Procrastinator November 22, 2006
Posted by The Probabilist in : [Articles], Creativity, Goals, Music, Personal Growth, Productivity, Quotes, Beliefs, Responsibility, Words, Work , add a comment
I’ve labeled procrastinator as the ugliest word in English I know. It not only sounds very repulsive when it is said out loud, but its meaning also resonates downright negativity when I think about it. In case this word is still unfamiliar to you, it simply describes a person who postpones taking action or depending on the task might never go for it. Procrastination as a noun therefore describes the state of mind that can lure you into not doing something that you might later regret.
The way I see procrastination is that it can be separated in two ways. One way is to distinguish between ordinary tasks that you know you should be doing and choices that involve taking risks where the outcome of your final choice is uncertain at the moment. The other way is to separate tasks into short-term and long-term choices. When combined, most often the mundane routine tasks are there for your short-term relief and require physical effort on your part. Accordingly, the risk taking choices require much more time and mental effort on your part while these choices address your long-term needs. So let’s focus on the level of importance regarding both of these and how you can weaken your tendency to procrastinate.
The short-term tasks involve things like raking the leaves off your lawn before it gets covered with snow, cleaning your home or office space or fixing something that has broken. These three examples share different characteristics and therefore certain approaches work better than others.
One way to get you started is to make the task itself more enjoyable. In all of these cases I’d get my mp3-player and listen to music or personal development audio to multi-task and get more out of the otherwise dull task. Alternatively give yourself a treat when you’ve (partially) completed a specific task as a reward and look forward to it while you labor. You might for instance decide to deny yourself from listening to music while idling or doing something you like in order to look forward to any given must-do task. This approach works extremely well when the task is without a known deadline, as in the case of raking leaves.
When it comes to tasks like cleaning you need to be more systematic. Decide upon a frequency of how often you should be cleaning your apartment and schedule it. Use the advices above also in this case and remind yourself about the benefits of doing what you do. If the task is a very large project then only schedule 30 minutes to do things you can do right now. The hard part is always to get started, but once you get going you’ll see the effort getting easier and easier.
In the case of fixing something that needs repair focus on the downside you experience now that you can’t use it. Maybe it’s something you can live perfectly without. Sometimes a good approach to overcome procrastination is to simply lessen the amount of tasks that you need to do. Evaluate if you really need that car or if it’s better for your wallet and health to do without it in the long run while eliminating the tasks it requires. If you really do need something in your everyday life, then procrastination simply won’t stand in your way. But if you do procrastinate about something, then maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something.
Then there’s the question of long-term choices that require deeper thinking. This is where most people procrastinate the most. However, I personally hold tasks in this category in much higher respect than the routine tasks. There’s a simple reason to it. These choices have the power to completely eliminate most of the short-term tasks in everyday life. Read this book and you will see how.
The biggest reason one might procrastinate in this field is the fear of making mistakes. Starting a company or investing in something are great examples. Most people are so deeply rooted with the “play it safe” mentality that their minds simply can’t see another choice in their life than being average and living the standard American dream. As a great quote by Henry Ford goes “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.”
For me making these long-term, big picture choices have always been easy and most of all, downright fun to be part of. It’s my procrastination on small tasks that have occasionally driven my parents crazy. That’s why this article also focused more on how to overcome procrastination in such tasks. The object is to find a natural and working balance in time management between small, immediate tasks and big, long-term tasks for optimal personal growth.
My point here is not to successfully overcome procrastination to 100 % as this would lead to recklessness. The point is that when you feel you’re putting something off, listen and think to yourself why exactly you’re feeling this way. Maybe there’s a reason why a certain task feels insurmountable. It’s telling you that you need to grow. You need to either face the task or re-evaluate its significance for you in a long or short-term perspective. Other great sources in combination with overcoming procrastination are the past four articles I’ve written. What is it that really matters to you and to what degree? A garden and house that looks perfect or your personal growth in health, wealth, happiness and passion in the long run?
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