HOW TO BEAT PROCRASTINATION
Bernard Meltzer very well reflects the essence of
procrastination in this quote:
"Hard work is often the easy work
you did not do at the proper time."
If you have found yourself putting off important tasks repeatedly, you are not
alone. In fact, most people procrastinate to some degree - but some are so
chronically affected by procrastination that it disrupts their careers and thwarts
even their best efforts.
The key to controlling and ultimately combating this destructive habit is to understand how and why it happens (even to the best of us) and to take a few simple steps to better manage your time and outcomes.
Causes of procrastination
What are the typical reasons why people procrastinate?
Here are a few of the most common situations to consider in your anti
procrastination efforts.
It can be as simple as
i. Waiting for the right mood
ii. Waiting for the right time
Then as you look at the way, you organize your work you may notice other reasons for procrastination such as:
i. Lack of clear goals
ii. Underestimating the difficulty of the tasks
iii. Underestimating the time required to complete the tasks
iv. Unclear standards for the task outcomes
v. Feeling as the tasks are imposed on you from outside
vi. Too ambiguous tasks
vii. Underdeveloped decision making skills
viii. Fear of failure or fear of success
ix. Perfectionism
Briefly, you procrastinate when you put off things that you should be focusing on right now, usually in favour of doing something that is more enjoyable or that you are more comfortable doing.
This happens to me often. I get caught up in the trap of sitting behind my computer for 8 to 12 hours at a time at the expense of my academic work, saying to myself I will find another time to do my studies. Only to realize most often, too late, that I have busted that precious time I should have used for my studies.
Sometimes this happens when someone does not understand the difference between
urgency and importance. We all have the same amount of time in every day and
procrastinators spend this time fully, but do not invest it wisely. Instead,
they focus so much on urgent issues that they have little or no time left for
the important tasks, despite the unpleasant outcomes this may bring about.
How to Combat Procrastination
Whatever the reason behind procrastination, it must be recognized, dealt with and controlled before you miss opportunities or your career is derailed.
Part of the solution is to develop good organizational and personal
effectiveness habits, such as those described in Mind Tools’ “Make Time for
Success!” This helps you establish the right priorities, and manage your time
in such a way that you make the most of the opportunities open to you.
The other part of the solution can be as simple as applying this rule of thumb:
If you are not working (whether directly of indirectly) to progress your top
priority projects, you are probably procrastinating.
Moreover, when you are doing something important, such as working on your
top-priority project or task, and something urgent comes up; recognize that
this will take time away from this important work. To do this, it is imperative
to understand the difference between urgency and importance. On one hand, let
us say that your boss comes to your office, says he or she has called a meeting,
and wants you to join other team members in the conference room now. This is
clearly urgent.
On the other hand, your sales manager calls in from the field and explains that
your biggest customer just received the wrong shipment and is in dire need of
the correct shipment. This will require tracking down the original shipment,
working through the placed orders, even the salesperson’s paperwork, etc.
Again, this is urgent.
However, while immediate action is needed here, these things only tangentially
affect the truly important things in your life. Important things are likely to
be the actions that serve to broaden you, build your career, or achieve
something of real human significance to you. These important actions are often
easy to pinpoint, for they are the ones that help you achieve your goals.
This is not to say that you do not have to take care of the urgent things.
Instead, you will need to take care of these things as efficiently as possible,
while also staying on top of the important demands of the day. You will need to
minimize the time spent on these urgent tasks, while still ensuring that they
are successfully and efficiently resolved.
With proper planning and some self-discipline, many urgent matters disappear
altogether or, when they do surface, your planning and discipline makes them
less urgent and easier to deal with. This means that you waste less of the
valuable time that should be spent on the important things. Keep in mind that
you probably do not have to handle every urgent matter yourself. Delegate as
far as possible, so that you are not caught up in remedying every urgent
situation. To spend life "fire fighting" is a misuse of your
“important” time.
Quotes on Procrastination
1. "One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half-a-hundred, half-finished tasks."
Malcolm S. Forbes
2. "To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing."
Eva Young
3. "A year from now you will wish you had started today."
Karen Lamb
4. “The surest way to be late is to have plenty of time.”
Leo Kennedy
5. “It is not how fast you run in life that determines your destination, but where you are headed towards.”
John K. Akotia
6. “One key to becoming an outstanding success in life is the secret of the beneficial use of ones spare time.”
John K. Akotia
7. “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
King Solomon (Eccles. 11:4)
8. “Think goal setting is too laborious and time wasting? Try goalless life and your regret will be unpardonably regrettable
John K. Akotia
