Procrastination

Everyone procrastinates at some point in there lives.  Dictionary.com defines procrastinate as “to defer action; delay”.  However at times, not doing something – procrastination –  is the worse than taking action and having to change course later.  There are many reasons we procrastinate.  Luckily, there are things you can do to quit procrastinating.

People procrastinate for many reasons.  Some common reasons include:

• Fear of failure.  Because most people don’t like failure, they put off things that they can fail at.
• Fear of success.  Success, especially at work, can be time consuming.  Some people who procrastinate do so to prevent being compulsive at something, ie. becoming a workaholic.
• Difficulty of the task.  Some people don’t want to do something simply because it is hard to do.
• Time management.  People are routinely to busy, so they procrastinate.
• Lack of skills.  People feel that they don’t have the skills to do something.

The reasons are as varied as the people who procrastinate.  Procrastination can be overcome.  Lack any habit, it is not easy to quit procrastinating.  Here are some simple steps to overcome procrastination:

• Find out why you are scared to fail  Failure is not bad; staying defeated is what is bad.   As Thomas Edison when inventing the light bulb and and failed numerous times “We now know a thousand ways not to build a light bulb”.  Failure is really a learning process.
• Find out why you afraid to succeed.  Success can be frightening.
• If a task is too difficult, try to break it down to small, more manageable tasks.  You could also seek help and use this as an opportunity to learn.
• Make sure you prioritize you time to have time for the important things.  You may have to delegate some tasks to others.  Even if you delegate the task you have been procrastinating completing, you are now taking action.
• If you truly don’t have the skill set to do something, have someone to help you so you can learn.  Again, use this as an opportunity to learn.

Procrastination can be overcome.  But first, you need to find out what is causing you to procrastinate.  After finding out what is causing the procrastination you can take steps to overcome it.  If you need help with overcoming procrastination, I can help you find out why you procrastinate and help you overcome it.