How To Stop Procrastinating? 7 Tips To Eliminate Procrastination
Can’t you stop procrastinating your tasks? Do you consider yourself a procrastinator? Discover the consequences of procrastination and how to stop procrastinating to achieve success.
When a person tends to procrastination, it is very likely that this type of attitude will end up harming different areas of your life. Although procrastinating is something we all do in one situation or another, when someone is a procrastinator this can affect their mental health. That is why it is important to know what it means to procrastinate and all the effects that procrastination has.
The Ddefinition of procrastinating in the RAE is “to defer or postpone”In psychology, the meaning of procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing tasks until the last minute after a deadline. In this way, procrastinators are characterized by a failure in self-regulation characterized mainly by the irrational delay of tasks, although this has more than negative consequences.
According to research, there are differences between those who do not tend to to procrastinate and those who use procrastination repeatedly. The former have a much stronger personal identity and tend to be less concerned about what others think. On the other hand, a procrastinator is more likely to appear to have low self-esteem.
To procrastinate and its meaning is to postpone an activity or situation that one must attend to for more irrelevant or pleasant situations or activities. The activity that is postponed is usually associated with anxiety, difficulty or any type of discomfort (intellectual, physical, or psychological). What is left undone is seen as an overwhelming, challenging, difficult, tedious, boring, stressful task… With which the person self-justifies and postpones it for an idealized future.
Why is procrastination a problem?
Despite what many may believe, the procrastination It is not a psychological disorder, but a behavioral problem. All people procrastinate on some tasks, but once it becomes a bad habit, it will not only affect the management of everyday situations but can even harm our personal and professional development and prevent us from achieving very important life objectives or goals.
Are you a procrastinator? Find out in our test:
Main causes of procrastination
The reasons why procrastinate They are many and varied, although the most frequent ones that we usually deal with have to do with:
That they tend to see the task as a block for which they believe they need a lot of time if they want to do it very well (and not just in any way). Normally, a person who procrastinates They usually do not find the time and if they do have it, sometimes another perfectionism is activated that is no longer with the task but because they do not feel they have the best abilities. With the pace of life we ​​lead this will be almost impossible, as time goes by, starting that task will create more and more anxiety for me and instead of taking the task and dividing it into fractions that do not require so much effort, I will block myself. more and more and it will become a vicious circle.
2. Impulsive people
Impulsiveness, low tolerance for discomfort or tension, who prefer immediate gratification (something that makes me feel good now) and do not see the consequences that this will have in the medium or long term. It’s like I have a task (obligation) to do, I don’t feel like doing it, it makes me feel uncomfortable (tension) or I simply don’t like it, I decide to postpone it and do something else that I like more (for example the Internet, movies, reading, going out) or simply that it creates less tension or discomfort for me (it could be another household or professional task but it is not as urgent or important as the one I procrastinate )”.
3. Insecure people
Insecurity is also another reason why a person uses procrastination around their tasks. In this way, they tend to judge their abilities as insufficient to cope with some tasks, thus will postpone before starting to have time to think, read more about the topic, search for more information about it on the internet, ask questions, etc. Therefore, even if they have more information, they will continue to have doubts about themselves or about that task, and they will continue to procrastinate.
4. Excess control
When a procrastinate person In many of your responsibilities, sometimes this can be a symptom that you are an individual who needs to have everything that happens around you under your control. So much so that by losing that feeling of control they end up becoming demotivated in many of his tasks. These types of attitudes can be so harmful to the person that it is very likely that they will suffer from anxiety due to procrastination.
5. Goals too high
When a person sets objectives or goals that are too high, this can make them become demotivated very easily. In this way, someone procrastinator He has the characteristic of being too idealistic both in his abilities and in what he wants to do.
6. Intolerance of failure
The procrastinators They tend to postpone their tasks because they are afraid of failing. So much so that on many occasions, a procrastinator suffers from an intolerance to failure. This type of fear ends up preventing those who suffer from it from evolving towards what they really want in life.
