Time management in simple words. 5 reasons you are procrastinating

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

How to get rid of chronic procrastination? Simply, if you know its reasons. There are five of them.

When a person says they have problems with time management, they will mean procrastination 9 times out of 10.

Procrastinating is sticking to social networks, watching TV or re-reading news portals with validol at the ready.

"I am so resting."

Who are you kidding? If this is rest, then the worst of all possible.

However, breaking this chronic habit is easy if you know the reasons for your procrastination. There are five of them.

Reason # 1. Problems with goals

Just imagine. You don't know where you are going. You don't know your long term goals. Your values in life are in a fog.

What happens in this case? Your goals and values are set by someone for you: TV, boss, family and friends.

Why is that bad?

The fact that these goals are not real, not yours. You can never feel the motivation that comes from within, from your nature, almost from your genes. Your work will never bring you pleasure (yes, it does happen!).

When our life is filled with such imposed cases on us, we begin to procrastinate. Procrastination is the subconscious sabotage of your body. He resists doing things that are not related to your real inner goals.

How to find YOUR goals? How to release them from within yourself?

For example, you can read the following:

• The book "Stream" by Mihai Csikszentmihalyi will help you find your life's work. Professor Csikszentmihalyi's research has shown that only by doing such a thing can you become truly happy.
• The Psychology of Achievement by Heidi Grant Halvorson talks about setting goals. It turns out that the same goal can be formulated in different ways. Right or wrong.
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. The # 1 bestseller in the world for personal growth. About values. About goals. Covey's second skill is directly related to goals: "Start with the ultimate goal."
• The article “How Milkmaid Dunya Was Going to Success” is about the Agile Results system, which will help you connect your daily activities with goals for the week, month and year.

Reason # 2. Perfectionism

We are used to presenting a perfectionist as a person who is always working, puffing, licking something.

But it is not always the case! Sometimes a perfectionist is a person who, in the same way, sits on a chair with his booty, looks at the screen and does nothing. But he has completely different reasons for this.

He's waiting for the right moment. He needs start-up capital. He needs the right time. He needs the stock market to be on the rise. And only when all conditions (and stars) converge, then he can start doing something.

Until then, he's procrastinating.

What to read on this topic?

Book "The Paradox of the Perfectionist" by Tal Ben-Shahar. Great book

Reason # 3. Energy Problems

How does our person work? He plows for several days in a row, without unbending, pours coffee into himself and so on. And then he is "suddenly" attacked by procrastination. Then he sleeps for a week. But then - a new burst of energy. And again, work up to the seventh sweat.

Carousel-merry-go-round, whoever had time, sat down …

Sound familiar?

The correct option is to really relax. Get some sleep. Have fun. Instead of sitting and pretending that you are working, it is better to devote yourself 100% to rest for a few days.

Recently, I have written a lot on Lifehacker about energy management. For example:

• “Constant fatigue? Laziness? Depression? Try it!". About energy management in simple words.
• "All workaholics make this subtle mistake." Sometimes, even after returning from vacation, you realize that your energy is at zero. What mistake are you making?
• "A clever way to fool your laziness and start working like the Energizer Hare." About the Pomodoro system. You need to rest not only after work, but also after each working segment.

And I will also recommend a few books:

• Life at Full Power by Jim Loer and Tony Schwartz is the book that gave birth to the concept of energy management.
• “Time to rest. For those who work hard”from Gleb Arkhangelsky. Energy management in Russian.

Reason # 4. Distractions

You are sitting at your desk. Trying to work.

At this time, a few steps away from you there is a refrigerator full of delicious dishes, cakes, ice cream. The room is filled with aromas of freshly baked cookies and coffee. The TV is on. The entertainment channel shows humorous sketches. Small, 2-3 minutes each. There's a PlayStation in the corner. At the same time, from time to time your friends call you, you receive SMS or notifications from social networks.

Are you laughing? But jobs like this are all over the place.

It takes all your willpower to work in such an environment. But this is where the problem lies. Willpower is

"muscle". You can strain it sometimes. But you cannot strain it all the time. Sooner or later she will get tired. And you will fall back into procrastination again. And then the "muscle" of will will be restored. And you will make the next heroic attempt to get the job done.

What to do?

It is necessary to minimize the use of willpower in work!

You need to set up your workplace so that nothing distracts you.

Here is my article on this topic: "7 Ways to Protect Your Brain from Information Noise."

Of the books, I can only recommend the book by Gleb Arkhangelsky "Time Drive". More specifically - "Chapter 7. Information: How to manage creative chaos."

Reason number 5. An unmanageable large project

Maybe the task before you is a huge lump. Something new, incomprehensible, frightening. Your subconscious mind is rebelling again. And he gives you the command: "Lazy!".

The solution is simple: you need to break such a lump into small subtasks.

More on this in one of the following articles in the heading "Time management in simple words".

More Tips

• Can't get started? Work for at least 30 minutes. And there is a chance that you will get sucked in. This is a mental trap that Robert Cialdini described in his book The Psychology of Influence.
• Keep a notebook or voice recorder handy. If during your work you receive a message or an idea that you would not want to lose. Just write them down to come back to them later. Don't break up your workflow. Do not be distructed.

Total

Procrastination and laziness don't make you a bad or worthless person. This is simply the result of some internal and external reasons. Eliminate them and the laziness will go away - I promise you.

Write in the comments

What is the source of your laziness? Or write about your friend))