Procrastination. It is like a devil which stops you from having an opportunity, the devil which justifies that you have lots of time. It’s a cunning crook that gives you the laziness and Inertia of life.
You have a deadline approaching. You know you should be doing something rather than mindlessly checking your social media. This very bad habit puts away all the golden opportunities of life. But, how can we beat procrastination? What are the causes for it? Let’s look at the causes first:
- Laziness and the inertia of life
This is the most common cause for procrastination. The inertia of life is the tendency to keep doing whatever you’re doing when you should be doing something else.
- Sometimes, Overconfidence
Sometimes you think you have enough time to complete an assignment or a project. You feel you can complete anything overnight. But when the deadline approaches, you then realize you have been procrastinating all along and you totally get screwed.
I too had the inertia to start this blog. I was too lazy to think of any topics. But you see, the thing with inertia is that all it needs is a little push. When you overcome that threshold of laziness, Congratulations! You have overcome procrastination. The best way to get something done is to begin. Here are a few methods which I recommend to beat procrastination.
- Get up and get active
The modern sedentary lifestyle of people has made most of them lazy. They sit in front of their TV/laptop for hours and create the inertia in their body. This depletes all the motivation. The only way to get past laziness is by getting active. You can start with a 7 minute workout initially and gradually increase the intensity. The basis of 7 minute workout is that it makes people active in a short duration by using high intensity workout methods.
- Set goals for the day
Planning a to-do list for the day is a great way to overcome laziness. When you start planning out things, you will automatically get the motivation required. Use the momentum of the motivation for the entire day and be productive.
- Temptation bundling
This is something which was researched by Katerine Milkman. It involves combining tasks of pleasures and tasks which are not-so-interesting. Make a list of tasks which you’d love to do and another list of tasks which you do not like. Combine both the tasks to get increased motivation.
The most common temptation bundling which people unknowingly do is listening to their favorite music while going for a morning jog. If you hate going for a jog alone, combine it with your favorite music and you will get the motivation.
- Hang out with people who inspire you
If you had a chance to walk along with your favorite celebrity and had the opportunity to listen to their success stories, wouldn’t you be motivated by them? Your friends who inspire you might not be celebrities. But the same principles apply. Always be with someone who is better than you.
- Just do it
When it finally comes to you, start taking action. You may strategize, plan up a time table, think of the steps which you can take, but if you do not take action, nothing will happen. So, just do it.
After knowing how one can defeat procrastination, I’d like to add how it can be manipulated for the better. I have written a time management article which also gives a brief summary of the book, “Procrastinate on Purpose” written by Rory Vaden, a modern time management expert. Do check it out.
So, are you doing what you should really be doing ?
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