I am unsure about you, but the sentence "I'll do it later" is one of my favorites of all time. It gives me a second to free up my current moment and put pressing tasks off...until all the tasks are weighing on me and stressing me out because I've let it wait until hours before the deadline. This, my friends, is the act of procrastination, and we are all guilty of it.
Procrastination is easy. Procrastination is natural. Procrastination is detrimental.
I may not know how you procrastinate, but I do know you do. Everyone does and, without discipline, we will continue to. I am beyond guilty. The main culprit, allowing me to procrastinate, is my laptop, which is ironic, because I need my laptop to do my work. Even as I type this article, I find my eyes wondering to the television that is turned on in the room.
With the world at our fingertips, we are much more apt to push off our tasks. For instance, my cell phone has to be in a completely different room when I try to get work done or I will end up getting on my phone and playing on an app, engaging in social media, or surfing the web. I am often left wondering why that is, but I realize that I am naturally much more inclined to do what I want, rather than what I need to do. Before you judge me, we both know that you do the same thing!
Finally, procrastination is something that we all do. It is all fun and games until you are up all night completing everything you have put off until you have to get it done. Trust me, I understand why you do it, but we need to face it and stop putting it off.
There are many was to stop procrastinating, but that is a different article for a different day! However, if you are looking for something quick that could help, I would suggest making a list, breaking large tasks into smaller ones. Ask yourself what will happen if you do not get the task done (and what happens if you do). Eliminate temptations (if it were only that easy!) and reward yourself when you get a task completed!
I wish you luck kicking procrastination now...not later!
