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Procrastination: how can you tackle procrastination?
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We all procrastinate on a chore from time to time, but procrastination can also become chronic and have a serious impact on your life and health. Why do we postpone things? And how can you tackle and prevent procrastination?
Cause of procrastination
It is often mistakenly believed that procrastination is caused by an inability to manage your time effectively, a lack of willpower or laziness. Severe procrastination seems to be mainly related to difficulties coping with certain feelings. When people procrastinate, they often avoid tasks by focusing on things that make them feel good in the short term, such as watching videos on YouTube or scrolling through Facebook, while realizing that in the longer term they will have to do their own work. breaking windows. Some tasks are of course more annoying than others, but often there are deeper reasons for this behavior, related to emotions. It is possible that you are unable to start your assignment due to a lack of self-confidence, because you fear that you will not be able to do it.
Procrastination can be an unhealthy way to deal with negative feelings such as uncertainty, fear of failure, self-doubt and frustration. Your procrastination threatens to reinforce such feelings if you start to blame yourself, feel guilty, worry, etc. You can get into a negative spiral.
Procrastinators also tend to be perfectionists for whom it is psychologically more acceptable to not tackle a task than to not do it well. They may be so concerned about what others will think of them that they risk their future to avoid judgment.
Some procrastinators claim that they perform better under pressure, but research shows that this is usually not the case. For them it is more about the rush of euphoria they experience when they have accomplished something at the last minute.
The impact of procrastination
If it becomes a habit to put things off, it can have serious consequences on your life. It can hinder your career, make social contacts difficult, damage your relationship or lead to financial problems. For example, students who regularly procrastinate often get lower grades, while employees who procrastinate produce lower quality work.
Procrastination can also have physical consequences. On the one hand, by postponing exercise or doctor appointments, for example, but also indirectly, because serious procrastination is linked to anxiety and depression, chronic stress, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
Tackling procrastination
What can you do in the short term?
A good tip is to consider what your next action would be if you did start the task. This way you distract your thoughts from your feelings and focus on a simple action that you can easily perform. Once you have started, you will normally continue. Motivation seems to follow action and not the other way around. Divide your task into several smaller tasks. Try to shield yourself from typical things that distract you. For example, you can put your smartphone out of sight and hear or install an app that blocks the use of certain websites for a certain period of time. Focus on the benefits associated with completing an assignment, such as positive reactions from others and a boost to your self-esteem. For some, social pressure can help.
These are of course all tips to stop procrastinating now and take action. But as explained above, the cause of procrastination lies ‘deeper’ and you must try to untangle those deeper knots. In order not to get stuck in negative emotions, it is first of all important to forgive yourself and understand your own mistakes. Self-compassion can take a lot of pressure off. Mindfulness techniques can help you with this, because they teach you, among other things, to let go of negative feelings.
Sources:
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Last updated: October 2023
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2023-10-17 11:28:39
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