We all know the lack of time, don’t we? Who among us hasn’t been burned by burning deadlines? Did you complain that there are only 24 hours in a day? Have you slowed down in your business?
Procrastination, or the tendency to postpone things for later, is more or less inherent in everyone. When it becomes a habit, financial situation, career, relationships and even health suffer.
Overestimation of one’s own strength and an unplanned day is something that happens to everyone and can be explained. But when there are few things to do, and time is treacherously slipping through your fingers, it’s time to sound the alarm. A state of psychological stagnation, when decision-making and the fulfillment of (even important) tasks are constantly postponed.
As a result, the pace of work and productivity in general decreases. We don’t even realize that we are in such a situation. We try and justify ourselves with a lack of time, refusing to realize the seriousness of the problem. Today we will talk about the causes of this painful phenomenon and about a non-standard way out of the situation.
#1.The first reason: you don’t like what you do. Have you slowed down in your business?
Listen carefully to yourself: do you have a favorite job? A desirable activity?
Sometimes we have to do unloved things. If the situation turns from forced and temporary into routine and long-term, it’s time to think about changes. What is not interesting will never become paramount for us. Our subconscious mind will resist, and the thing is to move slowly, no matter what deadlines we are threatened with.
The subconscious is a tricky thing. And if everything is quite simple with an unloved job. It is much more difficult to recognize a case that is not exactly disliked but also does not cause much delight. You need to change the vector of your movement.
#2. The second reason: you don’t see the goal
Lack of motivation is a reason that awaits even those who are engaged in their favorite business. It can be a deceptive time when it seems that everything is said and done for you. And also a situation when a favorite job captures all spheres of life, there is no strength left, no desire to move on – emotional burnout sets in. Work slows down important and unimportant things are postponed, and the slightest progress is given by willpower. You just don’t want to use it.
#3. The third reason is that you missed the inspiration. Have you slowed down in your business?
And sometimes everything is fine with what you love, and there is motivation. But there is no inspiration! Participation in a prestigious project is coming soon, and this is an increase in salary and self-esteem, and progress is not planned. It’s worth it! We urgently need a burst of creative energy, non-standard solutions, and ideas. What to do? Where to get it?
Creating Inspiration. Have you slowed down in your business?
Love for work, set goals and inspiration are our inner strength. And the loss of at least one of the components of success reduces the energy potential and effectiveness. If motivation and inspiration have temporarily changed you, find them from another, more incendiary resource. Set new tasks for yourself; there should always be a change of impressions, creativity, and passion in your life. If you feel that you are slowing down, expand the boundaries of activity.
It is very dangerous to build a workspace around one, even if it is your favorite thing. With the first crisis, you risk falling into procrastination and finding yourself in a mode of energy deficit, including creativity. Therefore, do not be afraid to try yourself for strength in different spheres of life. Let your parallel hobbies and work become a source of life-giving energy. With the emergence of new interests, you will look at yourself in a different way.
If the work does not bring pleasure at all, it is worth thinking about measures and changing the vector of application of your forces. But change does not come quickly, and sometimes we have to put up with the situation for a while.
And in this case, new tasks and classes are what you need. They will breathe life into you right now and give you the strength not only to accomplish the new but also to complete the old with dignity. Plunge into an unfamiliar field of activity. Plan your first blog, start writing your first book, and go on your first hike.
It’s not about doing several things at the same time, but about alternating. At the same time, their sequence and duration are regulated only by you: your mood, needs, energy and creative fuse.
Discover new facets and talents in yourself, hurry to get carried away, fall in love with the unknown, and conquer the next peaks. And then you are not afraid of any procrastination.
Types of procrastination. Have you slowed down in your business?
Household procrastination is the habit of delaying everyday tasks that can easily be postponed until tomorrow. For example, cleaning the room or sorting seasonal things in the closet.
Neurotic procrastination — manifests itself in increased anxiety, which acts as the background of life, in constant fear of change.
Academic procrastination — concerns exclusively educational and work tasks, or rather, the habit of postponing them until the last moment.
Procrastination in decision—making is the inability to make a choice and stop at one option, even when everything is thought out to the smallest detail.