A person’s lack of time management and poor discipline can make someone become a procrastinator In this way, to leave behind the act of procrastination, the person must practice motivation and discipline.
Usually procrastination, as a behavioral problem it has nothing to do with laziness, they are usually hard-working and active people, although they can be very self-demanding or in some cases “impulsive” (I want well-being now, here and now), but the problem is always “starting homework”. Solving it starts with finding out the causes and type of procrastination and based on this, making an appropriate personalized treatment.
Consequences of procrastination
Procrastinating has both short- and long-term consequences. Therefore, it is vital to try to stop being a procrastinator and re-motivate yourself to finish tasks on time. In this way, there are some consequences for being a procrastinating person
Missing great opportunities
Always leave everything to the last minute and not do things ‘tasks for today’ It can have havoc beyond the activity itself. So much so that on many occasions being a procrastinator it ends up with some great opportunities both personally and professionally.
Not meeting objectives
When a person spends his life procrastinating, in the end he ends up not achieving any of the objectives he has in mind. In this way, even though he wants to change himself, he never takes the step to do it. These types of attitudes can generate some anxiety in the procrastinator.
Low self-esteem
The procrastination It ends up being a vicious circle that affects a person’s self-esteem. This is because always postponing our goals or tasks ends up damaging our self-perception to such an extent that we can generate a bad image of ourselves. Therefore, when someone is a constant procrastinator he can suffer certain damage to his self-esteem.
make bad decisions
One of the worst effects of procrastination It’s constantly making bad decisions. When someone constantly procrastinates, he makes decisions that are based on criteria that are reasoned due to lack of time. Furthermore, people who cannot stop procrastinating end up being influenced by negative emotions, a fact that ends up pushing them to make decisions that are not useful in the long term.
Damages relationships and reputation
People who say they will do something and don’t do it end up being frowned upon by others. So much so that to procrastinate all the time it ends up making others not trust them.
These may be some of the consequences that the procrastinators In many cases, to get out of the procrastination loop, people may require a professional psychologist.
For stop procrastinating You require a lot of willpower and, above all, motivation since you are supposed to eliminate a bad habit. According to psychologists, we can change procrastination through the following tips.
1. Make lists
In order to organize our time and motivate ourselves to carry out each of the tasks we have in mind, we must try to make a list of what we have to do to reach our daily goal. As we complete one of the tasks written on the list, we can cross it off to motivate ourselves to do the next one.
2. Visualize small steps
One of the problems of people who tend to procrastinate is precisely that they always see the top and not the steps they must take to get there. Therefore, for stop procrastination On the other hand, these people must write and visualize the small steps they must take to reach their big goal. You can write them down to keep them in mind, this way you can see each step as a success.
3. Analyze negative thoughts
A procrastinator You may be greatly influenced by your negative thoughts. In order to stop them and leave procrastination behind, he must analyze those ideas that hold him back and try to reason them.
4. Leave some time to rest
Sometimes the procrastinators They tend not to leave time for themselves. In this way, by not seeing a break, they can become demotivated from the moment they have to start. Therefore, in order to put aside these types of attitudes, we can try to stop from time to time to take a break.
5. Get started
Many people who spend their lives procrastinating They tend to overanalyze everything they do. Sometimes it is better to take action and stop worrying about what will happen. So much so that when you start an activity you will feel more motivated and have more ideas about it.
6. Keep the end goal in mind
In order to have a positive attitude around the tasks or activities you must do, it is essential that you have in mind the final goal that you so desire. This will make you recharge all your batteries and be motivated to continue working on it.
7. Give it a meaning
Everything you do must have meaning for you. Therefore, sometimes procrastinating is related to the little meaning or value that it has for you. In this way, before embarking on a big project, keep in mind if it is really what you want for yourself. Self-knowledge and procrastination They have a very close relationship.
As you have been able to observe to procrastinate It can have many consequences in your life. So much so that to achieve success in your life you must work to eliminate it. In many cases you can use the help of a professional psychologist to achieve this. Stopping procrastinating is only in your hands.
