The deadline flew “like an arrow” from the front of the eyes. We procrastinate and are anxious about procrastination. What caused our delay?
What is procrastination?
Procrastination is the purposeful delay in the initiation or completion of an explicit or implicit activity. It prevents the target task from being completed within the deadline, or the target task has only just started within the deadline.
Let’s start tomorrow. What will happen tomorrow? We always feel that tomorrow will have better energy and more time.
Further reading: Live Life Differently
And a lot of times, tomorrow may repeat: Create an to-do list, take a break and enjoy the breeze for a while…
Much like a movie, let’s be fed up and thoughtful – maybe, in these scenes, many of us see ourselves. The situation of not being able to start and do nothing but keep happening resonates with us.
Everything is put in tomorrow, always until the last minute, and in today’s increasingly efficient world, procrastination is increasingly observed. Procrastination has become an important subject for management scientists and psychologists. It is beginning to draw attention at all levels.
Procrastination is a modern disease by its very nature, as it seems to occur only in countries and societies that are technologically advanced and emphasize compliance with time schedules. The higher the degree of industrialization, the more obvious the delay.
Psychologists point out that in etymology, “procrastination” comes from Latin “Procrastinare”, meaning a delay until the next day, without being derogatory in itself. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that the word began to be derogatory, when it was during the British Industrial Revolution. It is interesting that today, many societies and countries that have not yet industrialized have not even produced a term related to the concept of “procrastination”.
Why are we procrastinating?
We procrastinate on unpleasant things, procrastinate on difficult things, delays things that are hard to make the discussion. So why are we procrastinating?
1. Avoid anxiety
Procrastinators have their own schedules, and they confuse “objective time”, which is the time shown on the clock to guide our daily actions, and the time they freely choose.
The procrastinator wavers between the feeling of powerlessness and omnipotence. They knew it was difficult to act, but they didn’t know that the reason was an attempt to avoid anxiety. Pushing back everything becomes a life strategy. Procrastinating, but hoping to solve it at the last minute, almost by magic.
2. Pursuit of perfection
People who always procrastinate are often unconfident people who often lie to themselves and try to turn their sense of powerlessness into a conscious choice. Behind these motivations, there is a desire to be the best. Don’t risk disappointment in front of themselves, or leave a bad image in front of others. For such people, the procrastination has become a strategy to avoid failure.
3. Expressing the secret offensive
Some procrastinators follow other logics and refuse to accept any coercion. Every obligation, even a traffic ticket, is seen as an infringement of freedom. This is an expression of their rebellious emotions, and the effect is naturally counterproductive. These people are depressed at home and are always being watched. As adults, they developed the belief that in order not to restrict themselves, they should not accept the imposed rules. But instead, it leaves them living in a constant state of anxiety. ”
7 tips for overcoming procrastination
1. Stop thinking and take immediate action
A bit of a plan does help you achieve your goals, but thinking too much can backfire.
You want to have a “perfect plan” that you can avoid making mistakes, never hit a wall, or suffer from pain or difficulties. There is no doubt that such a thing does not exist at all. In fact, as long as you stick to a plan, you can also protect yourself from the consequences of procrastination.
2. Don’t be too late
Overthinking or procrastinating doesn’t save you from pain. You’re just making a fuss. The old proverb is indeed the most famous one. The longer you procrastinate, the more you suffer.
Because you can’t stop thinking, it’s all in your head. Because it’s dragged on, your emotions go down with negativity. So make the plan smaller and take action.
3. Just take the first step
If you look too far ahead, any task or project seems to be almost impossible to achieve. Then you’ll be deterred. Because you feel overwhelmed, it’s better to go online aimlessly! Therefore, planning the future is good, but we must devote our energy to this moment.
After all, you just have to do the first step with all your heart and soul. That’s right, leave the rest alone, just look at the first step. After the first step, your mind changed from resistance to “Hey, I’ve started, not bad!”
4. Start with the toughest tasks
Maybe you’ll have to make an important call, but you’ll have to resist. Maybe you realize that the email has accumulated a lot and you have to deal with it. Or maybe you’ll have to rush the last five pages of your assignment.
Whatever the task, please do it right away.
If you deal with tricky tasks every day, you’ll be relieved, relaxed, and feel good about yourself. Next, your to-do list is easier to fix. Just take a small action and you’ll find a big difference!
5. Just make up your mind, any decision will work
When we sit and do nothing, our mood becomes very bad because it’s against nature. Our nature is to make decisions and take action on an ongoing basis.
If you clearly want to do something, but you drag it down and don’t act to match that idea, then your inner self becomes a contradiction.
What you do reflects what you are. Naturally, when you suggest self-confidence, it does have a positive effect. Only by taking self-confidence actions over and over again can you really shape your self-confidence and make you a confident person.
6. Face your inner fears
I think this is true: it’s easy for people to fall into the “one day…” mindset, but it’s hard to act. Please risk your adventure like a fool, make mistakes, hit walls, and go through the pain. You are responsible for your own life.
Easy choices can lead to comfort and some degree of success, but you will also regret everything you dare not try. You will feel empty, and you will particularly wonder: What would happen if you seized more opportunities and took more action?
7. Insist on the completion
It can make you feel bad not to take the first step to accomplish something, but not finishing what you’ve already started can also make you feel down. You get tired or stressed, and sometimes you don’t even know what’s going on. It’s like something hollowing out your inner strength.
If you’re in this situation, review the tasks or projects you’ve already worked on. Is there something you want to accomplish, but you haven’t done it yet? Try to get it done as soon as possible, and you’ll be happy when it’s done!
Is this procrastination?
The existence of procrastination behavior has a certain rationality, it has a temporary effect on the relief of negative emotions. When we’re doing a tough job, encountering bottlenecks, or getting bored, forcing ourselves to continue working, instead of being efficient, it increases our anxiety. At this time, take a short time to do something unrelated. Listen to music, doing gymnastics, or even going out shopping.
It’s normal to be relaxed – it’s not procrastination. When we charge both mental and physical fitness, and then turn around to do the original work, you may suddenly open up.
Advice to the procrastinator at home
Procrastinator’s behavior can cause problems for family life, but threats and harsh words must be avoided. To accuse family members of being lazy or irresponsible can only make the situation worse. You must be calmly explained that their behaviors have troubled you and give them a chance to change his behavior.
For example, you can say to them, “You haven’t finished the work that you promised you. It made me into trouble. Do you have any other solutions?”
At this point, they have to face the situation. They will try to change their attitude. In any case it is a long process that requires the patience and cooperation of those around them, but there will be good results in the future.
