Self-Help

Most of us are used to thinking of procrastination as a negative thing, but did you know that there are sometimes benefits to procrastination?  It’s true!  Procrastination can be used constructively if you do it in a conscious manner.

Below are a few ideas for how to do so in your own life:

• Procrastination Provides Space To Allow Your Ideas To Fully Form

Sometimes when you get an inspired idea you want to get moving on it right away, but acting hastily before you’ve fully fleshed out all the details can result in unexpected problems and delays. 

By choosing to hold off on a new idea until you’ve planned and prepared for the best course of action, you can save yourself a lot of headaches and regrets!

• Procrastination Gives You Time To Build Up Your Courage

Sometimes you may be eager to move forward but know instinctively that you’re not yet ready to handle the challenges you’ll have to face.  If you try to force yourself to progress more quickly than you’re prepared to do, you may end up failing and avoid trying again!

In this kind of situation, procrastination can give you time to build up your courage and commitment so you’re truly ready to handle any challenges you encounter.  It can be tricky to tell whether you truly need time to better prepare, or you’re just avoiding taking action because of fear. 

However, a quick review of your previous accomplishments along with a prediction of the most likely challenges you’ll face with your current goals should provide the clarity you need to tell the difference.

• Procrastination Gives You Time To Gather Your Energy

Even if you have a clear idea of how to proceed and you’ve got the courage and commitment to do so, you may be aware that you don’t yet have the level of strength or stamina you need for the long haul.

Holding back in order to gather your energy and prepare for the challenges ahead can often make all the difference in your ability to persevere through the most daunting obstacles.

The most important thing is to use these techniques wisely and deliberately.  Procrastination can quickly become destructive if you allow fear and avoidance to override your conscious will. 

If you instead do your best to be honest with yourself about your goals, capabilities and options at all times, you’ll avoid slipping into behavior that will cause problems later…

Welcome back!

Procrastination can quickly create a logjam of unfinished business in all areas of your life, including financial crises, relationship problems, chronic underachievement, physical illness and more.

There are many ways to deal with procrastination, but one of the most effective is simple – yet powerful:  starting!

Getting started is often the hardest part of any intimidating task.  We tend to build up difficult tasks and chores in our minds, which makes them seem bigger and more unpleasant the longer we put them off.  If we avoid these tasks for long enough, it can seem like the hardest thing in the world to take them on!

However, once we commit to simply getting started working on a task we often lose much of our fear and hesitation.  Once we’ve started, we can usually keep going and make a fair amount of progress – more than we expected to make at the beginning.

But how do you push yourself to start when you’d rather keep avoiding a particular task?

First, talk yourself into believing that it won’t be so bad once you get started.  Remember, one reason you procrastinate is because you convince yourself that a task will be incredibly difficult or unpleasant.  If you turn that perception around and affirm that it’s manageable, you’ll be more receptive to taking action.

If that doesn’t work, try committing to a short amount of time, like 10 or 15 minutes.  Most often you’ll be able to face only 10 or 15 minutes of a task, no matter how unpleasant you think it will be.  Once you’ve completed those few minutes, you’ll probably decide to keep going.

Another helpful tactic is to consider the unpleasant consequences that could result if you don’t make some progress on your chore or task.  This may not work if there won’t be any immediate consequences, but it can be extremely effective otherwise.

If all else fails, get angry!  Not angry at yourself, but angry at fear and procrastination.  Tell them that you’re not going to allow them to control your life any longer.  Tell them that YOU make the decisions around here, and you’re going to get moving on this task because you know it needs to be done.  Then allow that anger to push you forward and do what you need to do.

No matter what needs to be done to push yourself to get moving, you’ll definitely enjoy a sense of pride and accomplishment when you overcome your tendency to procrastinate and begin seeing some real progress in your life! 

If you stick with it for long enough, you’ll grow to love that sense of power and control – and you probably won’t have to push yourself to get moving any longer.

