This blog explores procrastination and, importantly, how to defeat it.
My last blog focused on the start of the year, making resolutions, turning them into goals and making them happen. However, resolutions frequently disappear into thin air. Exciting to dream up, tougher to action. They need a clear strategy, detailed plans, and lots of hard work. So do all major projects and tasks that combine to bring your plans to life.
Procrastination
Many people abandon their resolutions completely, whilst others procrastinate. Putting things off is a common issue impacting small unpleasant tasks through to those requiring a giant effort.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, procrastination is “to keep delaying something that must be done, often because it’s unpleasant or boring”. It can also be because you don’t know what to do, or where to begin, or it simply feels overwhelming because it’s complicated or time-consuming or both.
You may feel you don’t have the ability or skills to succeed. You may be a perfectionist, and perfectionism is a great barrier to beginning, not wanting to start or indeed to finish until everything is just so.
Do you identify with one of these? If you wait for the right moment, you could be waiting for a very long time. As the great writer Turgenev said: “If we wait until everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin”.
Planning
Planning, benefiting from some top time management tips, is the best way to overcome procrastination. Here are seven ways to get started:
1. Choose the goal or task you want to work on. Write it down.
2. Describe what the successful goal looks like so that you are clear what you’re working towards. (e.g. Class 2:1 Degree; basic French conversation by your holiday in June)
3. Break it down into its smallest parts or tasks. e.g. French conversation – learn 10 words/phrases of greetings vocabulary, learn 10 words/phrases of travel vocabulary, learn 10 words/phrases of food vocabulary, practise with class students 3 x per week.
4. Decide the duration of each activity e.g. 3 x 30 mins to learn basic travel vocabulary and phrases.
5. Allocate days and times in your schedule for these.
6. Arrange conversation practise with your classmates and schedule them in.
7. Ideally, build in patterns of time, e.g. every Monday from 5pm to 6pm for travel vocabulary and phrases, or 3 consecutive days from 5pm to 6pm to learn travel vocabulary and phrases, Thursday from 5 to 6pm for conversation practice on travel with classmates; repeat the same next week with a different topic.
Planning will help you get off to a quick start.
Perspiration
Now it’s time to put the work in; a plan is only as good as the doing of it. Here are three top tips to keep you on track:
1. Stick to the schedule you’ve given yourself.
2. Find a task buddy so you can encourage each other.
3. Put distractions out of sight and out of reach, including your phone!
If a task feels especially difficult to start, choose a time near the end of the day to start. If you plan to stop at 6.30pm, then opt for 6.15pm to start. You know you’ve only got 15 minutes to work on something potentially boring or overwhelming. Start with the knowledge that shortly, you’ll be doing something different you’d prefer to do.
In the process, you’re likely to discover that the prospect was far worse than the doing! Hopefully, this will encourage you to continue tomorrow.
Would you like some help with setting and progressing goals? Life coaching offers a proactive way of translating goals into actions. Why not start with a 20 minute consultation for only £15? It’s the perfect opportunity to discover how life coaching can help you, and the fee is refundable when you start coaching.