Compulsive procrastination is a combination of indecision and the habit of stalling, which manifests itself in all spheres of life.
Can procrastination be useful? Have you slowed down in your business?
A procrastinator is a person who feels stressed by an important task and seeks to avoid failure by delaying the moment when it is necessary to get involved in work. Like everything in our body, this behavior exists because it has a certain meaning and even benefits. Putting things off in a state of stress to calm down and reboot is not the worst solution. This is how we protect ourselves from mistakes that we could have made, and take a restorative pause.
At the same time, psychological defenses have one property: when they become excessive, they no longer help, but lead to life failures, as for procrastination. Therefore, you should not blame yourself for any attempt to distract yourself from business — a short break is only good and helps to unload the brain. It’s all about the measure.
Methods of combating
procrastination. Have you slowed down in your business.
If breaks take longer than the work itself, and solving any issues at the last moment has become a habit, it’s time to look for effective ways to combat procrastination. Alas, there is no universal recipe — for serious changes, you will have to introduce several techniques into your life at once. Move gradually, without super expectations from yourself — and everything will work out.
#1. Deal with life priorities
Determine what you really want and what you are doing everyday things for. You can write out a list of priorities and goals, sorting them in order of decreasing importance (the first in the list are the most important).
Fighting procrastination is much easier if you understand why you need to do it. Often we postpone things only because we feel duty and do not notice what benefits the task can bring.
#2. Set simple goals
Give up global tasks. For example, such as learning a new language in a year or pumping up muscles to the state of a fitness model. Instead, set smaller goals for yourself for a month or a week, for a day. Be sure to specify each goal.
#3. Use the 15 minute rule
If, at the beginning of some business, you immediately want to distract yourself with more interesting things, agree with yourself to do what you need to do for at least 15 minutes. Then, if there is a desire, you can switch to something else or continue working if it attracts you.
This rule is based on a psychological effect — it is important to overcome the first resistance, which triggers procrastination. After 15 minutes, you will get involved in the work, and if not, at least do something to solve the problem. A timer or an alarm clock will help to control those 15 minutes.
#4. Remove all unnecessary
The downside of procrastination is the constant workload of cases: numerous and diverse. Think about whether all of them are important and whether it is possible to refuse unnecessary obligations. A whole bunch of different activities can reduce the stress of failure in one of them. But still, this is a bad decision — you will spray energy instead of concentrating it on the main thing.
#5. Allocate time and effort
Learn how to plan your work and properly distribute your efforts. Make a clear schedule for completing tasks and stick to it day in and day out — this is the main thing you should know about how to cope with procrastination. If you need to prepare for the exam, write down on what day and at what time you will take certain questions.
Any large project consists of solving small tasks — let there be time in your schedule for each of them. When determining this time, sort the cases into really urgent ones and those that can wait.
#6. Alternate activities
Monotonous and boring things often cause a desire to switch, but it doesn’t matter. Switch from mental work to physical work to get less tired. For example, you spend half an hour solving math equations, and the next half hour sweeping the floor in the room and dusting. As a result, two things will be done at once without irritation and boredom.
#7. Motivate and encourage yourself
It’s hard to figure out how to get rid of procrastination without a reward system. Note how close you are to the goal by completing the next task, be sure to praise yourself and enter a reward system. For example, plan where you will go after the next stage of work or which movie you will watch in the evening. Strive to work without distractions, and relax — without thoughts about business and feelings of guilt.
#8. Don’t blame yourself for failures
The most harmful advice for those who are looking for a way to overcome procrastination is to introduce penalties for schedule disruption or deviation from the goal. Firstly, it will only increase the stress level, and secondly, it may be tempting to stop efforts altogether under the pretext that “nothing happened.”
Remember: no one is perfect and there are no people who always fulfill plans 100%. The question is not not to make mistakes at all, but to benefit from them for yourself and continue to move forward.
Remember that, even if very tiny, daily victories over yourself and your weaknesses will slowly but surely move you forward. It is not a miracle that will help you truly enjoy the fruits of your labors, but the understanding that you need to act not sometime later, but already today and now.
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