16 May 2022
When you procrastinate, you do whatever you can to unconsciously stop yourself doing what you are supposed to – why is that? We often leave things until the last minute and then have the added pressure of time being added to the difficulty of the thing that we have to do as well. Leaving things to the last minute may also then be too late and the outcome worse than if we had dealt with things earlier.
There are many ways of procrastinating, or putting off things that we don’t really want to do, whether it be simple things, like doing housework or running errands, or doing the bigger more complicated things that we never feel we have enough time for. We even procrastinate because we worry about not doing something as perfectly as we want, so decide that we are then not going to even try it!
Procrastination is not a conscious thing. It’s very easy to always find something else that you want to do, to help you avoid doing something that you need to do, because you consciously want to do it and unconsciously want to avoid doing the other thing. Unconsciously you may also be procrastinating on something until it is no longer relevant for you to do it anymore.
But it is always better to deal with something, than to not deal with it – to know about something than to not know about it. When you know what is coming, you can deal with it and be prepared. Sometimes, it is actually you who is purposely holding yourself back. A lot of people often do not really mind procrastinating, as much as looking to others though as if they are not procrastinating!
Even if you feel that a negative outcome is inevitable, you can actually often avoid it, or can deal with it better, if you know about it. But if you avoid dealing with it, you are effectively in denial, so what you fear will actually probably still happen and will also then seem to come as a shock to you, so you are more unprepared to deal with it, as well as you would done have if you had dealt with it before!
But usually we procrastinate because we are frozen with anxiety. We often get paralysed and suffer ‘analysis paralysis’, or ‘overthink’ it before we do something, so put it off. Sometimes we fear failure so much that we also amplify it, so we need to confront our own worst fear and, if it is fear of failure, reassure ourself that there will always be an alternative. Doing this will also increase your confidence.
But be careful not to waste your time and energy in life doing only the small things, so that you can put off doing the big things and thereby still effectively procrastinate. If you do this, you will just give yourself more chance to procrastinate over doing lots of little things, whereas if you have only one big thing to do, you cannot make lots of excuses, so then have to face up to the challenge.
Finally, do not say that you will do something later when you have more time, do it now if you can, as you may not have time later, so putting it off will therefore be only kicking the can down the line. Also, remember that today could be your last day on earth and so try to make the most of it. Remember, as lots of people say, none of us are getting out of this alive!
So, this week, try to identify the things that you are procrastinating over and start doing them then if you can, rather than leaving them to the last minute. You will be amazed at how much extra time you have and how much more relaxed you feel – and just imagine the pure relief that you will feel when you have finally done something that you know that you should have done!
🤔 Think Again 