The 3 Types of Procrastination, and Tips to Stop Postponing Tasks

Many people put off until tomorrow what they could do today, or leave it until next week or even later.

Procrastination is the habit of delaying our commitments irrationally and unproductively. It generates a lot of stress and quite a few frustrations.

Maybe you have tried, without success, to be faithful to your goals, but you always end up procrastinating. If this happens to you, please keep reading because this article can help you. Specific, We will see what are the different types of procrastination and how to deal with them.

Why do we leave things for tomorrow?

We procrastinate because we are divided, our brain is rational and this is reflected in the division of the limbic system and the cerebral cortex.

We have an instinctive, fast, energetic and visceral brain that only thinks about now, that wants things now and does not care about tomorrow, and we have another brain, the rational one, the reflective one, the one that thinks and analyzes and finds it difficult act, is slower and more cautious, knows where he wants to go and thinks about the future.

Procratination is the result of the fight between the emotional brain and the rational brain and when the will of our reason gives in to the whims of instinct is when we indulge in procrastination.

Related article: “What’s behind the habit of constantly postponing?”

Different types of procrastination

This phenomenon depends on several factors, so There are different types of procrastinators depending on the factor that has the greatest weight in each person. Mostly:

1. Expectation (confidence level)

Excessive optimism leads us to inaction sitting waiting for a miracle to happen.

This optimism, understood as the difficulty attributed to the task, is especially evident when estimating the time it will take us to achieve our objective (planning fallacy) and which in the end usually turns out to be longer than our estimates.

We usually try to calibrate the performance necessary to achieve success with the minimum possible involvement: We want the greatest reward with the least effort. There are procrastinators due to excess and lack of optimism, some believe themselves to be more capable than they really are, this leads them to failure. Others, and they are the majority, are more pessimistic, are not aware of their capabilities and do not even try.

Balance is the key, tasks that are a feasible challenge They are the ones that motivate us the most to action.

Generate spirals of success

If we set ourselves a progressive series of difficult but ultimately attainable goals, we will maximize our motivation and give achievement meaning, a reflection of our capacity. Each hard-won victory gives a new sense of ourselves and a desire to strive for more.

In the early stages of a complex project it is usually better to have process or learning goals than product or result goals; That is, the goals consist of acquiring or refining new skills or steps (the process) rather than reaching the highest grade (the product).

The essence of the success spiral is that achievement creates confidence which in turn becomes a commitment that generates more achievement.

Cheer up with vicarious victories:

Surround yourself with cheerful and optimistic people, attitudes are contagious. What others believe can influence your intention to act don’t share your plans with spoilsport people, do it with people who trust you and encourage you to fight for what you want.

Biographies of people who have inspiring lives and with whom one can identify are powerful resources that can help us. Watch motivational movies, attend talks by successful people, be part of a group trying to better yourself or society, volunteer, or create your own support group.

Visualize it

Detailed mental recreation of a performance engages mirror neurons, which imprint it in the brain almost as deeply as if it were actually being performed. However, don’t settle for this, go further, after vividly imagining yourself crossing the finish line After a 10 kilometer race, do a reflection exercise and place yourself in reality, in your current situation.

Observe that contrast, where you want to go and where you are and then think about the first thing you should do to reach your goal, what is the first step? Take that step!

Anticipate the worst and hope for the best

Avoid the syndrome of false hope, think carefully about what could go wrong, not to fall into catastrophism, but to prepare for possible setbacks. Asking someone else’s opinion can help. Make a list of the ways you tend to procrastinate and keep it in your field of vision when you are working.

Avoid risky situations: turn off your phone and avoid other distractions before getting to work. At work you have to take breaks so as not to overheat the engine, but stopping every so often causes the engine to cool down and have to warm up again.

Making an emergency plan can also help: have someone to call if you feel like you might be tempted to encourage you to stay true to your commitment.

Accept that you are addicted to procrastination

Assuming that a single failure leads to a breakdown of will may be useful for some people, such as in the case of alcoholics anonymous. Follow these guidelines:

2. Evaluation (proneness to boredom)

Faced with this type of procrastination, you have to make the tasks become motivating.

Turn your tasks into a game, set goals

The tasks we hate are among the ones we tend to postpone the most, especially those repetitive, monotonous tasks that are very simple.

Turn it into a game: make the boring become difficult, you must achieve a balance between your own ability to perform the task and the difficulty of the task in question and thus generate a state of flow: a state of maximum concentration and involvement in what what are you doing.

If it is too difficult for you, you may get frustrated and give up If it’s too easy you’ll get bored and want to quit.

Create a chain of small objectives that serve to achieve a long-term goal. This goal must be something motivating so that it is easy for you to move from link to link in the chain. It is easier to sweep the dining room if this is part of a more ambitious plan: throwing a party at home.

Set the objectives positively, reformulate the avoidance goals into approach goals:

Distribute your energy well

Tiredness makes us procrastinate, it is difficult for us to start If we do not have energy, self-control and self-motivation will generate burnout. Recognizing that our energies are limited will help us distribute them better.

Don’t go hungry, try to eat five meals a day, eat a healthy and balanced diet. If you eat junk, you won’t perform, you will have little energy and you will be an easy target for procrastination. Nuts and long-chain carbohydrates are your best allies, but don’t forget the rest of the foods and drink water.

