As a successful student or a brilliant business person; or whatever you are, we all need to beat procrastination to achieve our goals in a timely fashion.
Procrastination; it’s a problem I have surely and sorrowfully suffered with. From scrolling through social media to doodling in my book, it is a habit that’s hard to break. To rid yourself of the habit involves an immense amount of willpower and perseverance. In this brief article, we will discuss how to cultivate the strength necessary to break free from the chains of procrastination; optimising your time and improving your lifestyle.
Laziness and procrastination often go hand in hand. This is because it’s easy to procrastinate; it takes no effort. A lack of self-control and willpower can also aid procrastination and create a lack of effectiveness or productivity. As a successful student or a brilliant business person; or whatever you are, we all need to beat procrastination to achieve our goals in a timely fashion. So, how do we overcome this laziness? One way, is to allow yourself to go off-track, but for small increments of time. This can actually, in a way, make you more productive as you are giving yourself necessary breaks (we can’t give our 100% concentration all day, after all). This method can also allow you to cut back on your procrastination, weening yourself off the habitual craving to stray from your task. Eventually, with practice and implementation, you can break your procrastination time into smaller segments, until it is minimal and manageable.
Another key part of procrastination is avoidance. People often procrastinate to avoid doing something or to distract themselves. Divided attention, let alone, diversion of attention isn’t good for business or a healthy lifestyle. So how do we stop avoiding something? We should make immediate consequences or punishments for our avoidance. For example, if I’m avoiding writing an essay for university, I should deny myself that chocolate cake I’ve been looking forward to all week until I’ve finished the essay. This method of punishment also rewards you once you have stopped procrastinating: you finish your tasks and are rewarded with something you look forward to afterward.
So in summary, your options to break the habit of procrastination are segmentation of time and the award of punishments or rewards. Remember to be kind to yourself in your journey against this habit!
Heart Over Head 