DO YOU POSTPONE THINGS OFTEN? IF YES, CHECK THIS!

Procrastination can damage your potential, your career, and your mood. 

IT'S SUNDAY EVENING AND THE CLOCK IS TICKING. YOU ARE WORKING HARD TO COMPLETE A TASK BEFORE 9 PM DEADLINE, WHILE SILENTLY CURSING YOURSELF FOR NOT STARTING IT SOONER.

Does something like this ever happen with you before? If yes don't worry, you are not alone. It happens with every 9 out of the 10 people and we gonna discuss why it actually happens and how we can avoid it right here. 

Procrastination is the most pre-eminent problem with humans, being practiced for centuries. Now, some of you might be stuck with the word “Procrastination”, isn’t it? So, let’s first understand what procrastination actually is.

MEANING AND DEFINITION OF PROCRASTINATION

Dictionary meaning

Noun

      The action of delaying or postponing something.

This is the modern definition of procrastination but procrastination was already been discovered in the late 90s and termed it as “AKRASIA”, which simply can be understood as ‘weakness of will’ for doing something productive for one’s self.

It’s more like you are spending hours on social media, even though you know you should be doing something else, something fruitful not insidious. BUT we love harming ourselves and enjoy the short- term fake happiness. Right?


 Now check out this hilarious and insightful TED talk which explains how a Procrastinator's mind works in the best and interesting way by Tim Urban! Believe me, you all will love it as I did.


WHY WE ENGAGE IN PROCRASTINATION?

Now, utmost significantly, why do we procrastinate? What’s going on in our brain that causes us to avoid the things we should be doing?

Often, Procrastinators procrastinate because of the fear of failure or fear of success, in both either cases, they are more concerned about what others will think of them.

Additionally, science has been giving the best answers to any question attached to humans. As we all know, our brain is complex, and by studying behavioral psychology in deep, researchers have disclosed the term called “TIME INCONSISTENCY” which helps explain why procrastination is customary. According to the Oxford Dictionary, time inconsistency refers to the tendency of the human brain to value instantaneous rewards more highly than future rewards. Didn’t understand?

Let me simplify it with an example, the pre-eminent way to understand is to imagine your two fictitious selves: your Present self and your future self. For instance, if you set a goal for a future event that would be beneficial for your future like you are on a strict diet and someone offers you a Chocolate Donut with Cheesecake. Yummy! Sounds awesome, isn’t? Now, the Present self is craving for it, it’s saying “wow! Accept it!” but the Future self is persistently saying “No! though it’s yummy but not good for health.” But we can’t ignore the fact that Future Self can just set goals but Present Self can take action. While taking decisions you are no longer making a choice for future self, eventually, we accept the offer and eat it. Hence,



“Your life depends on your decisions, if you change decisions, you’ll change everything’’



Short term benefits are the cornerstone of Brain. Though your Future Self wants to be trim and become healthy the Present Self will still want sweets and donuts. Your brain values Present Self and immediate rewards rather than Long term rewards.

HOW TO OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION

If you delay a task for genuinely good reason, then it’s good but if you keep on postponing a task for no reason then it’s definitely wrong.

Here are 10 ways  to avoid procrastination.

1.       Minimize distractions.

Before starting a task, turn off social media notification, turn your phone off and find a silent place to study away from the television. Distractions often tend to divert your mind.

2.       Fill your day with high-priority tasks.

We often ignore doing tasks because we set a list of low-priority tasks to be completed in a day. A task which are not too important to us forces us to avoid them and makes us feel boring. Eventually, we end up doing nothing at the end of the day. Hence, target 2-3 high-priority tasks in a day and try to complete them within the day itself.

3.       Commit to doing the task.

Focus on doing not avoiding. Note down tasks you need to do with a specific time limit. This will help you to complete the task faster.

4.       Set a deadline.

Before starting any task set a deadline. A deadline makes you and your brain alert and energies to complete the work with much more hard work and pace.

5.       Promise yourself with a reward.

Get yourself a reward after completing each task, this will motivate and energies you and your brain to do more.

6.       Ask someone to check on you.

Self-help groups work amazingly. With the fear of peers you often end up completing a task. If you don’t have someone to check on you, download the online app “Procraster”.

7.       Tackle the hardest tasks at your peak times.

Schedule the most difficult task on time when you are able to focus more. Like morning or afternoon or evening or night time. For me, morning time works best.

8.       Download time management and task completion apps.

Time management apps such as “TRELLO” and task completion apps like “TO DO LISTS” helps to finish work on time.

9.       Keep a To-Do list.

If you really want to achieve something in your life, start scheduling your day. It helps you to be on track and avoid forgetting the most important task of the day.

10.   Forgive yourself for procrastinating in the past.

According to science, if you forgive yourself for what wrong you have done in the past, it makes you feel good and positive. Consequently, you start working with full grace.

I hope all readers understood the meaning of their habitual practice; Procrastination and know exactly how to beat it!

Here are some more links to the Global human problems, which stops us from becoming better. Check them out!

1. 100 Ways to Achieve success!
2. 8 Ways to Improve your focus!
3. How to avoid distractions while studying?
4. 10 Ways to Boost your self-confidence!
5. 9 Ways to stop being negative!
6. 8 Strategies to master Public Speaking!

I hope it helped you in some way!

Regards with a grin,

Laiba Khan