This post may contain affiliate links. If you click one and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support the site so I can continue to offer great content to you!
Everybody procrastinates to some extent. We all do. But for some, procrastination reaches a level where it truly has an impact on daily life. It can impact our ability to accomplish important tasks and cause many problems. In this article, we will discuss the true root cause and learn how to stop procrastination for good.
What is procrastination?
Well, it depends on who you ask. Some will tell you that procrastination is laziness. Others might say that it’s simply not prioritizing the right things. Finally, procrastination is often seen as a result of bad organizational skills.
Here is the thing. Procrastination is none of the above. It is an emotional response to the task that needs to be done. That’s right! Therefore, to stop procrastination, we need to understand what the underlying emotion we are feeling is.
Think about it for a moment. When is the last time you procrastinated on a task? What was going on? Perhaps you were facing a task that you didn’t know how to do. Therefore you were feeling self-doubt about your ability to succeed. Is it possible that it was something you were anxious or nervous about? Or maybe it was just simply something that bored you which caused you to procrastinate.
Is procrastination really all that bad?
The short answer is yes. Procrastination has been the subject of several scientific research. Possible long term effects of procrastination on your health include:
- chronic stress
- low life satisfaction
- depression
- anxiety
- illness, even cardiovascular disease and hypertension
Procrastination can also have an impact on your ability to succeed and achieve your goals. It can damage your reputation and cause people around you to lose trust in you.
So how do we stop procrastination?
The key really is to deal with the underlying emotion. The first step is to understand why you are choosing to not do something right now when you could or even should? What is the excuse you are giving yourself?
Do you suddenly really have to dust the top of your bathroom cabinets instead of completing the timeline you told your boss you would do? You need to ask yourself what is the true priority. In this example, it is easy to see that you should finish your work assignment first. Why are you pushing it off? Perhaps, in order to complete the task, you need to reach out to multiple individuals that you have never met before. Therefore, you might be feeling some anxiety.
It is important to understand that our brains have many self-preservation mechanisms. Procrastination is one of them. For instance, at the moment, your brain wants to avoid the feeling of anxiety more than it wants to experience the feeling of accomplishing the task in the future.
Reworking or reorganizing your calendar will not get you to stop procrastinating. What you need is a plan to ease your anxiety surrounding this task. Be extra prepared before talking to those colleagues. First, research everything you need to know about the project. Next, prepare what you will communicate to them. For example, plan to explain who you are and what your assignment is. Do all the preparation that you can. This way, your anxiety will be minimized and you can overcome the procrastination.
To summarize, in order to stop procrastination, you need to:
- Ask yourself questions to understand the true cause of your procrastination
- Is this task a priority?
- What will happen if I do not accomplish it now?
- Why would I delay the task?
- Identify the emotion triggered by the thought of doing the task
- What do I think about the task to be performed?
- Am I excited about the task? Do I see value for myself or others in accomplishing it?
- Plan how to manage the emotion at the root cause of procrastination by identifying actions to counter the emotion
- If I was to do this task now, what is the first step I should take?
- What action can I take to make the task easier and more likely to succeed?
- Reward yourself to help your brain associate a positive feeling to accomplishing tasks
In conclusion..
Procrastination is very real and we all procrastinate here and there. However, chronic procrastination can be detrimental in the long run. Therefore, you should consider implementing the recommended techniques from this article to stop procrastination and live a healthier life.
Thank you for reading.
Cat xx