Procrastination- A Major Hurdle to Overcome
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Since I was a child, I have suffered from procrastintion. I say suffered, because this is a true assessment of the depth of the problem. Putting things off today and saying that I'll get to them tomorrow leads me to avoiding problems and it leads me to leaving major things undone.
Procrastination is something that hinders one's life. We feel awful we procrastinate because we don't want to do that big hard thing we put it off we put up roadblocks and make excuses and we end up with a knot in our throat and our stomach is twisted. Procrastination is a huge mental weight it's like an anchor that we pull behind us day by day. In order to live our best lives we have to quash the urge to procrastinate.
What can you do about procrastination?
Avoiding tasks and putting them off is a habit. It's one we need to break. Many people suffer from procrastination because of old habits. It's comfortable to put off heavy and hard things for tomorrow if you have the intention on planning for them today. We can overcome procrastination by making concrete lists, rewarding ourselves when we get over a big hump and holding ourselves accountable to get the big things done.
Procrastination is a defensive mechanism. Tacking big problems puts us at risk of failure and can require us to mobilize resources immediately and use precious energy. A big part of why we procrastinate is because we want to avoid the energy and the thought processes and dealing with the hard things in life so we'll focus on easy things and put off the big battles. In our classic fight or flight reflex procrastination is a clear flight. We need to stop framing it this way and we need to focus on the things we need to get done we can't just put things off forever and if we do it's going to be a mental weight it's going to take our energy away.
Putting things off makes things worse. Putting off my own major to do's will put me at a disadvantage and I understand this intuitively but then I procrastinate. I understand the procrastination isn't laziness for me it's really a part of avoiding the brunt of a major project when I am busy with other things. Competing priorities and stress will make procrastination much more likely in your life so how do you break this habit?
As a former procrastinator I found that making a list was a huge way to fix this issue. If you use an electronic calendar like Outlook make sure that you schedule meetings for each important thing you have to do that day. Work on the hardest things or the things you might procrastinate and put off first schedule the easy task for later in the day. How can you thrive if you constantly have these little issues that keep propping up because a big issue that you're procrastinating is just in the background? You can't! You need to address the big things and you need to stop procrastinating.
Procrastination is something that many of us have adopted and is something we all need to fix. Being proactive in your endeavors will pay dividends when you focus on the important things and the hard things you have to do you're going to put more effort into them if you do them first and then reward yourself after you've completed these objectives. It's important that you're not in an endless circle of toil but you do take the time out of your busy day and schedule to reward yourself with a meal, entertainment or anything else you may enjoy.
as hard as it may be to overcome procrastination it's essential to being alive and thriving. We need to make sure that we take the time to focus on breaking down big problems realizing that we have the confidence and the wherewithal within ourselves to fix issues then actually getting things done. So many of us suffer from procrastination because it's a confidence issue, it's a fight or flight issue and it's a major problem that we use to avoid confronting the hurdles of life. take the first step today and confirm this issue by realizing it is a problem and something you need to fix I certainly did and I've been working on it my whole adult life it's a work in progress.
You have the ability to fix this issue within you you can do it and it's something that you will overcome. Don't procrastinate getting over your procrastination tendencies trust me it's a lot better on the other side.