Finally! I found the exact word describing most accurately what I though to be some kind of a stupid mental issue persistent with me for a long time now. So I was randomly wiki-ing some vocab words and alas! I was looking at the same details, rather symptoms, as the definition of the word.
It goes like this, in simple words: "Procrastination is the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, and thus putting off impending tasks to a later time".
You have a deadline looming. However, instead of doing your work, you are fiddling with miscellaneous things like checking email, social media, watching videos, surfing blogs and forums. You know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything. And this so called lethargy is a daily phenomenon but not restricting to something which we truly enjoy. In my case, I do not procrastinate when I am into sports, playing the keyboard or on a tour. These are areas where my mind and body perfectly coordinate to achieve required results without any indolence or the so-called-phenomena we are talking about. I often ponder on the same, that when I am equally passionate about my career, why do I tend to be counterproductive, needless, and delaying of the tasks even though being well aware of the panic & high stress situation I always face at the end moment. This needs more than internet search.
I further researched on how bad my behavior is to be classified as procrastination. I was relieved and shocked altogether to find the stats showing over 70% of students exhibiting this behavior. Aside from the cliché that students are more impulsive which basically leads to procrastination, I am in my mid 20's and haven't yet found the formula to help discontinue this behavior. Life gets a little hackneyed work-wise but the impulsiveness remains the same. Rather, the slope equals y=+x. (I hope I got that right). The most important solution is 'self-control'.
This can be achieved by following some practical ways like:
1. Break your work into little steps. Part of the reason why we procrastinate is because subconsciously, we find the work too overwhelming for us. Break it down into little parts, then focus on one part at the time. If you still procrastinate on the task after breaking it down, then break it down even further. Soon, your task will be so simple that you will be thinking “gee, this is so simple that I might as well just do it now!”.
2. Tell others about your goals. Tell some of your friends, colleagues, acquaintances and family (whom you can rely on and can be your well-wishers) about your projects. Now whenever you see them, they are bound to ask you about your status on those projects. It’s a great way to keep myself accountable to my plans. Have a candid discussion. You have no enemies there.
3. Stop over-complicating things. Are you waiting for a perfect time to do this? That maybe now is not the best time because of X, Y, Z reasons? Ditch that thought because there’s never a perfect time. If you keep waiting for one, you are never going to accomplish anything. Perfectionism is one of the biggest reasons for procrastination.
4. Change your environment. I do that often. It helped me scoring my best in my engineering days. Thank for God I was in a hostel. Only because it had plenty of places to explore and study daily. Believe me or not, I have studied for hours on a secluded hostel water tank behind the campus with sparrow shit all over (I sat on newspapers spread on the dirty tank only for the sake of studies...haha..). Take a small walk around, in between your task time rather than checking your social-networking sites.
5. Wake up on the first alarm ring. This is how you analyse your self-control. I used to take an hour to wake up after my first alarm ring and hence the snooze was set to every 15 mins. I ideally took 4 snooze rings to get out of my bed. This is the worst symptom of procrastination. My father was kind enough to point it out and thereafter, I wake up on the first ring. (You can sleep in the later part of the day after you are done with your morning schedule).
Last but not least,
6. Just do it! Whatever it is you are procrastinating on, if you want to get it done, you need to get a grip on yourself and do it. You can only help yourself and you are your best judge.
These are the points I figured for myself and have already inculcated in life. I hope they also work for those who connect. Gnite!
It goes like this, in simple words: "Procrastination is the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, and thus putting off impending tasks to a later time".
You have a deadline looming. However, instead of doing your work, you are fiddling with miscellaneous things like checking email, social media, watching videos, surfing blogs and forums. You know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything. And this so called lethargy is a daily phenomenon but not restricting to something which we truly enjoy. In my case, I do not procrastinate when I am into sports, playing the keyboard or on a tour. These are areas where my mind and body perfectly coordinate to achieve required results without any indolence or the so-called-phenomena we are talking about. I often ponder on the same, that when I am equally passionate about my career, why do I tend to be counterproductive, needless, and delaying of the tasks even though being well aware of the panic & high stress situation I always face at the end moment. This needs more than internet search.
I further researched on how bad my behavior is to be classified as procrastination. I was relieved and shocked altogether to find the stats showing over 70% of students exhibiting this behavior. Aside from the cliché that students are more impulsive which basically leads to procrastination, I am in my mid 20's and haven't yet found the formula to help discontinue this behavior. Life gets a little hackneyed work-wise but the impulsiveness remains the same. Rather, the slope equals y=+x. (I hope I got that right). The most important solution is 'self-control'.
This can be achieved by following some practical ways like:
1. Break your work into little steps. Part of the reason why we procrastinate is because subconsciously, we find the work too overwhelming for us. Break it down into little parts, then focus on one part at the time. If you still procrastinate on the task after breaking it down, then break it down even further. Soon, your task will be so simple that you will be thinking “gee, this is so simple that I might as well just do it now!”.
2. Tell others about your goals. Tell some of your friends, colleagues, acquaintances and family (whom you can rely on and can be your well-wishers) about your projects. Now whenever you see them, they are bound to ask you about your status on those projects. It’s a great way to keep myself accountable to my plans. Have a candid discussion. You have no enemies there.
3. Stop over-complicating things. Are you waiting for a perfect time to do this? That maybe now is not the best time because of X, Y, Z reasons? Ditch that thought because there’s never a perfect time. If you keep waiting for one, you are never going to accomplish anything. Perfectionism is one of the biggest reasons for procrastination.
4. Change your environment. I do that often. It helped me scoring my best in my engineering days. Thank for God I was in a hostel. Only because it had plenty of places to explore and study daily. Believe me or not, I have studied for hours on a secluded hostel water tank behind the campus with sparrow shit all over (I sat on newspapers spread on the dirty tank only for the sake of studies...haha..). Take a small walk around, in between your task time rather than checking your social-networking sites.
5. Wake up on the first alarm ring. This is how you analyse your self-control. I used to take an hour to wake up after my first alarm ring and hence the snooze was set to every 15 mins. I ideally took 4 snooze rings to get out of my bed. This is the worst symptom of procrastination. My father was kind enough to point it out and thereafter, I wake up on the first ring. (You can sleep in the later part of the day after you are done with your morning schedule).
Last but not least,
6. Just do it! Whatever it is you are procrastinating on, if you want to get it done, you need to get a grip on yourself and do it. You can only help yourself and you are your best judge.
These are the points I figured for myself and have already inculcated in life. I hope they also work for those who connect. Gnite!
