Procrastination: The action of delaying or
postponing something.
In other words deliberately avoiding doing
something. We all do it, we put off doing certain things for a variety of
reasons yet, often, doing this ends up creating more problems than it solves.
So we have to learn to first recognise procrastination and then take action to
overcome it and move on with our lives.
The first thing to understand is that while we
put off doing things deliberately, that does not necessarily mean we are doing
it consciously. Our minds are very good at twisting the facts sometimes and
while, on one level we are deliberately avoiding doing something, we are
telling ourselves that we are not doing it for a variety of other reasons.
Reasons that try to convince ourselves that whatever it is we are putting off
is not our fault and we are not doing it deliberately.
“I haven’t had the time.” “Life is too busy at
the moment.” “I have more important things to do at the moment.” Etc.
So whatever reason it is you are giving yourself
for not getting on with your goal in life, or not making that change in your
life or even just not mowing the lawn, it is probably not the true underlying
reason.
One reason for procrastination is a lack of
self-confidence or self-belief. We don’t think we will be able to do that thing
either at all or particularly well. For example we may believe we lack the will
power to diet or we may believe we are just to unfit to start exercise. Perhaps
we believe we are just not clever enough to learn something new. In all such
cases where we are not confident to get started try falling back on the old
saying “you never know until you try”.
If you are putting off doing something because
you lack confidence or belief in yourself, start in a small way. Build your
confidence and belief gradually. If you want to diet start by cutting out one
thing at a time, if you want to get fitter start by walking before you run, if
you want to learn something new start by reading a book about the subject
before signing up for a course.
Another reason for procrastinating is that we
are not fully engaged with the thing that needs doing. We have all had times
when we know we should be doing something
but we just can’t get ourselves enthusiastic enough to undertake the task.
Again we all know we should be fitter and healthier but it can all seem like to
much bother to make the effort.
If you are feeling like this, take the time to
write out the pros and cons of whatever it is you’re putting off. For example
getting fitter, pro: being healthy con:
being unhealthy (obviously there’s a lot more you could write). Doing this
will help build that much needed motivation to start that thing you know you
need to do.
We can, sometimes, be guilty of putting things
off simply because we are not interested enough in the task. If this is the
case we need to revisit why we are thinking about doing it in the first place.
It may be social pressure – everyone else is doing so we suppose we should. It
may be a relationship thing where your significant other feels something should
be done but you feel less enthusiastic – in such cases remember everyone has a
different way of looking at things in life so just because you don’t think
something is important it does not mean your partner has the same view.
Obviously not everything we put off is
procrastination, sometimes life really does get in the way. Prioritising should
not be confused with procrastination.
Sometimes our mental health is such that we
find things hard to get started. Where this happens we can make ourselves feel
worse as we begin to feel guilty that we are not getting things done. Try to
recognise when you are feeling stressed or depressed and try not to put
yourself under too much pressure to get things down (easier said than done I
know).
There are many reasons for procrastinating, to
many to list in a short blog, but the basic thing is to recognise that you are
putting off doing something, to acknowledge the real reason that you are not
doing and to address that reason fully so that you can get on and move forward.
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