Procrastination – to put in simpler words, the act of doing nothing productive when you have loads of important pending. Basically, something we all do, to overcome procrastination is the best idea but, how it is to be done is the question?
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How many times does it happen that you just cannot find the motivation to do anything, absolutely anything? There are days when you have assignments pending, grocery to shop, phone calls to make, tasks to do but all you end up doing is sitting on your bed, with your laptop and a bowl of chips looking at the sun rise and set in no time.
This is followed by a panic attack and reminding yourself of all the important work that is pending and then continuing to procrastinate with a little bit of guilt in your heart.
This is the story of every one of us. If not always but there are some days when we just don’t want to do anything. And that is why there’s is this amazing word for it in the dictionary- ‘procrastination’.
According to a research published on nytimes.com :
“20 percent of people are true procrastinators”
Putting the definition rather more scientifically, Dr. Ferrrari, the conference organizer, defines procrastination as “the purposive and frequent delay in the beginning or completing a task to the point of experiencing subjective discomforts, such as anxiety or regret.”
His colleague Dr. Anderson says it is “culpably unwarranted delay.” At the simplest level, most researchers agree, you know it when you’re doing it.
“When it’s really procrastination, it’s more like a psychological disease,” said her colleague Stephan Förster, also a psychologist at the University of Münster.
Dr. Ferrari, who has published more research articles on procrastination than anyone else in psychology, does not agree that there is an upside to procrastination.
So, in conclusion, procrastination is something we need to seriously look into. Even if we shove it off like a joke in our day to day lives, maybe it can have a long-term effect on us.
How do we overcome procrastination- this ‘involuntary feeling‘ of “don’t feel like doing anything”?
Let’s find some ways to overcome procrastination.
1Find some inspiration around you
When you look at the people around you who have achieved something, you have this sense of envy that says why is it that I didn’t do this. Or maybe you won’t feel envious but rather inspired to do something yourself too.
That’s how by looking at the people around you work hard and achieve their goals, you too start feeling determined to achieve your goals.
2Remind yourself that life is short
No matter how harsh it sounds, it’s a fact. All of us are mortal and have so many goals to achieve.
Keeping in mind that you need to achieve a goal in a certain amount of time would make you feel more alert and active towards working for that goal.
Time never waits for anyone, and having this in mind helps a lot to work harder and smarter.
3Think about the perks of achieving that goal
When you set a goal but are too tired, exhausted or uninspired to achieve or work towards it, remind yourself of all the positive changes achieving that goal would bring about in your life.
Imagine achieving it already and how blissful and satisfied you would be once you’ve achieved it. Now, you’ll automatically be more motivated to do the task.
4Talk to your trusted friends about your goal
Talk about your goals. And when I say talk about your goals, don’t go around telling everyone about it. Not all people are worth trusting and believing in. Not all people are going to be your well-wishers.
So, make sure you don’t spill it out to people who would further make you feel demotivated.
But, all of us have trusted friends, if not we have ourselves. So, talk about your goal, talk about it with passion and you’ll find a spark in you that wants to work towards achieving it just because you talked about it.
5Have control over your thoughts and emotions
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Don’t let your thoughts and emotions take over your sense of passion and your ambitions. Even if your mind refuses to agree and wanders around in the direction of useless thoughts, bring it back achieving your goal.
It’s going to be difficult since having total control over one’s thoughts is an art very few have mastered. We all end up thinking about problems that don’t exist and stuff we shouldn’t be wasting our time on, overthinking everything that isn’t even serious in the first place.
So, try taking control of where your thoughts go to overcome
procrastination. And you’ll find yourself being more productive in terms of the goals you need to achieve.
Conclusion
So, the next time you find yourself running away from all your responsibilities and later on feeling guilty thinking “why am I like this”, know that all of us are, at some point going through the same. What’s important is how you bring yourself out of it. Once overcame procrastination, nobody’s going to stop you from achieving your goals.
