A few years ago people were surprised to hear or read the word procrastinate, but today it is already on everyone’s lips. And we are happy for what it means to expand vocabulary, but not for what that implies. That we all know or even identify with procrastination means that we practice it and even turn it into an art. And in the end we find ourselves with a giant pile of impossible to tackle pending tasks. Do you want to know how to stop procrastinating? Keep reading this article, and remember: don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. 
What is procrastination?
- Prepare for exams, deliver that project on time at work, clean the house, go shopping, make an appointment with the dentist or have that conversation with your partner. You can add a thousand more activities that for some reason because you discomfort or even anxiety. And what do you do to not suffer that discomfort? Avoid them. Avoid tasks that you know that sooner or later you will have to do, but you have decided that it will be later.
- Procrastinating is putting off, postponing, or delaying a task that makes you uncomfortable. It is reflected in the classic saying “do not leave until tomorrow what you can do today” and also in that other saying “do not leave for tomorrow what you can do today, leave it for the day after tomorrow and so you will have today and tomorrow free”. Choosing one or the other is choosing between doing what you have to do or not.
- If it’s any consolation, they say procrastinating is a natural human tendency. Who wants to start doing something that costs them a lot of effort, that bores them or that causes them some anxiety? NOBODY. Do not think about it anymore and do not blame yourself for it, but it is true that postponing what you have to do puts you in a very stressful position of infinite pending tasks.
The consequences of procrastinating
- We want to help you stop procrastinating, but don’t let us lose your mind, because it’s not a matter of becoming the most productive person on the planet either. Although sometimes it seems like it, especially when you are procrastinating. Or does it not happen to you that you have to do something and you leave it for tomorrow but instead you are flooded with hyperactivity to do anything that is not what you really have to do?
- And why do you have to leave it for later? Why can’t you do it now? The reasons for procrastinating are varied. It can be a very complicated task, something boring that does not satisfy you, lack of will or mental overload. But most of the time it is out of fear of not doing it right. Aren’t you too much of a perfectionist? How about you do it first and tomorrow we’ll revise it until it’s almost perfect?
- The truth is that procrastinating has its negative consequences. After all, you know that there is a task that you have to do and you are not doing it. This takes its toll in the form of frustration, a feeling of failure, a feeling of guilt, low self-esteem, and it can also cause major work problems.
- Not to mention how your concept of self-efficacy suffers from not fulfilling your obligation. Nothing may happen to leave it until tomorrow, but in the long run it can affect your emotional health, prevent you from achieving your goals, leave you without dreams and illusions and prostrate you in a state of hopelessness very close to depression. Don’t risk it.
Key strategies to stop procrastinating
But the consequences of making procrastination an art are sure that you already know them if you are reading this article. So let’s get help in the form of some strategies to stop procrastinating.
Start homework
The first thing is to start, which is what costs the most. It will be easier for you to get to work if you set yourself a time of 5 minutes, for example. You have to tell yourself that it’s only 5 minutes and when that time is up… Maybe you’ll quit or maybe you’ll stick with it.
Control the times
Managing and controlling the time you dedicate to that task that you have been putting off for a while is important. If you don’t have to do it in one day, why not spend a short time each day? Set the timer, even. Decide if it’s 15 minutes a day, 20 minutes or half an hour and when the alarm goes off, leave it if you want.
Create a routine
Time control leads us to routine. It is customary to demonize routines, but the truth is that some of them we need in our day to day. Or don’t you eat breakfast every day? That is still a routine that you like and that you also need. Well, do the same with your pending tasks. Set aside time every day, always at the same time and with the same circumstances as the day before, because the routine, over time, becomes an automatic activity.
What you have to do?
Wait a minute, do you know exactly what you have to do? Because maybe you are procrastinating because you are not very clear about what your task is. A good idea is to put in writing exactly what you have to do and what are the steps you have to follow.
Divide the task
We talk about steps when it comes to a large-scale job. Maybe you are putting it off because it will take too much time and effort. It is time to divide that task into smaller sections and go through one by one. So you can see the progress and they will serve as motivation to continue until the end.
Do things you like
Since it is about doing a task that bothers you, you can try interspersing it with things that you like. You can start it with a cup of coffee, you can take a 10-minute break to read a novel or put on your favorite music while you do work.
Away distractions
It is important that the time you dedicate to the uncomfortable task, be more or less time, avoid distractions. Yes, we are talking about the mobile phone and social networks.
Tell someone
The trick of telling someone what to do works for many people. In this way they reinforce the feeling of commitment and responsibility, but it is a double-edged sword because if you fail to do it, the feeling of failure will be greater.
The importance of rest
Rest, disconnect. This advice may seem contradictory when it comes to working, but it is also necessary to cleanse the mind.
An ultimate reward
And think of the final reward. Give yourself a prize according to your tastes and needs when you finish the task. Because you also deserve it.
Look for a motivation
- Maybe you think these strategies are great but something is missing, right? What you lack is motivation and you don’t know how to find it. At the end of the day, it is about doing something that you do not want to do for whatever reason and that goes against your nature. Well, we also have a trick to motivate you.
- You know that stopping procrastinating and doing that task will make you feel better. Then visualize in detail the benefits of getting to it. Be aware of all the good that finishing this matter will provide you. Can you visualize the work already finished? The lightness you would feel? The relief? And the amount of time you would have left to do the things you really love to do?