Procrastination is the active avoidance of doing a certain task that needs completing by a specific deadline. This can even be a habitual issue, meaning that it actually becomes a habit for you to continuously procrastinate on one or maybe even several tasks! The main cause of this issue is due to the fear of failing the tasks that need completing. This means that you will try to actively avoid the tasks set just to prevent yourself from failing at them. As well as this, certain personality traits can also impact you and cause procrastination to worsen or appear over time.
These include traits like:
– Low self-esteem. When you have a lack of confidence and feel bad about yourself. People who suffer from this can feel awkward, unlovable, uncomfortable or even incompetent.
– Low self-confidence. People with low self-confidence suffer from the same and similar feelings as people with low self-esteem. People who suffer from this are hyper-alert to failure which heightens the possibility of procrastination due to that lingering feeling.
Procrastination is seen as a tricky subject, and there isn’t only one type of procrastination. There’s four! Every case of this may vary and change depending on the person. Everybody’s unique and has their own individual goals, personality, thought process and problem-solving skills. However, there are ways to battle this and succeed even whilst procrastinating on several tasks. It’s all about keeping yourself motivated and understanding what you need to keep yourself going and avoiding burnout.
The four types of procrastination are:
The Performer.
These people tend to say that they work well under pressure, despite that being far from the truth. They force themselves to focus by reducing the amount of time they have to complete a certain task or goal of theirs. They run by putting pressure on themselves, leading to possible anxiety and stress which usually results in work being poorly done despite the effort and time they’ve spent focused on it. These procrastinators are usually perfectionists. A perfectionist is a person who refuses to accept any standard that is under the idea of perfection.
The biggest challenge a performer faces is starting the task itself! Once they start, things seem to rapidly fall in place. To help combat this kind of procrastination, set a start date and time for yourself to sit down and begin on this particular task. You may be more likely to start and focus if you’ve given yourself a set time, you’ll do amazing! Try to stay organised with your tasks.
The ‘Lazy’ Procrastinator.
This type of procrastination doesn’t actually have anything to do with being lazy, if anything they’re the opposite of this. Be more compassionate toward yourself and give yourself a break! Take your time with things and you’ll always come out top. When you don’t do something, you end up becoming extra hard on yourself and you tend to blame being lazy than say you’re tired. Take that break and get some rest. Be sure to fix your sleeping schedule and then take a look at what you need to do. Don’t push yourself to burnout! Become the healthiest you to produce the incredible work that you’re capable of.
The ‘Over Booker’.
This type of procrastinator sounds a lot like me. You put so much on your plate to get that sense of business and achievement you crave, but you never get around to any of the work that needs doing due to the crippling pressure you’ve put upon yourself. When looking through everything you need to do, you tend to put yourself off of doing anything and look for another task to do instead. This ends up looping and increasing the problem you’re facing.
When you don’t want to do something, you always blame being so busy! You know you’re busy, but you avoid that work. Overall, you create complete chaos so you can avoid the drowning call of the endless ocean of tasks you need to tackle. To help this type of procrastination, have a talk with yourself. What are you actually avoiding and why? Can you do something about the task you’re avoiding? Break things down and create something you’re proud of.
The Idea Creator.
You come up with countless amazing ideas, your mind is constantly buzzing with new ideas of what you should do next and what could be created. However, with every new idea you come up with, an older one gets abandoned. With the rate these new ideas are coming up, all of the older work is left forgotten about. Everything is usually just half done or just an idea written on a piece of paper, just calling for somebody to pay attention to it. You lose time and end up burning out. Take heavy and consistent action on one idea before you move on to another. This way, you’ll begin to see the results you want to see. Write down your new ideas but attend to them once you’ve finished your first idea.
Procrastination is a huge roadblock for many people, and a lot of people I know deal with various types of procrastination. One in five people are chronic procrastinators, and it’s best you deal with this head on and start helping yourself and asking others to give you support. You can do amazing things once you put the time and dedication to it! You can produce amazing work and create amazing results all with your frame of mind! Things take time and effort, but pace yourself and make sure you’re organised! You’ll be working again in no time on the things you love to do and all of those ideas you have.
