How to Stop Procrastinating

Guide Note If "I'll do it tomorrow" has become your motto, you need help. How to Stop Procrastinating will show you how to beat the common problem of procrastination.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Step 2: Is it a Chronic Problem?
• Step 1: Find the Cause
• Step 3: Overcome Your Habits
• Conclusion

Stop Procrastinating Tips

1. Find the root of your procrastination. What's causing you to put off work?
2. Divide up your projects into smaller achievable goals.
3. Reward yourself after meeting specific goals.
4. Set a timer for five minutes and work with dedication only for those five minutes.
5. Find a goal buddy.
6. Force yourself to just sit down and accomplish your tasks!

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Introduction

• 

  Procrastination is a blight upon the diligent. This guide will help you eradicate it from your life. (Creative Commons photo by Denise Chan)
  You've got a big project, a looming deadline, and about zero motivation. It's not that you don't want to get the blasted work done with, it's just that...well, it's easier to put it off.

• Procrastination is a common problem. So common, in fact, that the Washington Post reported 20 to 25 per cent of people put off things so frequently and persistently that they're chronic procrastinators.¹

• Chronic or not, procrastination can lead to some big side effects-constant shirking of work, not meeting deadlines, feelings of failure and incompetence, and even high levels of stress.²

• If you're tired of self-induced delays on your projects, regular excuse-making, and finding yourself saying "I just need to" a little bit too often, here are some tips to find the causes of your procrastination and kick it in the butt.

Step 1: Determine if You're a Chronic Procrastinator

• While procrastinating once in a while isn't too big of a problem, chronic procrastination can create a lot of unnecessary stress in a person's life. Common behavioral patterns amongst chronic procrastinators include:

1. You tend to delay projects or responsibilities in numerous areas of your life.
2. You have problems with self regulation—you often smoke, drink or do other things over your intended limit.³
3. You commonly make excuses such as "I'll do it tomorrow when I feel better" or "I work best under pressure."³
4. You are often easily distracted.⁴

Step 2: Find the Cause

• While procrastinators are usually seen as lazy people who just can't be bothered to do the work that's been lying around for days or weeks, there's usually a more serious underlying cause that causes this procrastination.

Fear of Failure

• This is the most common of the causes for procrastination. It is commonly defined by thoughts such as, "What if I don't get it right?" which paralyzes many people into avoiding work for as long as possible. The roots of these fears include:¹

1. Indecision.
2. Lack of confidence.⁵
3. Fear of looking like a fool in front of peers.

Fear of Success

• While it may seem counter-intuitive, fear of success also contributes to putting things off. Procrastination is a way of addressing the fear that if you become successful, things might not turn out the way you want.⁶ This type of thinking typically includes:

1. If I do well, I'll be asked to do more.
2. I may never be able to repeat this performance.
3. If I pull this off, it'll just be random luck, not anything I did.

Depression

• 

  Depression might be a less obvious cause for your procrastination. (Creative Commons photo by Dawn Ashley)
  Depression is also a common reason to avoid doing things you know you're supposed to be doing. By putting it off until tomorrow (when you think you'll be feeling better), procrastination helps you cope with the emotions and physical symptoms that accompany depression. This is because:⁵

1. It helps you escape.
2. It buys you time when you're feeling low and not in the mood.⁵
3. You have no motivation.

Perfection Syndrome

• The inner critic—the one that says you're worthless or that you don't have enough time or experience to pull something like this off—can bring on procrastination like nothing else.⁷ The following factors contribute to a perfectionist's procrastination problem:

1. Expecting immediate results.
2. Getting the rush of accomplishing something at the last minute.¹
3. Finding it hard to begin.

Step 3: Overcome Your Habits

• Once you've figured out whether or not your problem is chronic, and what the underlying reasons for it are, you're ready to implement the solutions. The following tips will help you deal with your specific reasons for procrastinating.

Conquering Fear of Failure

• While fear can be paralyzing, it doesn't have to stop you from achieving your goals. Here's how to put your focus on the goal and not the idea of not meeting it.

1. Try and relax. Deep breathing helps, as does meditation. Do something, no matter how small in the project, to get you going and reduce that feeling of anxiety.⁵
2. Think of the best possible outcome of a job well done, and then think of the worst possible outcome if it isn't. Bet that will get your fingers typing!⁶
3. To-do lists are your friends. Make sure you make enough so that everything you need to do ends up on the list.²
4. Prioritize. Do the important things first. Then, do the things that you don't want to do. When you're done with those, you can get back to doing the fun stuff.⁵

Conquering Fear of Success

• 

  Keeping track of tasks in a day planner is a simple, hands-on tactic to limit your procrastinating habits. (Creative Commons photo by koyochi
  This can be one of the toughest causes to deal with. How can you conquer something you may or may not have dealt with?

• Try the following steps.

1. Set short-term goals and deadlines and mark them on your calendar.²
2. Find someone who you can discuss projects with, someone who'll keep you accountable, and someone who you can give daily or weekly reports to.²
3. Remove distractions. Close that chat window, stop checking your e-mail, close the door, and switch off the television.²
4. If you're getting overwhelmed by a project, simply do it for three minutes. No more, no less. If you feel like continuing after those three minutes, great. Otherwise, take a breather and try again.⁶

Conquering Depression

• If you have severe or recurring depression, you need to get medical care immediately. Depression can be debilitating—seek professional care to get the help you need.

• That said, here are some ways you can use to get work done when you're mildly depressed or unmotivated.

1. Split up the job into smaller pieces and tackle one small piece at a time.²
2. Every time you accomplish a small goal, reward yourself with some popcorn, a TV show, or a game of Tetris.⁶
3. Don't be too hard on yourself. A common pattern among depressives is to see the negative in everything, especially themselves. Don't fall into the trap of seeing only what you're doing wrong.
4. Get a daily planner and mark important events and dates into it as you go along.⁵

Conquering Perfection Syndrome

• "I'm not making enough money, I really need to get out of this job. I can't be successful at this. I'm bored, tired and frustrated." If your procrastination is driven by an overly critical inner monologue, here are a few ways to free yourself from your own bad influence.

1. Silence your inner monologue. Sure, it brings up questions that need answering. But worry about it later, when you're done with your work.
2. The only way to silence a negative voice is to replace it with a positive one: "Once I finish this, I can focus my energies on something I enjoy."⁷
3. Not everything has to be perfect, you can't always give 100% of yourself to everything. Sometimes the conditions won't be right, sometimes, people will make things difficult, at other times, you may be standing in your own way. Do it regardless.¹
4. Starting is the hardest part. So stop reading, stop playing games, stop thinking about what you'll have for dinner tonight, and just put things in motion.⁷
5. Have realistic expectations. Remember, you can always go back and change what you've done, and you don't always have to get everything right the first time.⁵

Conclusion

• Procrastination can sometimes seem like the unbeatable beast, the bane of your existence, but it's up to you to defeat it. Follow the steps in this article, and you'll never have a missed deadline again.

References for How to Stop Procrastinating

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} WashingtonPost.com: How to Put a Stop to Putting Things Off
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} AskMen: Procrastination
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Psychology Today: Procrastination: Ten Things to Know
4. ↑ Study Techniques: Types of Procrastinators - Relaxed Procrastinators
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6} About.com: More Tips to Help You Beat Procrastination
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3} LifeHacker.com: Read This Now! Stop Procrastinating and Get Stuff Done-- or Else!
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Good Housekeeping: Procrastination - How to Get Things Done