When the kitchen sparkles the tablet battery is dead and you’ve alphabetically organized all your books and mails you know it has happened. You’ve been procrastinating.
At this point, all non-procrastinators out there will probably say: Stop whining, get it done and over with, but you don’t understand it’s really not that easy!” It’s a battle of wills. Me versus me. It’s like telling an overweight person “Just stop eating.”
Procrastination is like a deja vu gone bad.
You avoid a task. You do something else to feel better. You feel guilt for avoiding the task so you do something else again.
And you get stuck in a never-ending circle.
Until the 24-hour deadline hits you right in the face like a cold splash of water
Okay, way too dramatic.
But if you want to know how to stop procrastinating you need to know why you put off tasks. Today we’ll show you where exactly the root of your procrastination lies and which actions you can take to get back on track.
What is a Procrastinator?
There are several types of Procrastinators, or better, there are several reasons why people procrastinate. In general, a procrastinator is someone who avoids certain tasks or puts them off over and over again. This especially happens when you face a difficult or boring task and a distant deadline. If you’ve ever been in a situation where you have 24 hours to write an 8-page essay – then welcome to the club: You are a procrastinator. (Or whoever set the deadline is …)
What are procrastination triggers?
- Tasks are boring
- The goal is unclear
- The goal is unachievable
- I do not know how to actually complete the task
- Plans are overwhelming
- No end is in sight
- I see no prompt rewards
- Fear of success, embarrassment, and failure
- The task makes me feel uncomfortable
- It is important to me and I want to do especially well
- I am excited about something else
- I am lonely
What are procrastination symptoms?
- Pushing tasks to other days
- Doing other tasks that are easier/ faster
- Making up excuses
- Getting distracted by the most boring thing
Do you have procrastination symptoms? Then keep reading. Fighting procrastination can help you be more productive, less stressed, get better results and also avoid arguments when working in a team.
Watch this great TedTalk of Tim Urban talking about Procrastination:
What are 5 Types of Procrastinators
- No motivation procrastination
- Negative thoughts procrastination
- Stress procrastination
- Bad time-management procrastination
- Perfectionist procrastination
1. No Motivators Procrastinators - I don’t want to …
Don’t want to do anything but stay in bed? No motivation at work? Just think about this question first: What to do when you don’t feel like going to work?
You just go, right? Because a, you would be fired and b, you know it won’t be as bad as your brain is telling you right now.
How do you get work done when you don’t feel like it? – You just jump right into it.
If you wait for motivation to come then you will wait for a long time. Motivation comes when you start working on a project – so you just need to get started.
Write an outline or concentrate on one paragraph if you need to write something. Set up a Google Meeting or write down everything that needs to be done for the project. Sometimes just starting is the best remedy against procrastination.
Now let me warn you, you might feel frustrated and angry at first. Your Relaxo brain is stubborn and it doesn’t like doing anything against its will. Push through, remember it well get easier the longer you do it.
Ways to overcome Procrastination when you lack motivation:
- Just start, do one small task at a time
- Start with an easy task
- Don’t stop when getting irritable
- Listen to calming music
- Do Not watch motivational vloggers on youtube, you will get distracted
- Do a 25/5 Pomodoro (tell yourself that you just need to do one thing)
- Combine boring tasks with fun activities (language learning with watching movies)
- Remove distractions
- No, you don’t need another cup of coffee before this task is done
2. Negative Thoughts Procrastination - I will fail …
Thoughts can make or break us. This counts for every area of our life – our presence, our academic and professional achievements, our social life, just everything. If you procrastinate because you worry about failure you fail by default. By not trying. By not going to the start line. By not playing the game.
There are people who don’t believe in you. Who want you to fail. You need to stick up for yourself. You need to trust yourself. You need to believe in yourself.
Try it. Do your best. Don’t push the task away because you don’t feel ready. Challenge negative thoughts, because they will limit you. And trust me, you don’t want to be limited by what-ifs.
All I have is negative thoughts, what do I do?
Talk to someone who understands you, who doesn’t just shrug you off. Tell them that you are worried or scared of a certain task. Sometimes talking about our feelings and sharing them, makes us realize how small they actually are. Sometimes we just need a few cheering words to keep moving with a newly found strength.
How to avoid procrastination
- Boost your confidence with positive affirmations
- Share your worries with someone
- You will not embarrass yourself by making mistakes. They are natural.
- Accept failure as a chance to grow.
- Don’t care about other people’s opinions
- Do your best and be proud of what you accomplish
- Listen to confidence-boosting music
- Take deep breaths
3. Stress Procrastination - I have so much to do …
Being a stress procrastinator doesn’t necessarily mean that you are bad with time management. You put off your tasks because they make you feel overwhelmed, you don’t know where to start or how to do it. It simply stresses you out, to the degree where you do your best to avoid it. Take a step back. Breathe.
