Putting off tasks. Delaying the inevitable, becoming frustrated and angry with yourself.
If this is familiar, something you do often and seems to be a never-ending cycle. Well congratulations you’re likely a procrastinator.
To put it simply this is someone who intentionally puts off doing a task.
Additionally, this task if undone will have a consequence, and procrastination can be habitual, or task related.
A procrastinator has sneaky ways to avoid a task. Such as becoming easily distracted or doing it another day. A prime example is studying for an exam. Rather than studying the choice is made to browse social media or play computer games.
Procrastinating has consequences, which vary in severity. For example, putting off booking a doctor’s appointment can result in a minor affliction becoming a serious health issue.
Acknowledging that we procrastinate empowers us to ask ourselves why we procrastinate. This why varies from task to task but is an important step in overcoming procrastination.Make a list of the tasks you struggle to get done. Then read the information below and note down the number/s of the relevant reason next to the task.
This will give you a good idea of the reason/s why you believe you’ve been procrastinating with that specific task. A great step towards beating procrastination, read on…
Reasons why we procrastinate
#1. The fear and pressure of being successful
Firstly, some people fear exceeding expectations, which can is linked to low self-esteem and the fear of unwanted attention. Conversely this attention is why some people don’t procrastinate – because they love attention and success.
Secondly, the pressure to always be successful. Once you have a reputation for being successful, pressure to duplicate or perform even better can halt progress. So, it’s not the fear of success, but the fear of opinion and the impact on self-esteem of failing.
#2. Lacking motivation for specific tasks
Many of the tasks we must do are uninteresting, unrewarding, or have no clear goal or purpose. Think of tasks you’ve been putting off, tidying the garage, booking the car in for a service or searching for a cheaper home insurance.
These aren’t tasks which are fulfilling or inspire us to act. However, they’re often important tasks which will benefit us.
#3. Too tired, low energy or nothing left in the tank
Being fatigued and lacking energy leads to procrastination. It becomes hard to make good decisions. We find we lack motivation and have poor will power, meaning it’s difficult to find the energy for complicated or boring tasks.
A situation which ultimately leads to bad choices, such as watching a box set, rather than completing your tax return. Tiredness can be to blame for weakening our will power when trying to quit a bad habit: quitting smoking, eating healthier, cutting back on alcohol.
#4. Negative and unsupportive people
If you have these people in your life, you’ll know who I’m describing. They make it challenging to achieve anything, because they criticise, drain your energy and discourage you.
These negative people cause you to doubt yourself, cause you to hesitate when commencing tasks and impact on your self-confidence.
#5. No immediate reward, or consideration of the consequences
This is known as temporal discounting, the desire for an immediate reward over a future reward. Short-term rewards like spending time socialising are prioritised over future rewards, such as achieving good grades or promotion.
Also, the long-term consequences of our actions become neglected. The desire for immediate reward and pleasure is a common cause of procrastination.
#6. The fear of failure and making mistakes
We may delay starting or completing task because we fear messing it up. Often, something which sits out of our comfort zone, resulting in procrastination, which increases our anxiety and stress.
Failure and making mistakes are important to develop our competence, without mistakes we would not thrive in life. Procrastination itself is a mistake, however if we don’t learn from it, we continue to repeat it.
#7. A problematic and unsupportive environment
This sort of environment is one that isn’t conductive to productivity. Distractions are common, they take your attention from the task that needs doing. It can be in the workplace, constant interruptions or at home, in the form of family or a big list of house chores.
Other thangs that create an unproductive environment include:
- Cluttered and disorganised workspace
- Lack of required resources – IT, stable internet connection
- Working in a high stress environment
#8. Mental health conditions impacting your productivity
There are conditions which unrecognised or untreated can result in procrastination. This can include Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, depression, negative thinking patterns or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Each of these conditions cause procrastination in different ways from lacking motivation, to self-doubt or lacking the necessary discipline to complete a task. Seek professional help if you think you suffer from any of these conditions.
#9. A lack of a clear goal, deadline or required outcome
When we set our minds to completing a task we need to know when it’s completed. An end point is essential, if we want to lose weight, we’re less likely to procrastinate if we know how much weight we want to lose and by when.
In addition, we need to know what the completed task looks like, what the outcome should be. For example, booking your car in for a service has an obvious outcome, the goal is to book it into a garage for a specific purpose by a specific date.
When focusing in on the details of a goal its also essential to know what is and isn’t within your control. This allows you to worry less about an outcome which you have no influence over.
#10. Poor time management and no schedule or to-do lists
Having no clear schedule or list of the tasks to complete will cause procrastination. Consequently, productivity is unachievable without a strategy, a simple list of tasks and scheduling it in your diary negates this issue.
Without a way to prioritise tasks nothing meaningful will be achieved. A to-do list will help you beat procrastination because you’ll instinctively prioritise tasks.
#11. The task is beyond your current capabilities
Often this is not true, however procrastination is the result of this belief. When a task feels too big or complicated, we feel overwhelmed. For example, people put off purchasing their first house because the process is unknown and overwhelming. Break tasks down into smaller tasks helps alleviate overwhelm.
This is a common trigger for procrastination. Additionally, being faced with too many tasks to complete can deter any progress and result in procrastination.
#12. Striving for perfection can result in procrastination
This is a multifaceted, firstly we have perfectionists who are happy with nothing less than perfection. Which can result in never starting a task because of concern that the outcome won’t be perfect.
Secondly, perfectionists can struggle to complete a task to a high enough standard. Resulting in wasted time and tinkering with a task. A task which to most people would be completed to an acceptable standard.
Final thoughts…
We’ve discussed the many potential reasons we procrastinate. This knowledge alone won’t get those tasks you procrastinate over done.
But it’s a great start to building up your ability and resilience – to finally put an end to procrastination.
Look at the tasks you’ve been putting off and identify the reason or reasons you’ve been putting them off. Have a read through the above examples.
Then identify methods to end procrastination and get those tasks done.
Once you see your to-do list shrink, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment. The ability to beat procrastination means you’ll achieve more and be more productive.
Before long you’ll break the habit of procrastination and develop the mindset of a person who gets stuff done.
Using your time productively and efficiently will give you more free time to enjoy the things you love, doing and living life to the full, free from the burden of procrastination.