Procrastination can often grow to monstrous proportions in your life, but sometimes it can be much more subtle too.  Perhaps you don’t have huge, messy snarls in all areas of your life due to procrastination, but is it possible that you procrastinate just enough to limit your potential?

If you’ve had some big dreams and goals that you never seem to get around to achieving for any length of time, you may be procrastinating without even realizing it!  There’s nothing wrong with putting off your dreams and goals, unless doing so leaves you with a vague sense of dissatisfaction or boredom with your current circumstances.

In order to overcome even subtle levels of procrastination, you’ll need to work on developing a stronger awareness of when and why you’re doing it, and then take action to correct it.

Below you’ll find three easy steps to help you do so:

1) Clarify Your Goals

If you’ve never formally identified and clarified your goals, it’s much easier to keep putting them off.  Perhaps you think that “someday” you’ll do something to create a more fulfilling life, but you never get around to doing so because the demands from your current life seem more pressing.

When you get very clear about what you want and set goals to make it happen, you suddenly find yourself feeling much more inspired and motivated about taking action!  Putting your goals off no longer seems so attractive, and you’re more willing to overcome any tendencies to procrastinate.

2) Be Aware of Potential Problems

Once you’ve set your goals and you’re excited about achieving them, do what you can to become aware of any temptations you may have to set them aside again.  If you normally shy away from challenges, write that down and come up with some possible strategies to build up your courage and determination.  If you tend to let the demands of your life take precedence over everything else, make a commitment to keep working on your goals no matter what.

Just by planning and preparing ahead of time for potential problems, you greatly minimize the possibility of getting overwhelmed and giving up.

3) Form A Plan of Action And Begin Moving Forward

Finally, once you’ve set your goals and prepared for potential obstacles, there’s nothing left to do but create a plan and begin working it diligently! 

You may find it helpful to continue to review and evaluate your progress frequently so you don’t slip back into old habits without realizing it. 

Awareness is power!

Have you ever noticed how sneaky procrastination can be?  It’s incredibly easy to fool ourselves into thinking that we’re being productive, but at the end of the day we find we’ve gotten precious little done. 

Have you ever found yourself using avoidance activities like surfing the internet, watching television, doing housework or laundry, or running errands in order to avoid working on something you don’t want to do?  For example, you might have a work project due by the end of the week and instead of working on it you keep finding domestic chores that “just can’t wait”.

We all do this to some degree, but it can quickly get out of control if you don’t keep a close eye on it.

Here’s what to do when you find yourself avoiding certain tasks and activities that you really need to complete:

First, becoming aware that you’re avoiding them is most important, and probably the most difficult simply because you may be tempted to rationalize your behavior.  One good way to develop a stronger awareness is by monitoring yourself throughout the day.  Periodically, stop what you’re doing and ask questions like these:  “Is this activity really important to do now? Is there something more important I could or should be doing?  Am I using this activity to avoid doing something else?”

When you do catch yourself avoiding certain tasks or activities, question exactly why you’re avoiding them.  Do they seem too overwhelming or intimidating?  Do they seem boring or unpleasant in some way?  Get clear on exactly what’s happening in your head – and avoid rationalizing!  Be honest with yourself, even if you have to say, “I just don’t feel like doing something mentally intensive right now because I’m tired.”

Then consider whether you can make the task easier by breaking it down or perhaps delegating parts of it to someone else.  For example, if a task is too mentally intensive to do in its entirety, maybe you could do some background work like research or preparation that will make the job less draining later.

Also important is to acknowledge the negative consequences that could result from putting the task off until a later time.  Do you have a deadline by which it needs to be complete?  Will not doing it create bigger headaches for you?  Assess the pros and cons of holding off, and then make a conscious decision about whether to push yourself to do it, or set it aside for another day.

Just by making this a more conscious process, you can overcome the sneakiness of procrastination – and the negative results that usually follow.