Conquering Fear of Procrastination

 

Dragging one's feet

Why do we procrastinate? Why do we put ourselves through the idea of prolonging to do important tasks or goals in life even in some cases to the last minute. I know I've suffered from this and many who read this can agree they have done the same. We may actually be doing this on purpose just to blame the action at hand instead of ourselves and this refers to self-handicapping. 

Self-Handicapping 

Have you ever had an important task coming up and right before you decided to do something else causing detriment to that assignment? Perfect example would be you have an exam tomorrow and instead decide it would be more fun to play video games. This concept describes the action of creating an artificial handicap so that the given task is not indicative of one's ability. Basically a person will create a strategy to avoid effort in hopes that any potential failure will not hurt their self-esteem.  In a nutshell, rather than you admitting your lack of ability it is just easier to blame the handicap. 

We sometimes don't realize that we consciously tied our self'-worth to the task at hand. That fear then drives us to avoid the task. It is easier to fail then to avoid the possible consequence of failure. The way we could be looking at failure is a learning experience. Those experiences whether positive or negative start to shape our core beliefs. 

Here's a great video to summarize by Ted-Ed

Changing our Core Beliefs 

Our beliefs also have an effect on procrastination. The core beliefs that shape us influence human behaviour which then guides us towards our goals, motivates us and defines who we are. However, beliefs can have negative consequences. For example, if an individual believes that to be good at a particular sport they will sometimes think that its based on talent and speed. If we feel that we lack the speed and talent then we won't have the motivation to improve ourselves at that sport.

On the flip side, having the belief that you worked hard to improve your ability to do important tasks or life goals will have a positive effect on how we prolong things. The idea of growth and constant improvement starts to then take root causing laziness to be a non-factor. Don't get me wrong we do prolong our goals to help deal with stress. It helps to soothe our stress by doing something fun or relaxing. However this really just distracts us momentarily from the job. So how do we avoid these distractions, with self-awareness.

Keys to self-awareness 

• Just admit it: Admit to yourself that you are procrastinating. Be in full awareness that what you are you doing is distracting from your ultimate goal. Be kind and forgive yourself. Once you identify this you can start to move forward.
• Deconstruct: Recognize that the stress will be there, take a deep breath and then get through the task in bite size pieces. We tend to look at the end goal and getting there as fast as possible whereas it is just better to digest each micro goal. We do not eat a four course dinner in five minutes, we instead take in one bite at a time.
• Find your motive: Understand why you need to do what needs to be done. If you have a strong why or motive then how you accomplish that goal will be much easier. You will figure out how to reach that milestone once you realize that the reason you want to achieve it is strong enough in you.
• Accountability: Get yourself an accountability partner. Find someone that you trust to help motivate you and stay close to your goals. Once you start to stray off path then that person can be there to recognize when you distract yourself from your goals and keep you on track. Anyone can be an accountability partner whether it be a friend, spouse or close family member. If none of those kinds of people are available then you can always hire a mentor.
• Find your priority: Remove all distractions in order to achieve those goals. Understand what your priority is and focus all your attention on it. Perfect example is where I heard about many famous athletes who sacrificed spending time with friends and family to focus practicing on their sporting skills. If you know what your priority is then its smoother sailing.
• Focus, rest, repeat: Focus on what needs to get done but remember to take a break. Your brain and body cannot center on doing a task for hours on end without resting. Take the time to rejuvenate.

We as human beings are not perfect. Our minds are hard wired to do very complicated tasks but are also easily distracted. The mind trap of procrastination can take hold of us with great fear and put a challenge on our self-esteem. Prolonging our goals can happen from time to time but only if we allow it to conquer our priorities. Embrace the fear and then prevail.

Recommended reading: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran 

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