Procrastination. We’ve been meaning to write about it for a while but have been putting it off…
It can be easy to take procrastination lightly. You see memes about it all the time and it’s often joked about by students pulling an all nighter. But what if there is no paper or report to submit? Not so much of a problem right? Wrong.
Procrastination is actually an insidious problem
On the one hand you have the obvious impacts – stress, low-quality work, tiredness – but on the other you have the hidden impacts – the ones that might be holding you back from the life you want to live. When you have a looming deadline or an angry boss or professor, it’s easy to kick yourself into gear, from fear of getting a kicking.
However, when these things aren’t in play what drives you to action? What makes you start that business plan you’ve been mulling over for ages? What stops you from leaving gym till tomorrow? That healthy-eating, healthy-living lifestyle you’ve wanted? Meh. That’s where procrastination is at its most powerful and, in some cases, deadly. It can stop us acting on the things that will make the biggest difference to our lives.
It’s easy to beat yourself up about procrastinating. There’s so much struggle-fetishism out there, urging us to get up at 4am, work 100hr weeks, to keep grinding. No wonder a lot of us feel guilty. The thing is, this guilt and negative feeling will only hinder you and sap your motivation. To stop beating yourself up about procrastination you need to understand what it is – and it’s a far more powerful force than you might have otherwise thought…
You’re not beating it without a plan
Basically, procrastination is our primitive brain thinking it’s keeping us alive. Our brains are geared to avoid unfamiliar territory or tasks we feel apprehensive about. It harks back to when familiarity meant staying alive, as the unknown could often mean death. “Oh look – a part of the forest I haven’t seen befo” – bam! Sabre-tooth Tiger lunch… When we have deadlines or consequences on the horizon, it’s easier to override the primitive brain and get on with it. Without these, it’s an uphill struggle at best. That’s why it’s no use beating yourself up about procrastinating – recognise it for the powerful force it is and put concrete measures/techniques in place instead. Otherwise, you’ll have all the pain and guilt associated with putting things off, but very little progress.
To beat procrastination you need to know the why’s of things. A conscious understanding of how a task or activity gets you closer to the life you want, aligning with your values, will help you commit even without a looming deadline. Also, once you know the why, you can think about the what – what positive change do you expect from achieving this task? Then, you can think about how and when you’ll achieve it.
At Parity.Planner HQ we suggest the following steps. Of course, this requires honest self-reflection to be useful:
Then, each month, week or day, being able to link back the things you do to your goals will ensure you always know why something is important, the consequences of not doing it and how that will stop you leading the life you want to live. With this powerful motivator, you’ll be in a better place to beat the powerful primitive force we often make jokes about.
Hope this helps. If you’re having a difficult time identifying your goals in the first place, or feeling like your daily activities aren’t linking back to your goals, have a look at our articles on developing a value system and recognising that there’s only one you.
Also, please feel free to reach out and let us know if this has worked for you or if you have your own tried and tested techniques. We’re keen to hear from you.
