Have you ever felt like the more important a certain task is, the more you delay it? You don’t feel like completing an assignment even though you have just two days to the deadline? Or something much simpler like not ironing your clothes despite having a meeting scheduled in an hour? If you find yourself nodding along to all these questions, then unfortunately dear reader, you’re a procrastinator!
Fun Fact: The word “Procrastination” is derived from Latin where the prefix “Pro” means “Forward” and the suffix “crastinus” means “till next day”.
What Is Procrastination And What Causes It?
Simply put, our tendency to not do something that we know must be necessarily done is procrastination.
Every individual procrastinates at certain times. But if it becomes a habit, it can be very problematic and frustrating. However, to tackle procrastination we must first find out what causes it:
- Lack Of Motivation
One of the most common causes of procrastination is the unwillingness of wanting to do a certain task. This could be due to the fact that you simply find the job boring or uninteresting. Generally, a monotonous routine can cause this to happen often.
- Inadequacy
Another reason why people delay important tasks is because they feel they won’t be able to do it well. This is because people tend to seek perfection and anything short of that makes them feel under-confident. An example would be not wanting to do an assignment just because you think you are weak in that subject.
- Fear of Failure
It’s true that nobody likes to lose. We all want to excel at whatever job we do. Thus another cause of procrastination is the fear of not succeeding. For instance, if you have a debate contest tomorrow, you may not feel like researching for it. This is because you are not guaranteed a win. Hence, your brain procrastinates as a mechanism to protect you from that fear.
Tips To Tackle Procrastination!
Do you find yourself wasting time far too often? Are you frustrated by not being able to complete your objectives on time? Well then don’t fret, these tips will tell you just how to stop procrastinating.
Make a Proper Routine
- Prioritize: The first thing that you must learn to do is prioritize. From the moment you wake up, start thinking ahead. Set time limits on every task you do and make sure you’re able to abide by those limits. This will help you stick to a fixed schedule and remain productive.
- Accomplish one goal at a time: The second thing you should do is keep in mind is how to accomplish each goal after the other without thinking too much. Take one step at a time and try not to worry about what could go wrong. We simply cannot predict every possible way things could go wrong. So it’s easier to stick to the plan and improvise when need be.
- Take Breaks: Another thing that is very important is giving yourself breaks after a specific time interval. Doing anything in repetition without relief can cause you to go numb after a while. This results in you getting bored very quickly. So it’s ok to rest for some time as long as you get back to the task at hand in a while.
Challenge Yourself
- Ask Why: When you feel like you’re avoiding a certain task, always begin by assigning importance to it. Think of why you’re not doing it. For example, most students don’t want to do homework because it seems boring.
- Make The Job Interesting: In order to reduce boredom, try making the most out of it. Studies show that listening to music while doing Mathematics results in more productivity. So, this makes doing homework more fun without diverting attention.
- Loose The Perfectionist Mindset: Accept the fact that it is okay to make mistakes. Fear of failure causes most people to not even bother doing the task. However, we all need to realize that at some point we have to try things that we aren’t good at. And while it may not be easy, practice does make perfect.
Nevertheless, in the end it always comes down to our own mindset. The sooner we realize the fact that life is too short to procrastinate, the more we get to live.