Stop procrastination! While it may be good advice it generally won’t help you stop procrastinating for long, if at all. Overcoming procrastination is something you’ll have to work at. No, the problem won’t go way by itself because if you’re reading this you know procrastination is a habit with you.
For your friends to tell you to stop procrastination they have no clue that if you could, you really would stop. I’ve been a procrastinator all of my life and it’s caused me many different problems. Everything you can think of from job, to home life, to maintenance to even shaving. I hate shaving but my girls frined wants me to stop my procrastination and shave every day.
While I haven’t entirely stopped procrastinating I do have it under much better control. I created priorities for myself to help me to stop procrastination. I do the hardest tasks first and save the easy stuff for last. I do the big things first and the little things last. The only exception is where procrastinating on a little thing will make it a big, expensive thing.
I know for me making lists of my priorities for the day went a long ways in solving my problem of waiting to the last minute. I also cross off each item on the list when I complete that item. If you get to cross something off your list it makes you feel good and also that you are making progress toward meeting all of your goals for the day. If you don’t cross off the completed jobs you don’t get the good feelings so be sure to make your priority list for the day and cross off the items ads you complete them. That good feeling you get is what helps you stop procrastination.
I used to get very discouraged thinking about everything I had to do everyday so rather than work at what I should have been doing I messed around with stuff that looked like work but wasn’t. It was simply a way of looking busy and nothing at all to do with stopping procrastination. Just because you look busy doesn’t mean you are accomplishing anything. BTW, reading your email more than once every couple of hours can be considered procrastination if it keeps you from completing your priorities.
The one area where I need to stop procrastination the most is when I drive. I hate to stop and get gas so I always go way past when I should fill up. Many times I’ve held my breath waiting for the next exit to have a gas station. A couple of times I’ve run out pulling up to the pumps. Thankfully I haven’t been stranded for a long time but if I don’t quit it will happen again.
Not liking to do something is one of the biggest reasons there is for being a procrastinator. I also tend to leave at the last possible minute when I have to drive to appointments. If nothing goes wrong I’ll be there on time but if there’s more than a few minutes delay I’m going to be late. Evidently I think my time is really valuable and I don’t want to waste it setting somewhere waiting for someone. It’s another of the areas where, if I could stop procrastination, I’d be a little less stressed.
The good thing is I don’t really have any procrastination issues with anything else. When others are traveling with me I don’t let gas get so low, when it’s someone else’s appointment I leave so they will be on time with a built in bit of extra time. Obviously if I can do it for others I should be able to overcome my procrastination and do it for myself.
Stop Procrastination Tips
Staying focused on one task at a time can go a very long way to stop procrastination. Overcoming procrastination should be your goal, and, much like me, you’ll probably get real good at not procrastinating over most things but there may always be a couple that you just can’t seem to stop. Don’t worry about being perfect, perfectionism is another reason for procrastination. I’ve learned that the task is finished when it’s good enough to do the job it must do for the amount of time it must do it. Maybe it’s not as nice as you’d like but as long as it does the job it’s good. Anything after that is just you procrastinating because you know it won’t ever be perfect. That’s an easy area to stop procrastination.
There’s a great article at WebMD that can explain it more if you want to go read it. It’s at this never to late to stop procrastination link.
There are millions of reasons people can think of for their procrastination but there is one excellent reason to stop procrastination right now. You will feel much better than you have in a long time. You’ll be so much less stressed and so much calmer people will probably remark to you about the change. Your confidence and intellegence will show through when you stop avoiding and delaying all the things you don’t like or want to do. You are a strong, intelligent person so you can do it.
I know it’s hard but think of the benefits to you, your future and to your family. When you stop procrastination you are well on the way to becoming the best you that you can be.
