Self-Help

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.

Welcome back!

One damaging aspect of procrastination is the way it tends to snowball and build a chronic sense of stagnation and inertia in your life. 

It usually starts innocently enough: you try to avoid doing one thing that feels intimidating or unpleasant, and before you know it you’re avoiding even things you want to do but feel too frightened to face.  If this trend continues long enough, your entire life can become extremely messy and complex.

When you consider that one of the biggest causes of procrastination is the perception that a task is too big or difficult to handle, it’s easy to see why you would want to put it off.  Few people actually enjoy being challenged, so it seems easier to keep putting it off until you feel better able to handle it in the future.

There’s a great way to handle this type of procrastination, and that is by changing your perspective to one that is more manageable.  Rather than trying to psyche yourself up to tackle a big project or task all at once, attack it in bite-sized pieces.

As an example, let’s use organization.  Imagine that your home is a terrible mess, completely disorganized with big piles of clutter all over the place.  It seems like an impossible challenge to get it all straightened out, so you keep procrastinating. 

To make matters worse, all of the clutter makes you feel overwhelmed and scattered, which adds to the illusion that you can’t handle the task of getting organized – which causes you to procrastinate even more!  It becomes a big, vicious cycle that will continue until you take control of it.

Rather than trying to overcome your fear and push yourself to tackle such a huge job, start with one drawer, one closet, or any small section.  This more focused approach usually works like a charm because it’s hard to get overwhelmed by such a tiny chore, so you find your tendency to procrastinate disappears for a short time, enabling you to make some progress.

Then, simply keep the process going!  Each day do a little more, and work your way through small sections of the larger task.  This is very important – you can’t make a little progress only once in a while because nothing will change over the long-term.  And if you don’t see consistent progress, you probably won’t continue putting in the effort.

If you instead do a little bit each day, you’ll begin to notice the positive results piling up.  Before you know it, you’re feeling more in control of your circumstances and you’re not procrastinating nearly as much as you did before.

Once you’ve completed a larger task, then you can maintain it in the same way you resolved it – little by little, day by day!