Everyone procrastinates to some degree . People have procrastinated , will procrastinate , and will continue to procrastinate . Because people. Machines don’t know how to do that yet (until we teach them). And we will never get rid of procrastination, despite research and hundreds of books on the subject.
We are so different
Did you know that scientists divide procrastinators into “subspecies”?
– on “passive” (postpone tasks under the influence of experiences)
– and “active” (they deliberately delay the execution of tasks in order to create time trouble that is convenient for themselves).
“Passive” procrastinators are further divided into two groups:
– “indecisive” (including perfectionists, for whom the main motive for procrastination is the fear of doing something “wrong”)
– and “avoiders” (avoiding unpleasant work and / or evaluation of results by others)
And there are also false procrastinators – those who do a bunch of things in just a day and then worry that they managed to do only 39 things from their list instead of the planned 40. But that’s another story.
Vicious circle
Up to a certain level, procrastination is normal. We procrastinate for a variety of reasons: perfectionism; unloved, unpleasant or boring work; stress; bad mood (almost a guarantee of procrastination); choice paralysis; distractions (things and people); overwork and fatigue; lack of experience; fear of taking on new things and fear of possible failure; difficulties with organizing yourself, affairs and time; inability to prioritize…
When you understand the causes of procrastination, it is easier to overcome it.
Procrastination becomes a problem when it turns into a “working” state of a person in which he spends most of his time, constantly putting off important things for later. And when all the deadlines have already passed, he either abandons the planned one (which is why it is a good idea to include fewer things in his calendar / lists), or tries to do everything that was put off in a “jump”. The result is that things are not performed or are performed poorly, late and not in full.
Consequences: low self-esteem, missed opportunities, dissatisfied clients / colleagues / managers, stress and guilt (hello, depression!), loss of productivity, decline in vitality … and more procrastination.
Golden mean
Can you deal with procrastination? You can only try. They have not yet learned how to cure her completely. There are many ways (the main thing is not to put them off until later), but there is no guarantee that it will work out. Here are some gentler methods of treatment: work in jerks / small intervals (kaizen); elimination of distractions (for example, the clean table technique); “Support Group”; planning the day and affairs according to the Eisenhower matrix (it allows you to move from simple procrastination to structured procrastination) …
But the methods are tougher: changing diets and days; internal reboot; self-discipline and willpower training; dismissal from an unloved job and even medication.
Procrastination should not be confused with laziness (laziness is not associated with stress), rest (during rest, a person replenishes energy reserves, and loses it during procrastination) and inept planning of the day / life.
And there is also pre- crastination – when we get down to business quickly, but thoughtlessly. Another extreme. So we are looking for a golden mean – and without delay.