Do it Today!! Do it Now!!

I have a confession to make!!

I procrastinated on this very blog on ‘procrastination.’

I felt awful and miserable while procrastinating.  For me, later becomes tomorrow, and tomorrow never happens, and it worries me. Those who have procrastinated can relate with me and understand what I am saying!!

Do you procrastinate?? How do you feel when you keep things for later?

Well! It is not easy to accept a bad habit of yours publically!! But I have learned a life lesson through my experiences: ‘the more you own your flaws, the better you tackle them.’

Procrastination is a bad habit, which needs to be changed. Laziness and procrastination are not the same because laziness does not make you feel guilty or shameful. While procrastinating, one wants to do a task but is unable to do it.

Let me tell you what Procrastination really is!

Putting away or delaying the tasks until the last second can be called procrastination. It is a failure of our self-regulation and can end up with negative consequences. For example, a student who has the habit of procrastinating finds it challenging to complete the study portions. Many procrastinate because they use it as a stress buster. But, have you seen anybody enjoying it? Postponing tasks for later creates more workload, stress, guilt, and ineffectiveness.

Then why do we procrastinate?

According to my knowledge, procrastination gives gratification!! Like smoking a cigarette, consuming alcohol, abusing drugs, strolling through social media, binge-watching TV, oversleeping, overeating….etc., keeping tasks for later give us some kind of gratification for that moment.

 I found some reasons why I was procrastinating:

I can give hundreds of excuses for postponing my important tasks, especially writing and exercising. After self-reflecting, I came up with these 5 reasons why I did what I did.

1.       I was not prioritizing my tasks. I was a little confused about which work to commence with from my long to-do- list.

2.       I lacked self-motivation, and that kept me away from my goals. I needed to self-discipline and work on my physical health to keep focused.

3.       Being your own boss gives you enough freedom! With more freedom comes more confusion, demotivation, and the awful decision of procrastination.

4.       I was not utilizing the ‘time’ most beneficially. I lacked some time management skills and ended up doing most of the work without delegating some to others.

5.        I was anxious about ‘voxpopuli’-what do others think?? The urge to do things with perfection and the fear of criticism kept me procrastinating.

Some say it takes 30 days to form or change a habit, but there is no hard and fast rule about it. I am trying hard to alter my bad habit of procrastination. 

Here is how I am dealing with the habit of procrastination- One or all of the following will surely help you too!

‘Knowing the self’

Being focused and observing self-discipline is necessary to progress in life. Self-awareness and regulations are essential aspects in exploring life goals and how to focus on them. Giving attention to realistic and smaller goals with consistency can help in reducing procrastination and starting troubles. I have set my SMART goals to get started. 

‘Managing time efficiently’

Prioritizing the tasks into categories helps understand the important and urgent ones and unimportant and not urgent ones. Better efficiency is gained by fewer priorities. Steven R.Covey, through his book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, had popularized Eisenhower’s Time management matrix. This tool helps me focus on a specific task at any particular time. This also allows me do what is most crucial every day and reminds me that ‘Time never repeats.’

‘Ivy Lee method’

Ivy Lee method is very simple and about 100 years old, relevant, and efficient even today. Okay, let me explain the ivy lee method- Assign not more than six tasks to you (as priority wise) one day before. Start the first task the next day and complete it fully and then go for the second one. Finish as much as possible and if one or two jobs are left to finish, start the next day with those unfinished ones. You need to repeat it every day. I started with 3 tasks a day!!! And it’s working!!

‘Breaking into small tasks’

There is an old Oriental proverb that says: “A journey of thousand miles begins with one step.” That one step is the most difficult one, but you get over the misery of starting the journey as soon as you take it.  You can break your goliath task into small and start with the smallest one. Make yourself begin your task for at least 5 minutes.  Another way is the pomodoro technique– use your stopwatch, work for 25 minutes, and then take a break for 5 minutes.

‘Me time’

Keep away some part of daily/ weekly time for addressing the entire you: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, financial, and social you. Understand that relaxation is not equal to procrastination or vice versa. Understanding oneself and relaxation techniques help in managing stress. I find ‘me time’ very rejuvenating!

‘Rewards and punishments’

 You need to focus on improvement rather than perfection. For every small task, you complete, reward yourself. For example, after studying and completing one chapter, give yourself a small treat like a piece of chocolate or listen to your favourite music. Take care that the treat or reward does not eat up your time. Similarly, you can punish yourself if you keep away important tasks by not watching your favorite series or not touching your phone until you finish the task, etc.

 ‘Visual cues’

 Visual cues can be used to overcome procrastination by motivating and challenging to take action.  Use visual cues to trigger your habits, improve behaviours, and measure your progress. It can be a chart, a sticky note, a bullet journal, which encourages you to keep going. I keep a diary for updating my progress. 

‘Making your tasks more achievable is important because it helps maintain momentum and develops an attitude of productivity and effectiveness.’

James Clear, Atomic Habits

Procrastination acts as a barrier to doing the right things at the right time. It hinders your productivity by postponing the decisions and solutions to problems.

Let us accept the mantra ‘do it today and do it now.’ Let us do it together and keep a tab on the habit of procrastination.

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Written by Habeeba Waseem. Content Developer and Writer @mindsonfleek