Dealing With Procrastination Is Tough
Unfortunately I am terrible when it comes to procrastinating, so I completely understand why people are struggling with it on a day-to-day basis. I’ve written since I was 4 years of age, and even at 18 today I still write! I began procrastinating when it came to my GCSE exams, once they finished I never really seemed to pick anything back up again, I felt so burnt out. Burn out seems to go hand in hand with procrastination, meaning that if you’re suffering with burnout then you could be suffering with procrastinating too. I recently began writing again, finally finding the motivation and path I needed to take to get myself more involved on a smaller scale. This is all before beginning to climb up bigger paths and methods of getting my voice heard through my words.
In the past I was always seen as ‘The idea creator’. I’d come up with so many ideas that I would leave all of my other work half done, all because my mind ran so quickly. All of us need to learn to pace ourselves. We must understand that we can return to what we do with a clearer mind! We can make any of the improvements it may need to succeed in this world. But what did I do to get through my rough storm and come out to witness the beautiful rainbow? Here are my key tips to getting through this rough patch.
Give Yourself A Break!
This is one of the most important steps of all. You cannot keep pushing yourself to the brink of exhaustion and expect yourself to produce your usual amazing work! That’s an extremely unrealistic thought and you’re going to end up completely burnt out and exhausted doing this. Let yourself breathe, get up and put some time into a calming hobby. Do some yoga, meet with friends and family! These life experiences inspire you and help create the ocean of motivation that will soon push you through your next goal.
Set Yourself Realistic Goals!
Firstly, take things step by step. If you rush through things then everything will become very chaotic and disorganised. That is most certainly not an environment you want to work and thrive in. Try writing down some goals on post it notes, it’s helpful when it’s in the order you wish to do them in. Start with preparation and then move into the bigger tasks. Remember to break it down into smaller steps as this way every step of your work will be great and thorough throughout.
Be Organised!
Organisation is a key element in avoiding procrastination. However, it can vary from person to person due to different mind-sets and several kinds of motivation that may encourage you throughout. Visual reminders may help you or maybe even audio reminders like alarms. Do what you need to do to create an organised environment. Set out all the supplies you need within a neat way and make sure you have everything ready. Now when you need to work on your tasks and goals, you will more likely to actually want to begin as everything’s prepared beforehand.
Take Only What You Can Handle!
If you take on several tasks at once, the chances are that you can’t really handle them all. Your work may gradually decrease into something more sloppy along the way. If you want your work to be pristine and the high standard you usually are capable of remaining, then always take on only what you know you’ll be able to do. Ensure that you complete it within the times set for you and be sure you’re able to take a break from your work to make sure you won’t burn out. Don’t be afraid to say no! Be proud of you and your work and be sure you look after the main thing that keeps your work thriving in high standards as that’s you.
In conclusion, to help yourself through procrastination and battle it head on – you need to take the time to take care of yourself and as stated beforehand. There are several ways to deal with it too depending on what type of procrastinator you are. Good luck! You’ll do amazing things. Here are some links to some more articles on procrastination and motivation to give you more information and help!
15 ways to overcome procrastination.
10 ways to bring motivation and determination to your work.
Good luck!
Louise Owen.
About Louise Owen
Hi! My name’s Louise Owen and I’m a writer. I absolutely love to write books and articles, I have a passion for any form of writing! My future goal is to become an author and I also absolutely love to explore as it gives me inspiration.
To contact me, you can message me through my Instagram! Please feel free to contact me whenever with questions or some inspiration.Thank you!
I love this so much!! This really helped me understand why I procrastinate and how to deal with it!! Thank you 🌸
You’re welcome! I’m glad it’s been able to help you out! Be sure to thank Louise too! 🙂
Very informative amazing article thank you this helped a lot.
You are welcome Tracey! 😀
I really love this! It genuinely helped me out and I’ve found out what causes me to procrastinate. Thanks a lot!!
Glad it could help Simon! 🙂