When you hear the word “procrastination”, what do you immediately think of? Is it a room with clothes scattered all over and the inhabitant sitting there lazily watching TikTok videos? Or a student who continuously puts off that Math assignment waiting for the deadline? Or that coworker who keeps postponing tasks till a later date? You probably think people who procrastinate are lazy people. People who don’t put their affairs in order or have no plan. Well, you’re WRONG.
To get to the crux of the matter, you need to first of all understand that procrastination at its center is an emotional issue. It’s not about laziness or lack of a plan. To understand how to manage procrastination, you must first of all understand how to manage your emotions. So, before we get into that, let us quickly debunk a few myths about procrastination.
#1. Only Lazy People Procrastinate
This is possibly the most popular myth. Procrastination is rarely about laziness; it’s more about underlying emotional states and psychological disorders. Fear of failure, perfectionism, and feeling overwhelmed can all be important causes for procrastinating. The act of putting things off may feel like a form of self-protection, and a strategy to avert the possible disappointment of not attaining inflated expectations. Alternatively, someone wrestling with a vast, complex assignment could feel trapped by indecision, prompting them to engage in easier, more urgent duties as a type of avoidance.
#2. Procrastination is an Unchangeable Habit
It is important to stress that procrastination is not a life sentence. It’s a behavior that can be unlearned. You can change it. You have to recognize the triggers that contribute to procrastination, then develop a plan for interrupting the triggers. Techniques like breaking down major projects into smaller, more manageable chunks, making a realistic timeline, and rewarding yourself for accomplishing milestones can all be beneficial. Also, you must try to address the underlying emotional issues that contribute to procrastination that can be crucial to long-term transformation.
#3. Time Management Stops Procrastination
While efficient time management is an important trait for everyone, it’s not a magic dust for procrastination. Focusing simply on time management could miss the emotional component behind the behavior. Strategies like “timeboxing” or the “Pomodoro Technique” can assist and provide structure and focus; but without addressing the underlying causes for procrastination, the temptation to put things off might resurface.
Timeboxing is a time management method in which you allocate specific time blocks (a certain number of minutes or hours) to different tasks or activities. It’s like creating a schedule with strict time limits for each activity. The Pomodoro Technique is a specific type of timeboxing which involves breaking work into shorter intervals, typically 25 minutes, separated by short breaks. These intervals are called “pomodoros.”
How to Overcome Procrastination?
Different solutions have been provided by different sources but we will just focus on a few of them in this article.
-
Identify Your Triggers
Whenever you feel tempted to procrastinate, you need to pay close attention to the sensations arising in your mind and body. You need to identify the feelings that are evoking your temptation. Is it fear, overwhelming expectations, anger, or disgust? Do you feel them in any part your body? Do they remind you of anything? When do you observe thoughts about procrastinating? Does it intensify? Vanish? Cause other emotions to arise? Are the sensations in your body shifting as you continue to observe them? You should take note of these things, write them down and understand them.
-
Forgive Yourself
In life, you cannot move forward unless you accept your current situation, make peace with it and then look for a way forward. An article in the New York Times by Charlotte Lieberman in 2019 drew attention to the research carried out by Dr. Sirois which found that “procrastinators tend to have high stress and low self-compassion,” therefore suggesting that self-compassion provides a buffer against negative reactions to self-relevant events.
Additionally, not only does self-compassion support motivation and personal growth, it also decreases psychological distress, which is the primary culprit for procrastination. Also, motivation-enhanced feelings of self-worth and creation of positive emotions like optimism, wisdom, curiosity and personal initiative can be achieved through self-compassion.
-
Bigger Better Offer
Changing any habit is possible with something Dr Brewer, Director of Research and Innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center describes as the “Bigger Better Offer.” To overcome the issue of procrastination, you do not avoid it, rather, you replace it with something much more rewarding. Something which comes from within us rather than external sources. According to Dr. Brewer, “Our brains are always looking for relative rewards. If we have a habit loop around procrastination but we haven’t found a better reward, our brain is just going to keep doing it over and over until we give it something better to do.”
Therefore, rather than procrastinate, you need to break down the task into smaller chunks and then start with the easiest part. One thing about this method is that once you start, you now have the momentum to keep going until you are done with that particular activity. For instance, you want to clean your room but you have been putting it off. Rather than try to clean the whole room at once, you could start with something as simple as picking the clothes and putting them in the laundry basket. Once you do that, you will naturally want to arrange the table, bed, or some other small things and before you know it, Voilà, your room is all neat and tidy.
Finally, it is worthy to note that procrastination is a universal human experience, but it doesn’t have to define us. By debunking the myths and embracing an understanding, we can develop strategies to manage procrastination and achieve greater productivity. Remember, self-compassion, trigger identification and bigger better offers are ways you can escape procrastination. So go out there, face your procrastination issues and smash them. Or would you rather leave it till tomorrow?
Article Reference
- Lieberman, Charlotte. 2019. “Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control).” New York Times, March 25, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/smarter-living/why-you-procrastinate-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-self-control.html
