HOW TO OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION

This is part two and the last of the procrastination series:

Part 1: Are you procrastinating on something in your life?
Part 2: How To Overcome Procrastination 

Why do we even procrastinate?

So often we think and believe that procrastination is part and parcel of our everyday life and that it will be experienced in everything we do.  However, I believe that understanding the main reason as to why you are procrastinating and addressing the problem from the root cause is the first step to overcoming it.

So what is the main reason as to why you would want to avoid a task that at the same time is quite important to accomplish?  If we could take a moment and search within ourselves, something has to come up.  In most cases what causes procrastination is:
                          1. The lack of desire and
                          2. Fear
Lack of desire

One of the reason as to why you could be procrastinating on something is the lack of desire for it.  You could be putting off something because it doesn't interest you much or you aren't passionate about it. 

The only way to overcome this and get an overcoming flow of desire is by following your inner desire.  Search from deep within yourself and become self aware of the things that you love to do and things that excites you the most.  These are the things that you should be doing. 

The more you follow your inner desires the more you become aligned with your thoughts and then your actions.  This results in an ongoing burst of desire, which grows larger everyday, to accomplish whatever it is you start or haven't started as you relish doing it.

Fear

Fear, is often in most cases the main underlying cause of procrastination.  It is the main reason why most people procrastinate.  I personally have found myself in this category most often.  This fear could be fear of anything; Fear of hardship, fear of lack of control, fear of uncertainty, fear of pain, fear of being incapable, fear of acceptance, fear of judgement, fear of rejection e.t.c.

Remember, you may have the desire to do something, but if your fear is greater than your desire, you will definitely find yourself procrastinating.   If you were to look deep inside yourself,  areas in your life that you are procrastinating on yet you've got great desire for, you will find that there is definitely a fear of something.  In most cases, this is usually common with perfectionists, whereby procrastination is a common resultant, as they are often afraid to do things in a "less perfect manner" than they envisioned.  Sounds familiar?  Are you in this category?

This will definitely not be the first thing to come to mind if you try probing as to why you are procrastinating.  In fact most people often don't understand the main reason as to why they procrastinate.  Ask yourself why you are avoiding something, and the first thing that comes to mind is "I just don't want to do it".  Probe deeper and then you will probably get,"it entails so much, I'm not sure I can handle it."

While you may think that the work "entailing so much" is the main reason as to why you keep postponing it, That's not it.  After all many people face an overload of work but not everyone reacts via avoiding it.  If you dig deeper, you will find that,  you are afraid of losing control from the overwhelming work.   You are afraid of loss of control because not being able to be in control of your work will lower your self worth.  This is the case with any other form of procrastination.  You could be putting off work thinking that it's probably too much or will consume too much of your time, where that's not the main reason, the main reason being that you are probably afraid of whether you really are capable of performing the task, afraid of the outcome whereby you are uncertain of the results or probably the fear of the judgement that will follow, maybe from your boss or colleagues or other people depending on what it is you are procrastinating on.

In most cases this fear is based on your self worth.  You are afraid of not being worthy enough, or not good enough.  For example you could be procrastinating on starting your business based on the fear that, you don't have the right skills to manage your business as a first timer.   However, you need to realize that avoiding the activity will certainly not make you "good enough".  All those people who you passive to be "good enough" started somewhere.  This is just a silly and  baseless fear you are holding in your thoughts and that you need to uncover.  With this awareness you will come to the realization that it's actually these misconceived beliefs that often cause us to procrastinate.

In Conclusion

To really overcome procrastination, you must first identify the real reason as to why you are putting off something in the first place.  Is it as a result of lack of desire or fear?  You need to probe enough till you get to the real reason of avoidance.   After realizing your why,  it will be so easy to eventually work your way on what you have been procrastinating on.  That's because it immediately becomes so apparent why procrastination is the wrong solution to move forward with.