Contents
We are glad to welcome you, dear readers of the blog! If you have a habit of putting off important things until later, until better times, or if the success of your activities depends on your mood, then you should not consider yourself a lazy person who is not able to change, perhaps you have simply been overcome by procrastination. And although this term sounds intimidating, and also brings a lot of inconvenience and difficulties to its owner, it is quite possible to cope with it with a little effort. Therefore, the topic of today’s article may also look like this: «Procrastination, how to deal with it, right here and now, and not on Monday or tomorrow.» Ready?
Recommendations
- To understand how to act, you first need to realize that there is a problem, otherwise you will not be able to achieve any results. The doctor is not able to cure the patient if he is not interested in recovery. But also the doctor will not be able to diagnose him if he denies and ignores the symptoms that arise and does not seek help. No matter how wonderful and working methods are described here, the most important thing is to understand that everything depends only on you and your desire for change.
- Train your willpower, since it depends on it whether you can concentrate on one lesson for a long time or not. Especially if you’re not interested. Strong-willed individuals are able to achieve more than those who are not able to control their momentary desires and stop before difficulties. Start small, for example, by starting to do exercises in the morning and read at least one developmental article a day. Over time, move on to things that cause more resistance than these. If you decide to seriously engage in the development of discipline, efficient ways how to do it better, you will find here «Strengthening and educating your willpower and character.»
- Your sleep should be full and of high quality, you should not stay up late, otherwise the next day you will be lethargic and exhausted, and insomnia in such conditions will not develop for long, and it, in turn, can lead to depression and poor health.
- If this phenomenon has occurred to you recently, and you understand that such behavior is not characteristic of you, take a test for your predisposition to depression. Perhaps the point is not at all that the work has become uninteresting, and you need to follow completely different recommendations in order to improve your health and return to normal.
- Please yourself as often as possible. A gloomy, sad and devoid of interest in life, a person is not capable of a successful and productive activity. Moreover, he is not able to develop and engage in self-control. Remember what gives you joy, it doesn’t have to be a million dollars and a Ferrari, it can be the little things that inspire you to move on. And make it a rule to pamper yourself every day, this is important.
- Change your thinking, those who are set in advance for failure are in rare cases able to achieve success, if only because they are not always able to notice it, as well as the opportunities that life provides to each of us. If you don’t know where to start, it’s okay, the article “10 psychological exercises for a positive mindset” will help you.
- Without motivation, it is hardly possible to move forward. The road to success is mostly hard and bumpy, and doesn’t just consist of picking flowers. Sometimes you have to do those things that do not give pleasure at all, in contrast to the result that they bring. So think about it, maybe the problem is just that you don’t really understand why you are doing something? In this case, it is really difficult to withstand the stress. Make life easier, and still highlight the main points for which you started everything.
- Sometimes a person accuses himself of laziness, or of the occurrence of this phenomenon, but in fact, he simply does not effectively and competently prioritize. Therefore, I recommend that before proceeding with the implementation of the methods below, take the “Are You a Procrastinator” test to make sure that you have made the correct “diagnosis” for yourself.
Methods
1. Five pluses
Have you heard the expression that if you can’t cope with some kind of difficulty or situation, you just need to change your attitude towards it? So, this approach will help you defeat procrastination. Take a slightly different look at a task that you don’t want to do at all. To do this, take a sheet and write down at least 5 points about why you are interested in doing it.
It may seem difficult, especially at first, but once you discover the positive aspects of the work ahead, you will start it without delay and feeling tense or annoyed.
2. A game
If you’ve read this article about personal space, you know how important boundaries are in a person’s life. And it is they who are deprived of the personality with the «tomorrow» syndrome. Therefore, I propose to begin to form them with the help of a simple exercise that works at the subconscious level.
To do this, you should “link” any event with the execution of a specific task. A bit like a game, for example, if the phone rings, you immediately start something that you have been putting off immediately after the conversation and do it until you receive a message.
Think up the conditions yourself, the main thing is that this will facilitate the task and help you unobtrusively cope with the syndrome.
3. Anti-plan
If you have trouble scheduling activities, try the opposite and create an anti-plan. Write down in it cases that are not related to the main work, mark the deadlines for their implementation and distribute them by a week or a month.
Do you know why this is necessary? In order not to fool yourself that there is no time for a time-consuming task, now everything will be the other way around. You will be engaged in a long and unwanted project in the hours and minutes that you spent on distracted and useless activities, which you will now start on schedule.
4. Postpone
If you really can’t force yourself to do something, don’t waste your time, you still won’t be able to do the job perfectly just by looking at the monitor screen without a single thought. Let yourself rest. Yes, as strange as it sounds, but in the fight against procrastination, the method of procrastination helps.
The wedge is knocked out with a wedge, the main thing is not to overdo it, but to use it only occasionally, and in those cases when you are really tired or not in the resource against the background of experiences that prevent you from concentrating. After recovering a little, it will be easier to start daily duties.
5. Change of priorities
Since it so happened that you have a «syndrome of tomorrow», then try to use it for your own good, and not by declaring open war. What is the essence of a procrastinator? The fact that he is burdened by important and serious tasks, so he tries his best to avoid them, doing completely detached things, which, in principle, may not be so simple compared to what must be done.
Let’s say you’re constantly distracted by checking mail or folding papers in folders? Assign yourself this as the main goal that needs to be realized for today, but with the help of the main work, relax, taking breaks. Believe me, soon you will be looking for ways to shirk email verification.
6. What for?
Try to understand the reasons for this way of responding to important matters, perhaps understanding why you behave this way will help you change. To do this, make a list again, write down the thoughts that come to mind to the question: “Why am I doing this?”, Or “What gives me shirk from the important?”. Try to determine for yourself, are you running from something, or towards something?
7. Morning
Determine the most unpleasant duty and make it a rule to do it first thing in the morning. Firstly, from about 9 in the morning a person is most active, by the evening his productivity drops. And secondly, having done the most unpleasant, you will feel relief, and pride that you managed to cope with what scared and caused tension.
8. Create obstacles for yourself
We are distracted when there is temptation and availability. What do you pay the most attention to? For example, social networking and watching the news. It’s as simple as picking up your phone and tapping on your favorite app. What if you block it during business hours?
There are special programs that will help you do this, it is only important to come up with a complex and long password so that you are too lazy to type it often. In this case, it will be much easier to control yourself and follow the plan, without wasting time in vain.
9. Change of activity
If you cannot completely get rid of this habit, do not be discouraged, but simply direct your energy in a developing and useful direction. Yes, and a change of activity is the most effective rest than just lying on the couch and so on.
10. Consequences
Make a list of the consequences that will inevitably arise if you do not have time to finish the work on time, or in general, try to avoid responsibility and perform any task.
Try to be honest with yourself, do not discount your previously planned plans and aspirations, and if possible, try to slightly exaggerate and intensify the negative result, expanding its sphere of influence for the distant future.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today, dear readers! If you are interested in what types of procrastination exist and want to know the history of its occurrence, you can read the previous article. Take care of yourself and loved ones, and remember that “Life is not about waiting for the storm to end. It’s learning to dance when it rains.»