We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.
We may put things off sometimes, but if it becomes a habit, it can impact on our anxiety levels, productivity, and also our relationships.
Procrastination will only lead to stress later on and impact on our lives. If procrastination is your trap, that affects your study, that work project, your personal development or your good decision, then you will find here some helpful solutions.
There are four main reasons for procrastination and as many resolutions to stop putting off your plan. Knowing the underlying cause of the issue is the first step toward a solution.
1. If procrastination is stressing you and making you miss deadlines, or if your workload seems too much or disorganized and your efforts inconsistent, procrastination could be a sign of poor management of your time.
Trying to accomplish too much in one day is just not adequate. In short, you are working too hard and ineffectively.
Continuing to work or study until late in the evening, or through the weekend is not the solution, your brain will take breaks whether you like it or not. You will create a vicious circle in which more distractions and more work anxiety accumulate. It is no by chances that in the most intense periods of study and work we are wandering between Facebook, Youtube, and our favorite news site, or dash out for coffee.
Solution: Time Management.
Keep track of your daily activities. Record and analyze how you are utilizing your time. Make note of your daily activities for several days. Record what you are doing at each point of the day and note how long you spend on each activity. By tracking your activities for few days, you could be surprised to notice how much time you wasted each week. Some hours spent sorting through junk email, some hours playing games, a few more hours watching television shows that you are not even interested - it all adds up.
Evaluate your priorities.
By prioritizing how you effectively want to spend your time, you'll become more productive, accomplish far more and even have spare time for the activities you enjoy.
Establish a Schedule.
Begin by setting a daily and weekly agenda. Write down the main things that you must accomplish daily in your work or your study. Make time for short breaks.You could choose to spend a designated amount of time each day completing assignments and tasks, or you might instead allocate certain days for different tasks. You might, for example, organize your work meetings on certain week's days, examine your reports on others. You may plan to complete report and files preparation in the mornings or evenings and leave open for different things the late afternoons when you would like to concentrate on organization and teamwork. After you listed those items in your schedule, begin entering the other tasks you would like to do the rest of the week and allocate daily times for your passions, hobby and what makes you feel good.
2. Procrastination does not always seem avoidable for obvious reasons. Accepting the reasons why you procrastinate and why you keep those inclinations can help. Perhaps you do not feel satisfied with what you do. If you hate your job or feel to be in the wrong job or that you have completely chosen the wrong course of study, there is no technique of personal growth that will make you feel better. You will continue to procrastinate struggling along with delays, avoidance, guilt, anxiety and poor self-esteem but, you will feel occupied and busy nevertheless. However, if you believe that you have to keep on the game for the sake of not disappointing others' expectations of you. That is when you could feel stuck with no alternative options. Sometimes that is true. There are times when we have scarce opportunities for change, jet often there are other less conscious reason for continue keeping the status quo. Maybe you have what everyone tells you is a dream job. Maybe it is a job you’ve always wanted. However, sometimes a dream job is not all it seems to be. If you go to work miserable every day and can't sleep at night, it is not worth it regardless how fancy is your title or how big your salary. Time to start looking for a new gig.
Solution: It is time to rethink what you wanted to do when you grew up. It is too easy to give up a goal at the first hurdle or keep dreading trying something new believing that this is the right way for you. You cannot prove yourself if the course of study or the work you are doing is not for you. Ask yourself if you have honestly lost interest in pursuing a job's with real purpose in your life or if your procrastination is only a temporary obstacle. For instance, the task is particularly complicated, a project terribly boring or repetitive.
3. You do not like doing the dirty work.
Although you like your job, you often procrastinate around boring and routine activities: nothing serious.
We often have to complete activities that we believe useless, unnecessary, or the result of a joke of the bureaucratic boss mind. Even the best job will have some of these activities. It is worth remembering that even the best job in the world can have slow days or tedious days and terrible days. There are no ideal jobs, there are no perfect bosses, and the grass is not always greener on the other side. That is just part of life. It is worth prioritize the job aspects that are most relevant to you; change the things you can about your situation, and make the best of the ones you cannot.
Solution: Do not focus on the individual aspects of your job, instead reframe your experience in a broader context, and also think about how good you'll feel once you'll accomplish those tedious tasks.
4. You may feel afraid of what comes next: fear of failure or fear of success. Fear and procrastination often go hand in hand.
Perhaps you may be anxious about rejection or failure. There could be some practical actions for when you are just worried, but what to do when you continue to put off your plans for fear? Whether finding a new job, meeting the girl/guy of your dreams, or starting your own business, when you're afraid you will always find dozens of plausible excuses for delaying what you would and should do. Even if you have the courage to admit it. Procrastination can indicate an unconscious fear of what may happen for the worse: instead of chasing your dreams or pursuing your goals, you find yourself immobilized, unable to react.
Procrastination can also point to a fear of success. Some individual don't live up to their true potential because they have a deep-seated fear of success. It may seem strange if you think about it. Who would not want to succeed?
Perhaps you might have a little bit of fear yourself when it comes to doing well in your work or your study. You may have a fear of success because you do not like those social hang-ups and don't want to be equated with certain successful but, unpleasant individuals.
At work you may have some inspired ideas, but you do not want to take the chance to raise them. Then you are surprised when some of the ideas that you did not voice are now flagged by some colleague scoring higher than you. Perhaps you keep your secret job aspirations outside your work environment. If you cannot stand the politics at work, and it drive you mad when a popular co-worker get preferential treatment. If you distance yourself from successful guys that make fun of others who are not achievers, cool, or talented: You may associate success with negative personal traits that you despise.
These can be signs that you are an intelligent individual who holds back a little.
Solution: become aware of what you can change, in order to achieve what you want. Choose action over fear, rather pursuing your end goals in spite of our fears is the only way to make anxiety vanish.
Why are you procrastinating?
There are times when procrastination seems a more complex problem, and these strategies alone seem not sufficient for the changes you are are wishing for. There is when the help of a professional counsellor can be the support you need.