In this post, I have merged 2 articles together as they hit on the same point. One is by Peter Murphy a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report that reveals how to crush procrastination and sustain lasting motivation. He says that curing procrastination is not necessarily about will power or forcefully advancing in your goals but rather it is about learning why we procrastinate, what we are afraid of and finding ways to face those fears in order to move forward in our lives. The second one is by Flora Brown.
??Why do We Procrastinate??
Reasons that Cause Us to Put Off Tasks
For many, procrastination is a nuisance, but for some it is a chronic problem. The results of procrastination are always the same: lost opportunity, frustration, increased stress, poor job or academic performance, lower self-esteem and, of course, wasted time. Procrastination is more than just poor time management. Few people have trouble getting things done that are fun or easy. We usually procrastinate with projects that are difficult, frightening, complex, or distasteful. In some cases we put off these tasks so long that they never get done.
There are several reasons or causes of procrastination:
There are several reasons or causes of procrastination:
1. Fear of failure.. The fear of failure is by far the most obvious fear which can cause disabling procrastination. The anxiety that sets in at the onset of a project causes some people to put off getting started. The discomfort is heightened when you feel incompetent or not up to the task. Some worry so much about producing a perfect product that they wait until every drop of research has been done or every avenue explored. Others engage in elaborate preparatory or avoidance activities before beginning a task, such as deciding that all the dishes must be washed and put away before you start your paper.
If the fear of failure is causing you to put off a task, then what you need to do is sit down and think carefully about all of the possible outcomes if indeed you fail. Actually, first consider what does it mean to fail? If you cannot answer this question then you have nothing to fear and your task of curing procrastination if finished.
If you can certainly imagine failing in the given task then consider for a minute what is the worst possible consequence of failing. Make peace with this, accept it and you have nothing more to fear.
The Samurai of early Japan taught themselves to make peace with the fact that they could die at any time. By doing this, they eliminated almost all other fears – because, of course, what could be worse than that. They certainly learned the trick to curing procrastination.
2. Fear of success. If you think that maybe your procrastination is being caused by your fear of success then curing procrastination becomes all that much easier.
Why Are You Afraid Of Success?
Chances are you want success but you fear that you will not be able to live up to the responsibilities of success and everything it brings. Or maybe, you are aware that success will bring negative consequences in addition to positive things. If you are to succeed in curing procrastination then you must come to terms with what to expect with success and weigh the good versus the bad.
If the undesired results outweigh the bad then just decide not to do the project at all and you have just succeed in one thing ...... curing procrastination. You see if you remove a task from your plate then there is no longer anything to procrastinate about.
Curing procrastination is not impossible and it is within everyone's reach. It is really a mind game. In summary, curing procrastination is possible when you face your fears head on & eliminate them with an understanding of why you are afraid.
3. Overestimating the time left to complete a task. When your teacher assigns a research project the first week of school do you begin on it right away or wait for 15 weeks until it is due? Many students see that long semester stretching ahead of them fail to take into account the other homework and life tasks they must manage during the semester.
4. Understimating the time required to complete tasks. Many students don’t have a realistic concept of how much time it will take to look up sources, take notes, extract the information and formulate a paper. When they run into snags and time delays, they often feel the universe is working against them. People with a poor concept of time also think they can drive a 30 minute trip in 10 minutes.
5. Believing you must be in the mood to do a task. Delaying the start of a task until you are in the mood is common. However, when you get started on a task well ahead of the deadline, your mood brightens and self-esteem increases.
6. Over-reliance on time-saving modern technology. If you've ever seen a procrastinator kick and scream at a copy machine or printer that's moving slower than they wish, you are witnessing this cause.
Join me next week as we go over the last part of procrastination. "Procrastination, the Cure". Until then, remember to Decide-Act-Change, to change your state of life as you change your state of mind.
