal.

But don't try to improve your morale by plunging into the whirlwind of social media before starting work, reward yourself with entertainment when you complete an important task. In the meantime, do it, encourage yourself with the thought that the reward awaits you after.

3. Look deeper into yourself

You are a bunch of ideas and ideas about how and what should happen and work in the world. Beliefs have been formed over the years. But now you only see the tip of the iceberg. And you need to make out the part that is under the water, because it is these initial beliefs that lead to the result - procrastination. One example of such an "iceberg" is the thought formed in childhood that you should do everything perfectly. As a result, now you are afraid to take on things, because you are not sure that you will be able to do them flawlessly.

How do you know what beliefs the underwater part of your iceberg consists of? This is all that the verb “must” contains: I have to do everything perfectly, I have to come up with non-standard solutions.

4. Change your thinking

How you perceive the situation depends on how you react to it. And we get stuck in the traps of our thinking: established beliefs do not allow us to move.

For example: “This project is so difficult, I can never do it” - naturally, your motivation is killed by this thought. Think of difficult tasks as a challenge to yourself: “Yes, it is difficult, but doable. And even if I just start this project well, I will already be great."

Or even popular thoughts: "I never did this" or "Whenever I took on such things, it turned out badly." You have insufficient self-esteem. You do not believe that you can complete the task, and your fear becomes a reality - you really are not doing it. Try to think like this: “This is not an easy task for me, but for others as well. And who can make her better than me? Who, besides me, would dare to tackle it at all?"

And our parade of sad thoughts ends with the following: "Nothing works for me" or "It is wrong that this task was entrusted to me, they were mistaken, I am not the one who can do it." You folded your paws, not yet starting to do anything, they say, why not change anything, I am what I am, let everything go as it goes …

Instead of sighing dejectedly, divide the "elephant" into parts. And start eating it from the smallest bite. You will definitely cope with it, and then you will finish the whole project.

5. Rethink your decision making

Better to do and regret than not to do and regret. This adage works in most cases. Ask yourself what will you lose if you give up an idea or task? How will your career and relationships change if you do nothing?

It's not how difficult the task is, but how much effort you are willing to put in to get things done that matter to you. Believe me, you will definitely receive a reward for your work.

So the next time you feel unbearable to postpone an important task, find the root cause of this desire, think differently about the case and remind yourself that it is better to joyfully get down to business than to go out and constantly put off interesting ideas.