Trying to Beat Procrastination
Just wanted to share some of my ideas and methods on beating procrastination. Procrastination is basically the bane of my existence but it probably affects everybody in at least some way. I want to share some information on how I understand procrastination and how I think people can start to recognize it and overcome it in their everyday lives.
A lot of people recognize procrastination as a tendency to delay doing a task. People associate procrastination with a poor understanding of delayed gratification. We have all done assignments for school at the last minute and the biggest reason was probably that we didn't want to do those things in the first place. We put off the activity until the last moment, and then we either complete it and finalize it with just seconds to spare or we find a way to avoid it, either by rationalizing not doing it, getting an extension or finding another way out.
I try not to think of procrastination as putting off a task, because it often isn't the task itself that we're avoiding, nor are we choosing, in particular, the task that we're doing instead of our work. Procrastination is not the delay in completing a task, it's actually the delay in starting a task, and that comes out of fear.
What exactly are we afraid of when we need to start a task? Moreso, what specific fears are we allaying when we choose to delay the commencement of a task? First, we are afraid that the task will be hard and we are delaying the moment that we have to go through the hardship. Second, the task may be unfamiliar, and we're trying to get away from having to figure it out. Third, the task may be long and we're trying to artificially reduce the time spent on it by starting close to the deadline. Fourth, we may be afraid of failure, and we're trying to avoid putting in our maximum effort by saving it until the last minute or maybe putting it off forever.
Whatever the case, we have to remember that the cure for fear is exposure. In order to face your fears, you have to actually face your fears, and what that means is that you have to find a way to start the project that you don't want to start. The method I use for this is called "Next Step" and here's how it works: You simply define the very next thing you have to do in order to get on track and do it right away without question.
Even if the first step is getting out of bed, do that first. If the next step is making coffee, do that next. If the next step is sitting at the desk, opening the laptop, opening Microsoft word, do those, in that order. If you just do the very next step over and over, eventually you'll have started and even finished the job you set out to do.
Easy enough?
A lot of people recognize procrastination as a tendency to delay doing a task. People associate procrastination with a poor understanding of delayed gratification. We have all done assignments for school at the last minute and the biggest reason was probably that we didn't want to do those things in the first place. We put off the activity until the last moment, and then we either complete it and finalize it with just seconds to spare or we find a way to avoid it, either by rationalizing not doing it, getting an extension or finding another way out.
I try not to think of procrastination as putting off a task, because it often isn't the task itself that we're avoiding, nor are we choosing, in particular, the task that we're doing instead of our work. Procrastination is not the delay in completing a task, it's actually the delay in starting a task, and that comes out of fear.
What exactly are we afraid of when we need to start a task? Moreso, what specific fears are we allaying when we choose to delay the commencement of a task? First, we are afraid that the task will be hard and we are delaying the moment that we have to go through the hardship. Second, the task may be unfamiliar, and we're trying to get away from having to figure it out. Third, the task may be long and we're trying to artificially reduce the time spent on it by starting close to the deadline. Fourth, we may be afraid of failure, and we're trying to avoid putting in our maximum effort by saving it until the last minute or maybe putting it off forever.
Whatever the case, we have to remember that the cure for fear is exposure. In order to face your fears, you have to actually face your fears, and what that means is that you have to find a way to start the project that you don't want to start. The method I use for this is called "Next Step" and here's how it works: You simply define the very next thing you have to do in order to get on track and do it right away without question.
Even if the first step is getting out of bed, do that first. If the next step is making coffee, do that next. If the next step is sitting at the desk, opening the laptop, opening Microsoft word, do those, in that order. If you just do the very next step over and over, eventually you'll have started and even finished the job you set out to do.
Easy enough?
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