Procrastination

What does it look like to procrastinate?

Some of you may relate to it as not tackling a task you know you should be tackling, so you do everything else just to avoid that task and to top it all off, you are not really sure why you don’t want to tackle the task! It just feels hard.

Whilst procrastinating is not unusual and most of us do this, we need to be mindful that if we procrastinate to such a degree that we are really not getting things done, then perhaps it is time to use your awareness of the situation and start breaking things down into very tiny little parts.

For some, and this may apply to children and teens too, the skill of organising yourself and therefore potentially being a more efficient worker, may be lacking. However, there are other reasons this may be the case, and I am sure you can identify some of them for yourself.

So, what can we do about it.
 
The very first thing to know, is that it is in the doing of something, that motivation then follows.

With most things, the first step is to acknowledge that you are indeed putting things off, delaying things or distracting yourself.
To help get yourself more organised, try putting a list together of all the things you have to tackle.  If you only have one thing to tackle, are you able to break that one task down even further.  The aim is to start with one small thing, one small step.

Ideally starting with the task you are putting off the most, will help relieve some of the feelings around doing that task. 
Of course, if you are full of anxiety or dread around doing this first task, you may need to remind yourself that you have tackled tasks like this before, it may not have looked exactly the same however, you have still managed. 

What skills did you use then? 
How did you get through that task? 

You may have recognised that at that time, you had a definite deadline and you worked better having this deadline.  Or perhaps you realised that you focused on one particular area of the task first which then gave you confidence to do the rest of the task.

Once you know what you want to start with, you could set yourself a timer for this first step.
Once you have done this, cross it off, take it off your plate and set your next step.
I often find that I need little breaks in between my tasks just to refresh and find myself coming back a little more creative and energised.
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I also find that setting a goal of completing something by a certain time is helpful. 
 
“Unfortunately, you’re wrong. Motivation does not come first, action does! You have to prime the pump. Then you will begin to get motivated, and the fluids will flow spontaneously.”
― David D. Burns