Procrastination is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving goals. Unless you get a handle on hesitation, it can compromise your personal and business objectives. Reluctance to get started is a sign that you need to fix things before you can begin your task comfortably. Use the following 10 tips to discover why you are procrastinating and what to do about it. By the time it takes to read the article, you should be ready to forge ahead!
-
Understand Your Hesitation
People mistakenly think that procrastination is about laziness, but it hardly ever is. People procrastinate for a variety of reasons. Some are purely practical, while others are caused by mental or emotional blockages. Reflect on what’s really behind your hesitation. Ask yourself: “What is stopping me doing this right now?” The answer might be as simple as not having the right tools, or as involved as doubting your ability to cope with failure or success. Once you understand the deeper reasons behind procrastination, you can address what’s stopping you.
-
Quieten Your Mind
If your procrastination is driven by emotions, it’s important to acknowledge how you feel. There is no point simply resisting your feelings, as you may find that your mind becomes even more persistent with its warning messages. All reluctance has a positive intention for showing up, even if it is just your mind being overprotective. So, instead of ignoring your mind, thank it for doing its job. If your hesitation is due to fear of making mistakes, thank your mind for trying to protect your reputation. Letting your unconscious mind know that you’ve acknowledged any warning messages can quieten it, allowing you to proceed more easily.
-
Stop Storytelling
Once you’ve acknowledged the positive intention of the warnings, look at where your reasoning may have become clouded with faulty beliefs. Search for evidence to counter your fears and reasons to doubt harsh self-judgements. As you think about the task, listen carefully to the running commentary in your head. Is it telling you stories that aren’t true? Is it saying you are bound to fail, or that you’re in over your head? Turn down the volume on the negative self-talk to leave your mind clear.
-
Make Better Mental Images
Many procrastinators attribute greater meaning than is necessary to the failure or success of a task. Notice if you are playing mental movies about what will happen if the task goes wrong — or right. Do you see a negative future? Are you playing out some kind of catastrophe in your mind? Take the color out of those images, and see them for what they are — unrealistic projections that you can ignore. Build a more realistic picture of you doing the task in your mind’s eye. See yourself finishing the job and feeling satisfied. Mentally rehearse how you’ll deal with any issues that crop up along the way. See how problems are not the end of the world, but chances to grow.
-
Adjust Your Environment
Make things simpler for yourself by adjusting your environment to ensure success. Have everything you might need to hand, so you have no reasons not to start. Find the perfect time, when you won’t be tired or find excuses to stop. Make your environment pleasant to work in and somewhere you enjoy being. Choose somewhere that will help you work on your task efficiently with no distractions. If necessary, turn off your phone and social media streams to concentrate better.
-
Adjust Your Goal
If your procrastination is due to a task being overwhelming, adjust the goal to make it easier. A good way of doing this is by breaking it down into smaller parts. Plan out a series of steps, rather than doing the task in one big chunk. If you consider the task boring, make it more interesting. Add an element of competition to it, or add in rewards for each deadline passed. If your task is dull or difficult, sandwich the most trying parts between the easiest, most fun bits.
-
Get Additional Support
Sometimes people procrastinate because they don’t have enough tools or support. If your task feels like too much to cope with, get more resources or ask for help. Prepare yourself properly by honing your skills, getting the right tools for the job, or asking an expert to assist you. It can also help to have someone else cheer-leading and prompting you when you’re struggling. Sometimes all you need is a helping hand to get going.
-
Embrace the Discomfort Zone
There will naturally be things in life that make you feel uncertain and uncomfortable. You may procrastinate because a task is genuinely outside your comfort zone. In such cases, be very objective about your feelings, so that you don’t get caught up in additional mental stories or emotions. If something is genuinely uncomfortable, accept the feelings as part of growing. It can help to measure your feelings on a scale. For example, how uncomfortable do you feel out of 10? Remember that every time you do something outside your comfort zone, the zone will stretch, making things easier next time.
-
List Your ‘Whys’
Make a list of 25 ways that doing the task you’ve been procrastinating over will improve your life. Stick it on your bathroom mirror or above your work desk. Realizing how this task could change or enhance your life can motivate you do the job at hand – no matter how hard. Don’t just list the immediate benefits, but also include the wider benefits. For example, organizing your desk is not an end in itself. It may save you time and energy in future, and make you more productive. The even bigger benefits are the other things you can do with that extra time, such as doing more fulfilling work or spending time with your family. Remember the mental benefits too – an uncluttered desk means less stress.
-
Engage With Your Deeper Values
The ultimate guard against procrastination is realizing the deeper significance of getting the task done. Notice how the process of doing this task resonates with your core values. If doing the task means you face your fears, see how that supports values of courage within you. If you’re preparing to do a difficult task, see how that speaks to your desire to challenge yourself, or overcome problems. When you can fully appreciate how doing the task fits with your values, and enhances your whole life and personality, procrastination will quickly become a thing of the past.
