Overcome The Nasty Procrastination Cycle

Procrastination- the ‘whys’

Are you the kind who is optimistic about your ability to complete a task on a seemingly lax deadline and you think “Ahh.. I can finish it soon!” so there’s no urgency to start whatever task assigned to you?

Our rationale is that we work better under pressure when in actual fact we’re doing it because we don’t have any choice. You must never accept your delayed work.

This ‘acceptance‘ is what will reinforce yourself to believe that delaying your work is alright. The only results you’ll reap from ‘acceptance‘ of procrastinated work is repetition of this bad habit! Make it a point to yourself, NEVER be content with that kind of work. Do you want to continue postponing your work? Or do you just want short-term results?

When you’re lulled by that false sense of security, time passes and suddenly, you realize that there isn’t enough time after all! You don’t have to worry because most of us experience this problem. You are not alone.

Make sure you keep this in mind, here are the few major reasons:

Wrong perception- Forcing yourself to believe you ‘must complete the task’. This is in fact counter-productive. We treat tasks as ‘pains‘. That is why we continue this habit of delayed work to avoid the pain. In the end, we are all backlogged with so many tasks at the end of the day.

Wrong Focus- If we keep focusing on ‘what you are supposed to do’, it will only slow you down. Think about “what to do next”.They also think “how to finish the whole project” instead of “what is the smallest step I can take next?”.

Time Consuming- Many people push their time consuming tasks to weekends, thinking they’ll finish it in 2 days.

Inability to complete tasks- People often wait until they get the right ‘skills‘ before they start on any project. Wrong move!

Low self esteem- Fear of failing can be attributed to our delayed actions. Delaying action to be taken is a perfect excuse for failing and at the end of the day, the person stops trying hard.

Perfectionism- The total opposite of the point above. They feel totally confident, they will plan to precision. Every single detail covered. Doing the perfect job is their goal. The result? More stress, they spend more time worrying than actually doing it!

No rewards until it’s done- The ‘reward system‘ works a 100%. But people often don’t reward themselves after getting their little tasks done, instead, they tell themselves “rewards come ONLY after the whole project is done”.

Now you know why people procrastinate, let’s learn how to overcome procrastination!