Part I. Understanding procrastination and finding solutions to overcome it (2)
(Continued from previous post)
The behaviour of procrastinators who display reactions similar to the four stated earlier is elicited by external factors. It is in response to orders, demands or expectations of other people that the person has a problem accepting. Then there are the more complicated triggers that are associated with a person’s internal conflicts. The procrastination set off by these triggers upset someone’s own dreams of personal achievement by stalling their own plan of action. Starting or finishing a project that has nothing to do with others’ expectations or demands becomes the hostage of this behaviour, which keeps the fulfilment of goals farther and farther away. These triggers born of internal conflicts are harder to override because the opposing reactions to the desires take place within the same sphere.
Internally directed triggers
5. Lack of focus – Having too many things to do at once
- Reaction: Where do I start? How am I going to finish all this?
- Reason: When people get tangled in more than one project at a time, as in multi-tasking, they lose their focus and concentration on what needs to be done. Soon they become frustrated with the effort needed to keep pace and meet deadlines, and their survival instinct kicks in. They procrastinate to keep breathing. A procrastinator may also lack focus if she has not sorted out what has priority in her life. If she has no grasp on what exactly she wants, she will lack the focus needed to plan and take action towards achieving what’s most important for her. She will jump from one goal to another, testing them out and leaving them all incomplete.
- Solution: Decide on one top-priority goal, focus on it till it’s completed, and only then take on another project. To choose your top-priority goal, concentrate on your most cherished wishes and dreams—not on others’ suggestions or advice. Choose the one that you intuitively know is the right one at present and you feel passionate about.
6. Lack of time management – >Not knowing how to use time efficiently
- Reaction: I can’t find the time to do all I want to do. I’m always too busy to enjoy myself!
- Reason: People who react this way don’t have a good sense of the time they spend on stuff during the day or lack the ability to asses the time requirements of the things they have to do. They don’t realize how much time they waste on unimportant stuff that has nothing to do with the task at hand. They also misjudge how long they need to work to complete each task and pile up too many things to accomplish in a single day, a week or a month.
- Solution: Keep a log of what you do during the day to see where all the hours go. Next decide on a chunk of hours that you can dedicate daily to the task at hand. Allow ample time—more than you think you need— maybe days or weeks—to finish each task, always remembering to squeeze in a few hours of fun and relaxation each day. Don’t wait to finish the project or task to enjoy yourself; your project will then become a burden at best and a punishment at worst.
7. Lack of motivation – Not feeling committed to do the thing
- Reaction: I don’t have the motivation to do it anymore. I want to do it, I know I have to do it, but I’ve lost the enthusiasm for doing it.
- Reason: When people lack the deep emotional attachment they once had to a goal, they procrastinate on achieving it. It could be triggered by years of neglect, of pushing it to the back-burner, or some emotional issue that they aren’t prepared to face. For someone to lose the drive to have the thing they dreamed of for so long, some emotional scarring must have taken place. To compensate, they tell themselves that the goal was not as important or necessary as they thought it was, or that it wasn’t something that they should be doing, at least not now.
- Solution: Try to remember why it was important for you to accomplish that goal. What did that goal mean for you? How would achieving that goal change how you feel about yourself? Would it boost your self-esteem? If after answering these questions you still don’t feel the necessity for achieving that goal, then forget about it and move on. But if you feel a sparkle of passion for it, make some arrangement in your life to pursue it.
8. Overwhelm – Perceiving the task to be too big
- Reaction: It’s so overwhelming I can’t even assume to know what to do, let alone seeing end to it.
- Reason: People who take on a project more complicated than their usual ones, they feel out of their comfort zone and, therefore, continuously delay taking action it. Although it is something important that they have decided to do, they are overwhelmed by the enormity of the project. They fear the pressures of the task and the hard work it demands of them.
- Solution: Disregard the enormity or unfamiliarity of the project. Sketch out your plan of action, factoring in any research or study you have to do to do the job, then proceed step by step, taking small bites at a time.
9. Uncertainty – Lack of information and uncertainty about how to proceed
- Reaction: I don’t know how it’s done! It’s too complicated for me.
- Reason: People hesitate and, therefore, procrastinate, when they look at a task and feel at a loss. Their profound uncertainty hinders them from taking action for they have no clue how to start and how to finish the task. They are either suffering from lack of information or they have no process to tackle the task.
- Solution: First ask for help to clarify the task and to understand what are the best ways of doing it. If you don’t have an adviser, the internet is full of helpful information. Next divide the task into parts and organize it into a step by step process. This should demystify the task and give you more self-confidence.
10. Lack of confidence – Low self-esteem
- Reaction: I can’t do that! How am I going to pull it off? I’ll most probably skrew it up.
- Reason: People with low levels of confidence in their own capabilities, skills and experience feel hesitant to embark on a project of a slightly complicated nature, fearing that they won’t be able to see it through successfully. They fear disappointing themselves and/or others and therefore procrastinate on taking any steps. They fear criticism or even ridicule—their low self-esteem tells them that they will be slammed and not praised for their work.
- Solution: Remember the successes you’ve had in the past and list them from the largest to the smallest. Realize that it’s not a given that every one of your attempts will invariably fail. Obviously some, however small, have been successful. Set a very small goal to accomplish—one that doesn’t take that long and isn’t that difficult—to boost your confidence in your ability to succeed. Then gradually increase the time and work demanded by a few successive projects, until you reach a level of self-confidence that you can fearlessly tackle the initial project you wanted to do.
11. Limiting beliefs – Believing that you’re not good enough
- Reaction: I’m not educated enough, skilled enough, knowledgable enough to make it. I don’t even belong to the group, the nationality, the social class that gets the encouragement and help to succeed.
- Reason: Having been told by older or authority figures at an impressionable age that they are not as good as others in some field of interest, people develop limiting beliefs about their capabilities. This leads them to shy away from starting a challenging project, or if they have already started it, they procrastinate on finishing it.
- Solution: Analyze the source of that belief about your inadequacy and see how reliable that source is. Do you still trust that source and accept that belief to be true in your present situation? Does your reality match that limiting belief? Most probably it does not and that belief is a relic from the past that you can toss out.
12. Fear of failure – Fearing that you will fail and be humiliated
- Reaction: I’m afraid of failing—I’ll be humiliated if I did. I’d rather not even attempt it than be criticized by people I respect.
- Reason: When the fear of criticism or coming short of even one’s own expectations gets a hold on a person, that person will procrastinate and never start or finish a project to avoid being a failure. Most procrastinators fear criticism so much that they use delaying tactics in hopes of delaying the criticism they fear they will get once their work is complete.
- Solution: Tell yourself why you’re so convinced that you’ll fail. List how many times you have failed out of all the times you’ve done what you’re hesitant to do now. All? A few? None? Most probably it’s none. You haven’t tried doing it yet and have no way of knowing that you’ll fail. It’s an irrational fear that has stayed with you so long that you’ve come to believe it. Just realizing that it is so will help you get rid of it.
Next Post: Internally directed triggers of procrastination – Some more about Fear, perfectionism, internal conflict.
