Four Ways To Help You Overcome Procrastination

Four Ways To Help You Overcome Procrastination

No one has ever said that procrastination has helped him or her win a job promotion or personal gain in his or her home life. Feeling guilty is a common enough trait when you procrastinate because you end up missing your family and friends due to laboring long hours to make up work. You might feel resentment, stress and even anger due to missed opportunities because you are playing catch-up due to procrastination. Luckily, there are ways to overcome procrastination, only they will take some time to practice.

You "Want" To Do It

Part of the problem with procrastination is that you see a particular task as something that you "have" to do. You feel a sense of obligation as well as resentment, which kicks in the procrastination and you end up putting things off until you are in panic mode to complete them at the last minute. One way to overcome procrastination is to acknowledge to yourself that you do not actually have to do anything you don't want to do and then evaluate the situation to determine if that project or task absolutely must be completed. If you determine that it should be done, then you can choose to "want" to do it.

Stop Obsessing About Finishing Things

Sometimes, you might obsess about finishing a project because it seems too large or too overwhelming to take on. Another way to overcome procrastination is to think about where to begin instead of thinking about when it will be done. Taking a project one step at a time, breaking things down into short, doable tasks is the key to overcoming this particular hurdle. Focus on what you can do now, rather than what you will not be able to do later.

Replace Polly Perfect

There is no need to strive for perfection if it is going to hold you back or lead you into procrastination. If you are one who feels that a project must be done perfectly, you are going to obsess on the details so much that it will never get finished. Instead, just focus on the project one step at a time with your eye on finishing rather than completing something perfectly. Allowing yourself to be human and recognizing that no one is perfect is another step to overcome procrastination.

Don't Deprive Yourself

Sometimes you might focus on a task so much that you start to perceive that it will take over your life, causing you to feel like you have to deprive yourself of having fun. No one wants to work on something if they perceive this, so it is important to schedule fun time first before scheduling in your work. This particular step to overcome procrastination can be tough at first because you will wonder what exactly the happy medium is between work and play. However, once you feel comfortable with knowing that your "play" or "free" time such as shopping or spending the day at a theme park is scheduled in black and white, it makes it easier to overcome procrastination and schedule in the work too.