Michael Porteous asked:


Everyone procrastinates to some degree or another for a variety of reasons some small and innocent and others large and life controlling. Therefore, how to overcome procrastination is a question without an easy one size fits all answer so a solution to procrastination problems must be tailor made for each person.

If this all seems too hard don’t procrastinate now and go back to your old habits it can be easy as long as you understand the root causes of why we procrastinate! While your individual circumstances and state of mind are unique there is a pattern to time wasting across the world and some of the main reasons have been listed and categorized:

Fear of Failure

It is easy to fear failing and being labeled a loser or a quitter. This may not apply to say procrastinating about doing the dishes but with larger life changing issues like changing a job for instance it is understandable if not a good thing.

Fear of Success

The opposite of fearing failure it seems. Many people fear success as well as they are comfortable in their current life and succeeding at something may add more responsibility or give them less time or just change how their life works which may be scary so they do not try to achieve this success.

Poor Time Management Skills

This is a core issue in nearly everyone’s day to day life which has far reaching consequences. When we do not manage time well we create fuzzy periods of time that are ripe to procrastinate in and give us excuses to throw it all in when we run out of time and whatever we really didn’t want to do gets pushed back again and again.

Lack Of Direction

Without goals it is hard to actually measure success and get to where you want to go. Without even a general direction in your life you may find that no options looks good enough to try and while you are not afraid of success or failure there seems little point so the procrastination goes on and on.

Incorrect Priorities

No matter how driven and efficient you are if you do not apply your efforts to the things that matter you may find yourself in a form of procrastination that can sap your time away by doing things that do not matter or at least doing thing that matter less than other things that should be more important. People who run around solving very small problems and always seem busy then get frustrated they do not have time for something that will actually help them more are in this category.

Laziness

It has to be said, not matter how hard you may try to shoehorn yourself into one of these categories sometimes the real reason is that you just do not want to do it because it seems like too much hard work. Do not beat yourself up about it too much though as nearly everyone has some ounce of this in their life.

The real secret of how to overcome procrastination is finding your barriers in life and breaking them down somehow and only you can uncover the real reasons behind it all. Only then can you take action to solve these problems and achieve a lasting success!



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Deon Du Plessis asked:


One of the most destructive effects of procrastination is the fact that it makes you feel out of control. Procrastination is like an ‘invisible force’ that keeps you from doing the very things you know you must do. With the increasing demands on our time and attention there seems to be an increase in procrastination as a chronic problem, especially amongst those people that want to succeed the most. Procrastination usually sets in when you feel overwhelmed by all the ‘have to’s’ in life and instead of making steady progress you take on too much without ever getting any of it done.

Feeling out of control takes away all your power to shape and direct your own life. It’s true that there are many things over which you have no control, but you always have full control over what really happens to you – and what really happens to you is a mental process and independent of the circumstances and events of the outside world. Being empowered means that you realize that you already have the power and this realization also gives you the ability to take action. Here are five empowering procrastination tips that can help you to reach this realization and become empowered to effectively deal with procrastination and inaction.

It’s All Inside:

Procrastination is an internal process and although it might feel like it’s happening to you, you are in actual fact responsible for it. This procrastination tip can help to put you back in control almost immediately. Procrastination is not an external force, but an internal response and evaluation. The simple realization that it’s ‘you’ that are doing it to ‘you’, gives you the power to do something about it.

It’s All You:

When procrastination drags you down it’s all to easy to think that ‘it just is’ and that you can’t do anything about it. Although it feels like you have no control, you actually do. In fact this is why you feel out of control – because you believe that you can’t do anything about it. There are two very important beliefs you need to develop to help you break free from procrastination. The first is that you CAN overcome procrastination and the second is that YOU can overcome procrastination. No one else can do it for you and because you created it, you can un-create it.

It’s All In Your Head:

The reason why most people remain stuck in patterns of procrastination is because of fear. At the most fundamental level, all forms of procrastination comes down to fear. What you don’t face controls you. To overcome the fear and the procrastination that comes with it, you need to confront and do the very things you don’t want to do. The instant you do, you take charge and it no longer has any control over you. The ironic thing is that fear only exists in your imagination – it’s always something that hasn’t happened yet. Procrastination is not real – it’s only the way you evaluate things in your mind.

It’s All about conditioning:

Success at anything in life relies on consistency. The best of the best at anything are those who can repeat their greatness consistently. The way you get consistent is through conditioning. Your nervous system operates through conditioning. When you do something over and over again it becomes ‘normal’ and when it’s normal you don’t have to think about it – it becomes automatic. The challenge is that this principle works both ways. Whether your conditioned responses support you or whether it pulls you down, your nervous system does not make that distinction. If procrastination is your conditioned response you will always feel out of control, simply because that’s what you’ve ‘learned’ to do automatically. You simply need to ‘recondition’ yourself to a new response; to teach yourself to respond in a different way..

