ARE YOU PROCRASTINATING ON SOMETHING IN YOUR LIFE?

This is part 1 of the procrastination series:

Part 1: Are You Procrastinating On Something In Your Life
Part 2: How To Overcome Procrastination 

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone" ~ Pablo Picasso

"You may delay but time will not" ~ Benjamin Franklin 

 
I believe we all have experienced procrastination here and there at some point in our lives.  In fact, I believe to some, it happens so often.  But do we really know why we procrastinate in the first place? For me this past week hasn't been my best one.  I'm just finding myself putting off things that are really important, for later.  Not that that I don't have the time to do them but I just find myself postponing.  

Is there something you are procrastinating on?  Have you been meaning to go to the gym, but always find an excuse and keep postponing? Is it a job you want to quit, but keep thinking it's not the right time?  Is it starting your business? Is it applying for that new job you've been eyeing for such a long time now? Probably a book you want to write but haven't started?  For whatever reason, I believe to address procrastination, you must first identify the reason as to why you are avoiding something in the first place.

I for example experienced procrastination here and there, before starting this blog.  Yet this isn't my only case.  We may not know it but procrastination has got so many downsides that come along with it, the more the reason we should work on overcoming it.  So? why should we even overcome procrastination?


Why Overcome Procrastination

Sometimes leaving things to the last minute may not seem as such a bad thing to most people as they will always assume, "after-all, I did it eventually" when they get to finally do it.  However there are downsides that come along with procrastination depending on what you are procrastinating on:

• Firstly, it prevents individuals from reaching their objectives and goals.

•  Secondly, more often that not, the final output is short of what you are capable of.  This is because leaving it till the last minute left you with not enough time to do whatever it is you wanted to do, thus end up doing it haphazardly.  The perfect example for this one, is if you are maybe working on a project that has got a deadline.  You keep postponing till the last minute.

• Thirdly, you end up wasting too much time doing unnecessary or less important task as you are avoiding the more important ones which eventually leads you to putting too much pressure on yourself in the last minute.

• Moreover, we create unnecessary anguish and anxiety unto ourselves when trying to avoid a task.  As a result you can't even fully focus on the things you choose to do so as to avoid your main task as your mind will still be thinking about the task that you are yet to accomplish.

So can we really overcome procrastination?  First of, lets begin by defining procrastination.  What is procrastination?  Well Procrastination as defined by Wikipedia is the avoidance of doing a task which needs to be accomplished.  It is the practice of doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, or carrying out less urgent tasks in place of more urgent ones, thus putting off impeding tasks to a later time.

From this definition, I think to overcome procrastination, we first must identity the main reason as to why we are procrastinating in the first place.  Why are you avoiding the task yet it needs to be accomplished?  Most often you ask someone why they are procrastinating on something and the first thing they say, is that they are probably just feeling lazy, or they lack enough self discipline, or don't get the time to do it.

However, "feeling lazy" or "lack of self discipline" is not the reason for your procrastination, that's just a symptom of the issue.  The real reason is something underneath that.  On the other hand lack of time or poor time management is just an excuse.  The same goes for procrastination.  To overcome procrastination, one must first understand that procrastination is not the real issue, but just a symptom of the real issue.

Read  on to part two of this series on identifying the root cause of procrastination and how to overcome it.