I´ll do it first thing
tomorrow. I´ll start on Monday. Or next month. Or even on New Year´s
Day. Does this sound like you? Well, good news is that you´re not
alone. Almost everyone procrastinates.
There are many reasons why
we put off things we have, need or should do. It´s part of being
human. Nobody is perfect. But when you want to achieve success, you
simply gotta fight this nasty habit.
When it comes to
procrastination, you can see it pretty much everywhere. Do you have
to work out? It´s there! Do you have to make important call that
makes you uncomfortable? You put it off! Are you going to foreign
country and you have your chance to actually speak the language
you´ve been learning for many years? You procrastinate again! Or do
you have to publish your first article and face criticism? You move
your „publish date“ to another day. If you are putting off small
things like washing the dishes and it doesn´t bother you at all,
it´s no big deal. Who cares, right? But when procrastination is
seriously messing with your health or with your career, it´s time to
do something about it.
Why do we do that?
Everyone has its own reasons. I procrastinate because I hate to make
mistakes. I want everything to be perfect. And I´m afraid that I
don´t meet those high expectations. When I don´t know how to make
something flawlessly, I simply don´t do it. And it´s the worst
mistake I´m making in my life. Making mistakes and not being perfect
is part of learning. And when you are not willing to make mistakes,
you´ll never be able to deliver results. If you are anything like
me, please, don´t be so hard on yourself. Most of procrastinators
tend to be self-critical. Self-criticism is good but don´t over do
it. It´s natural that you are afraid of failure but when you think
about it procrastination is in fact definition of failure. When you
procrastinate, you fail to do what you´re supposed to do. What you
always wanted to do. What you need to do.
How can you fight it? It
is easy and it is difficult at the same time. You can fight it by
taking baby steps. When it comes to writing write every time you have
a minute. Or five. Or ten. You don´t have to write for five hours
straight. Just write down what you have in mind and don´t re-read
it. Just leave it alone. When you´ll have a time again, try to
squeeze couple minutes of writing among your other activities. Before
you know it, you find yourself doing things you usually put off on
daily basis and procrastination won´t be part of your life anymore.