It’s All about awareness:

Procrastination does serve a purpose – and a very important one as such, but only is you are aware of the benefits. We only procrastinate about those things that have value to us. At some level, either directly or indirectly, you believe that taking action will benefit you. If it didn’t it would not bother you, right? Be grateful for procrastination and use it as a guide to ‘know’ what you need to act upon. Being aware of this fact, and developing an awareness for what you do and fail to do can empower you to be in charge of yourself on a much higher level.

When you are empowered you are in charge, and even if things seem to go wrong on the surface, underneath you know that you have the power to deal with it effectively. Procrastination is disempowering and it takes away your ability to take immediate action and deal with any situation. Always remember that you are ultimately in charge of you. Tomorrow will be today tomorrow. Don’t delay. Act!



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Jacquie Generra asked:


Are you in the habit of putting-off or delaying tasks very often? Do you need to be constantly reminded by your family members or colleagues at work, of the work or things you need to do? If the answer to both questions is “yes”, then this article is for you!

Quite often, some people find it easier to keep delaying on any work, which needs to be done by them, and if questioned on the same, they will have a million and one excuses ready to give you! This phenomenon is referred to as procrastination, a dangerous condition when carried to its extremes. Procrastination can strike anyone at any point of time, but for some, it is a very chronic condition. Procrastination can arise as a result of certain situations or it could be a psychological pattern built into an individual’s personality.

Why do most people procrastinate some of the time or some of them, all of the time? There are several reasons why procrastination occurs. For starters, it could be personality or perception driven. For example, an individual may keep piling up tasks because he/she wants to convey the perception of being overloaded with work or is falling behind on account of poor time management. Another reason could be low self-esteem or the fear of failure. Some people may not want to display their ignorance of the task at hand, and in such instances, it becomes easier to put off the work rather than admit ignorance to their peers. Yet some other people could be hampered by their inability to concentrate on the work to be done, due to a short attention span, which is a psychological problem rather than one of deliberateness.

How then, do we do away with procrastination? If you are a chronic procrastinator, begin with identifying why you procrastinate. This could be a self-exercise or you can list the help of family, a friend, or even a professional such as a psychologist. Once the cause is identified, work on how you can remove or lessen the effect of such cause. If it is the enormity of the task that is making you procrastinate, split the work into smaller components. This is also helpful if you suffer from a short attention span.

Have a clear understanding of the goals you wish to achieve and the ways in which you can get to those destinations. Once done, prioritize the work, which needs to be done. Here, you will need to work on creating a feeling of urgency and inculcating self-discipline. By urgency, I mean that there should be a sense of losing a good opportunity, should you not complete the task at the appointed time. For example, delaying a project or presentation at work, could result in your company losing a very profitable client and the consequences to you could be dire – you could be fired, you could lose your benefits or bonus, or you could face public ridicule or humiliation. Alternatively, you can use positive reinforcement rather than negative reinforcement as in the above example. Imagine that completing a task in time, will get you a raise or a substantial bonus for bringing in new business, or how your boss may publicly laud you for your work.

Just like a long distance runner builds up stamina, by increasing the distance run day-by-day, adopt a similar technique when it comes to your official or personal work. If you are a chronic procrastinator and want to change, start with baby steps and build up concentration in gradual stages.

Whether chronic or not, there is hope for all procrastinators, provided they identify their problem and consistently work on it. For those who answered “yes” to the questions in the beginning of this article, hope the rest of it gives you an idea of how to tackle your problem successfully!



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Richard MacKenzie asked:


Procrastination is a problem that affects a person’s ability to function in a motivated sense. It can stop a person from being able to complete assignments in a timely manner and it can often keep people from performing well at a job. Usually, this kind of problem is something that comes as the result of many years of laziness that leads to a pattern of procrastination. Procrastinators are often people who feel that their work is sub par and they do not want to experience failure, so they put off the work until the last possible moment.

Procrastination is a huge problem because it can put lots of stress onto a person’s plate. Performing tasks and different assignment is stressful enough without having to worry about putting things off until the last possible deadline. Because procrastination can lead to such high levels of stress, it’s important that it be taken care of very early on. Procrastination is simply a psychological issue in which a person’s mind allows them to think that it’s alright to put off work.

One treatment method for stopping procrastination is a thing called hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy, or hypnosis as it’s sometimes referred to, is a treatment that impacts the brain’s subconscious. A hypnotherapist can help you change the way that you brain works. That person can take the blocks off of your brain as you learn to think more clearly. In addition, hypnosis is known to help things like procrastination because it takes pressure off of the person and relaxes them. A more relaxed worker will always get more work done than a very tense worker with lots of stress.

In my time as a hypnotherapist, I have seen many clients for a lot of different issues. People come to me when they want to quit smoking and when they can’t control their anger. They also come when they can’t beat procrastination. After all, procrastination is a pretty normal thing for most folks. It just becomes a problem when it’s the norm rather than the exception to the rule. I feel that the success rates for hypnosis in dealing with procrastination are very high. If you need to get over this problem and you haven’t found a solution that works, I encourage you to get some more information on hypnosis or self-hypnosis and make a determination on whether or not hypnosis is for you. This is one decision you shouldn’t put off!



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