What is this thing called procrastination? Procrastination is an automatic habit leading to a needless delay of a timely, relevant, priority activity until another day or time. In brief, you procrastinate when you habitually put off a timely activity with a deadline, or where needless delays can affect your health, happiness, effectiveness, relationships, sense of worth, or other important personal matters. This common human nemesis affects practically everyone, and some with such persistency that the procrastination process they experience substitutes for many potentially worthy accomplishments.
Procrastination is defined as the act of willfully delaying the doing of something that should be done, and in some people it is a habitual way of handling any task. While the word itself is not found in the Bible, we can find some principles to help guide us.
Procrastination is really nothing more than confined thinking. All you see is the tiny little box you are trapped in, and all you can think about is how to escape. But in reality, you are
already free. Free to work on your life's dreams, free to plan, free to achieve. The trick to
overcoming procrastination is to look to the horizon of your life (your dreams), travel there, and enjoy the journey along the way. Focus on that always, and procrastination fades away like an early morning fog.
Procrastination is a behavior that leads to stress, because it makes plans and wishes fail at what should be the point of fulfillment: theater tickets and vacation packages sell out before procrastinators get around to calling. Planes take off, deadlines pass, jobs go to other applicants--the ones who got their resumes in on time.
Procrastination is a very desirable outcome when your schedule feels too busy and your brain is telling you "get a break", and the inability to focus on the single tasks and just feel overwhelmed by the big milestone.. ahh that's quite too familiar.
Procrastination Definition, what are they? If you look up the word “procrastination” in a dictionary you will surely find a simple explanation that goes something like this:
Merriam-Webster: “To put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done.”
TheFreeDictionary.com: “To postpone or delay needlessly.”
Dictionary.com: “To put off till another day or time; defer; delay.”
These definitions are simplified explanations of a complicated issue.
This topic is expounded on this page: Procrastination Definition
Who are the Procrastinators? What are their reasons for procrastinating? Procrastinators come from all segments of society. They are women, men, children, college students, rich, poor, executives and they are people like us. Some of the reasons given by Procrastinators for procrastinating are, fear of Success/Failure, Self Sabotaging Beliefs and many more.
The basic types of procrastinators;
a. thrill-seekers - Those who wait until the last minute for the euphoric rush of adrenaline to start pumping under time pressure.
b. Avoiders - Those who may be avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success, but in either case are very concerned with what others think of them. They would rather have others think they lack effort or are lazy than that they lack ability.
c. Decisional procrastinators - Those who cannot make a decision. Not being able to make a decision absolves procrastinators of the responsibility for the outcome of events.
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Here are some more of the most common procrastination causes:
Substituting boring or unpleasent tasks with less-timely or less-relevant tasks. “I really need to do my taxes — but wait, I need to organize my shoe closet too!”
Decisions to delay starting certain tasks because you convince yourself that certain conditions are not ready. “I’m going to start a business, but I can’t do any work until I get my new office set up.”
Convincing yourself that you “cannot” get around to doing something because of conditions beyond your control. “I can’t start getting dates until I lose 15 lbs.”
Indecision is also a large cause for procrastination. “I need to think about this some more..” And then some more, and even more..
More on this important subject go here: Procrastination Causes
Unless we know these procrastination causes and understand them a procrastinator will never be able to overcome procrastination.
There are several ways or methods to overcome procrastination namely, know what you want in your life, what are your goals?.
Set time limits for decision making. You can speed up the process by setting a time limit or a budget cap. If you’re choosing a vacation destination, for example, set a deadline, and make the best choice you can by that date. If you’re deciding which new DVD player to buy, pick a price cap and ignore more costly players.
In order to overcome procrastination, it helps to determine what the most important decision-making factor is in a decision. Is it convenience, price, aesthetics, practicality or something else? Then focus only on that factor in making your final decision.
This subject is discussed lengthily in: Overcome Procrastination
I personally would like to know the tools how to avoid procrastination in the first place. Prevention is always the key to good health. The following is a powerful tool to implement to avoid procrastination. Make an assessment of what’s left of your dreams, pull one shred of one out of the dream box, and do something constructive to act on it today. Write a poem or the first few pages of your novel, paint, sing, join a choir, volunteer for community theater, journal your wish list of dreams, make a vision board of pictures representing your dreams yet to come true, start running, or take up yoga. The important thing is to make a start and do it today. Don’t think about it too long or your comfort zone might talk you out of it. Don’t be afraid. It’s a simple step and you can do this.
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