How do you get stuff done when stressed?
- Write the task on top of a piece of paper
- After that collect all the steps necessary to finish the task
- Prioritize them and/or add responsible people or documents you need
- Start with the first step before moving on to the next one.
How to stop Procrastination
- Create a clean and calm work atmosphere (A fireplace youtube video always works for me!)
- Break your task into tiny steps.
- Start with a small and simple task first
- Or: start with the most stressful task first if it works better
- Adapt to your productivity cycle (work when you can focus best – are you a morning, evening, or night person? )
- Do breathing exercises
- Work out and burn all that excess energy
- Drink tea while working
- Reorganize your to-do list
4. Time-Management Procrastination - I have plenty of time I’ll do it tomorrow
Time-Management Procrastination often comes hand in hand with stress or negative thinking. But how much time do you really have left? And how long does it take to finish the task? Do you actually have good time management skills? Or do you underestimate how much time the work really takes?
It is easy to tell us: “Oh we still have 4 weeks left until this task is due” when really we need all those four weeks for the research, the interactions with others, the creation of documents or presentations. The person giving you the deadline (if not self-given) already calculated how much time it would take to finish it.
So instead of thinking about finishing just on time, think about handing it in in the fastest (but also best version!) possible. The faster you finish this one, the less work is summing up on your desk over the next few months, and the less stressed and overwhelmed you will be when the deadline comes closer.
How to avoid procrastination:
- Start immediately
- Hand it in when you are done, not when the deadline is
- Split your tasks into weeks or days and finish a small portion every day
- Set up a calendar and mark the deadline, also scratch off past days
- Get all your necessary documents and people on board from the beginning
- Never push a task to tomorrow “because the deadline is still weeks away”
- Plan time buffers in between
5. Perfectionism Procrastination - I’ll get an A+
How to Stop procrastination when it isn’t related to stress or negative thinking or the lack of motivation? What if I started on time and I don’t think it’s overwhelming? I finished the first part but it’s just not — perfect. Something is missing.
Isn’t perfectionism self-sabotaging?
Think about it – how many projects have you never finished because they weren’t good enough? How many manuscripts, how many articles, paintings, videos, presentations, and ideas. Or which tasks did you hand in with the feeling of it not being enough? Even though you put all your efforts into this one thing – it always “could be better”.
“Perfectionism doesn’t lead to results. It leads to fear, anxiety and stress” – a lovely year
Believe me, I know what I am talking about. There are dozens of posts I started and never uploaded because they simply didn’t sound good enough for me. But fun fact – the posts I uploaded and thought they could be better were read more often than posts I actually thought would do great.
Your perfect is not the perfect for someone else.
So take the advice of Haley Wright and “don’t be too hard on yourself”.
How to Stop Procrastination
- Be kind to yourself
- Finish your task even if it’s not “perfect”
- Positive affirmations
- Ask someone else (if possible) if your work is alright
- Remember “perfect” doesn’t exist
- Allow yourself to start with something imperfect, something crappy, and improve it on the go
Thomas Curran explains how dangerous Perfectionism can be: Check out his TedTalk:
Summary:
32 Ways to stop procrastination:
- Just start, do one small task at a time
- Start with an easy task
- Don’t stop when getting irritable
- Listen to calming music
- Do Not watch motivational vloggers on youtube, you will get distracted
- Do a 25/5 Pomodoro (tell yourself that you just need to do one thing)
- Combine boring tasks with fun activities (language learning with watching movies)
- Remove distractions
- No, you don’t need another cup of coffee before this task is done
- Boost your confidence by positive affirmations
- Share your worries with someone
- You will not embarrass yourself by making mistakes. They are natural.
- Don’t care about people’s opinions
- Do your best and be proud of what you accomplish
- Listen to confidence-boosting music
- Take deep breaths
- Create a clean and calm work atmosphere (A fireplace youtube video always works for me!)
- Start with a small and simple task first
- Or: start with the most stressful task first if it works better
- Adapt to your productivity cycle
- Start immediately
- Hand it in when you are done, not when the deadline is
- Split your tasks in weeks or days and finish your small portion every day
- .Set up a calendar and mark the deadline, also scratch off past days
- Get all your necessary documents and people on board from the beginning
- Never push a task to tomorrow “because the deadline is still weeks away”
- Plan time buffers in between
- Be kind to yourself
- Finish your task even if it’s not “perfect”
- Positive affirmations
- Ask someone else (if possible) if your work is alright
- Remember “perfect” doesn’t exist
