Procrastination is something that at some point at in our
lives we have done it, no matter how disciplined we might look
like in front of the others, or how many things we have done
so far. It is something that we still do it here and there
because of different factors. Being able to identify the
reason of its occurrence is one of the most important steps
that might help you to combat it.
We are used to hear things like, “You should find your
passion” and as soon as find it, we are supposed to be very
productive and hyper focused on doing only the things that are
directly involved with our passion. The truth is, we might
still be lazy and get away from doing our tasks, because there
are easier and more compelling things to do out there. It is
easier to watch the whole season of a TV show instead of going
to gym and workout. It is easier to stay in bed all day long
instead of reading the text book and doing your homework.
However, it might be that these are not always the pivotal
culprit of our laziness and procrastination. There might be
other factors as well.
Being able to identify these reasons and validating their
stability with the filters of some good questions is the way
to go ahead with procrastination. Whenever you find yourself
that it is been a long time since you have been putting off to
do something in your to-do list that is very important try to
answer to these questions:
- Why am I postponing my engagement in it?
- Why am I procrastinating?
- What is the piece of puzzle that is missing from the whole puzzle which if it was present would be sufficient for me to complete it?
You might be afraid of looking bad in front of the others. You
might be waiting for a better time to come, because you think
that you are not ready yet. Perfectionism might also prevent
you to take any action, because you think that you are not
going to be able to do this task as good as it should be.
After you find a few answers to the above questions, try to
implement the solutions and workarounds that you might have
regarding them. Even if you answer the above questions for a
particular task, try to find at least to answer to this simple
question:
Why?
Do not move on to something less until you have understood the
real reason behind your procrastination for that task.
These questions and small tips might be helpful to look inside
yourself and try to find the reason behind your sabotage from
the plan and the resolve that you had when you chose to do
that task. Even thought it might take some time to be
finished, it might be literally something that would might be
able to help in a lot of endeavors.