Do cardiovascular exercise, it is essential to stay healthy, energetic and vital. It will increase the effectiveness of your immune system, you will not get sick as often, you will feel invigorated and although you may think that you do not have time for that, half an hour three times a week is enough and your productivity (and your health) will be greatly benefited. What is difficult is starting, once you make it a routine the difficult thing is to stop. Besides, Schedule heavier tasks when you have peak energy (usually morning and noon).

Sleep the necessary hours Normally, adults sleep between 7 and 8, but that depends on each person’s case. Maintain good sleep hygiene, respect bedtime and wake-up times.

Respect your limits. If after all of the above you still feel tired, reduce your demands or seek help to accomplish everything, but don’t overdo it.

If you’re going to procrastinate, do it right.

Many people start cleaning the house, organizing the storage room or doing all kinds of useful things but They distract them from what they should really be doing. When I was a teenager I had a classmate whose room was especially tidy during exam time, because instead of studying, which is what he should do, he would start organizing everything.

Look at that task that you should be doing but are avoiding (eg// studying). Establish other tasks that, although they are not so important, are also necessary and you feel like doing them more (eg// tidying up your desk while listening to music).

Find the balance between distracting yourself with these less important, more enjoyable tasks and that one main task you’re sneaking away from. Eventually you’ll end up doing it, but give yourself a break doing other tasks that are more pleasant to you.

Combine unpleasant tasks with small rewards

Procrastinators do not reward themselves after finishing their work. Giving yourself messages of praise and words of encouragement is a technique called “learned diligence.” It also helps, incorporate this into your life.

Make a list of small rewards you can give yourself: shopping, giving yourself a breakfast fit for a king, going out… whatever motivates you.

Promise yourself one of these prizes when you finish the task you’re sneaking away from. Think of ways to make boring tasks more bearable: analyzing current political events over your favorite coffee, doing laundry while listening to music, or studying algebra with a friend.

Make your passion your vocation

Not everyone has the privilege of devoting themselves to what they are truly passionate about, which is a shame, since we spend many hours of our lives working. There are those who cannot choose, due to multiple factors, but If you have the opportunity to combine your passion with your vocation, don’t hesitate, go for it.

If you can dedicate yourself to doing what makes you jump out of bed every day to get to work, you will undoubtedly end up succeeding in that field.

Also, follow these tips:

If you have difficulties in all of the above Get in touch with a career guidance service who knows how to effectively assess your abilities, who know how to direct you towards what you are good at and have a greater chance of succeeding.

3. Impulsiveness (the central element of procrastination)

All of the above is useful but what really sabotages us is our impulsiveness, it is the power of that instinctive brain, which is faster and more untamed than our rational brain. Therefore, when we think “I shouldn’t have eaten that cake” it is already too late, because the emotional brain is like a rearing horse that has a lot of strength.

Here we will learn to use that other, more well-trained horse, our reason, so that the cart goes where we want and not where our impulses take us.

Precommitment: Commit now to prevent temptations.

Discover what your temptations are (what distracts you from the goal and makes you waste time). Make a list. Put these temptations out of your reach: put your phone on airplane mode when you’re studying, install software that blocks Internet access at certain times of the day…

Don’t allow your needs to reach a certain limit, if you need to play a game before starting to study do it, The point is that your work is not interrupted because suddenly you can’t take it anymore and you have to play.

Add disincentives to your temptations to make them repellent, if for example you prefer to stay at home dozing rather than go to the gym then commit to a friend to send them a photograph of your soaked t-shirt after the training session or else pay them an agreed sum .

Use your attention to your advantage

Learn to manage distractions, neutralizing its effects on your will. To do this you can use your attention:

Imagine catastrophic consequences if you give free rein to your temptations, the more vividly you imagine the disaster the more repellent it will become and the easier it will be for you to evade them. This is called covert awareness. If, for example, you are thinking about quitting smoking, you can imagine your family crying inconsolably around your coffin in the funeral home. Yes, it is very extreme, but the point is that it helps you achieve what you want.

When a temptation appears, focus on the most abstract aspects. It is more likely to fall for a burger with juicy meat, melted cheese and crusty bread than if you look at its more abstract attributes such as its shape, the weight you think it may have, etc.

Eliminate, especially in your workplace, any incitement that is an alternative to distraction and replace these incitements with messages loaded with meaning for you, that link you with your values ​​or with the reason for which you work. A photo of your family or the next vacation destination you want to go to can be good examples.

Separate the place where you work as much as possible from the place where you do your leisure activities. If, for example, you don’t have two computers, at least create two profiles with different wallpapers, that will give the signal to your brain “time to work” or “time to play.”

Set specific goals

This is the ultimate weapon against procrastination. Define your objectives concretely, knowing precisely what you should do? and when?

Fragment long-term goals into short-term goals. If you have to study a human anatomy manual, start with the chapter that motivates you the most, first one, then another… don’t see the goal as a whole, break it down into small objectives.

When it’s hard for you to start with a specific goal, propose something that will serve to “break the ice”, for example, if you intend to go to the gym but you’re terribly lazy, just propose to put on your tracksuit, put on your sneakers and go with the bag to the gym door, nothing more. Once there you can turn around, but when you have taken the step of leaving the house everything will be downhill.

Organize your goals in the form of routines that are carried out regularly, always at the same time and place, so habit and familiarity with the space will work in your favor.

Conclusion

Procrastination is a complex phenomenon Because there are many factors involved, we are constantly immersed in an internal struggle between desire and duty and sometimes we sabotage ourselves. “Know your enemy”, know how procrastination works and the ways to overcome it and this will help you achieve your goals.

Don’t leave it for tomorrow, put these tips into practice today.