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From postponement comes adjustment

Procrastination: most people do this from time to time, but for one in four people, procrastination is a problem. A problem they would prefer to get rid of, because delaying often causes problems. You can of course do something about this and it might be useful to start doing this today and not postpone it.

Procrastination and research

Piers Steel, professor of psychology at the University of Calgory in Canada, has spent ten years researching procrastination. Procrastination means postponing things that you actually think or know you should do now. He discovered that procrastination has to do with the pursuit of pleasure. It is focused on the short term. You want to have fun now. This conflicts with your mind. Your mind obliges you to set goals and plan for the longer term. In procrastinators, impulsiveness wins over reason. They choose fun and postpone their tasks.

Combat procrastination

If you regularly get into trouble because of your procrastination, you are probably motivated to do something about it, but what works?

  • Make sure there are as few distractions as possible. No Facebook, Twitter or surfing the internet. Focus on your task and your task alone.
  • Divide your task into pieces. For example, work for half an hour and promise yourself a reward. After this half hour you can spend fifteen minutes on the internet, go for a walk, play games or read a few pages in that new book.
  • Get enough sleep. When you are tired, it takes more effort to motivate yourself and you are less able to resist temptations.
  • Stop making excuses. Checking and answering your email once every day is sufficient and the same applies to social media.
  • Practice time management. The further away the deadline is, the greater the temptation to postpone the task. Make a timetable. When should you have which part ready? Plan this and stick to it.
  • Do difficult tasks when you can concentrate best. This time depends on your biorhythm, but for most people it will be somewhere in the morning.
  • The less important you find your task, the less you enjoy it and the more difficult it will be to motivate yourself. When you really have to fulfill this task, you just have to keep the end result in mind and promise yourself a reward.
  • Put all the money you save by paying your bills on time into a jar and do something fun with it. So you see that paying bills on time pays off.
  • If you find your work very unsatisfactory, you may want to look for another job. It can also help to structure your work or compete with yourself. Try to get that annoying task done faster this week than the week before.
  • Remind yourself regularly of your successes. This makes it easier to stay motivated.

 

Procrastination excuses

  • I have to check my email now, or do something else that I enjoy more.
  • I’m a perfectionist, that’s why it’s taking so long. Perfectionists generally have little problem with procrastination.
  • Tomorrow I’ll start… and then stick to good intentions.
  • My planning is no longer correct, because…
  • I simply work best under pressure.

 

Procrastination facts

  • Seventeen hours of work time (out of forty hours) per week are wasted on procrastination, consisting of surfing the Internet, chatting with colleagues, emailing, calling and other activities.
  • Procrastinators are often afraid of failure and making decisions, but putting this off doesn’t make it any easier.
  • Extreme procrastinators are less healthy, less wealthy and less happy than other people. Change this behavior and start doing so today.