Personal Development Procrastinators
In this post, we'll show you how to stop being a procrastinator as it pertains to personal development. This is a lot more than just not doing the dishes: It's about making positive changes in your life that can lead to increased self-confidence and happiness. I'll also reveal some of the most effective ways you can use to improve your procrastination.
Before we go into the techniques, let me give you some background on why you procrastinate in the first place — as well as some helpful solutions.
Procrastinator: A person who avoids stressful tasks in favor of less -stressful tasks, especially when they involve reading or working at home. Procrastinators often spend a great deal of time and energy avoiding their responsibilities but not enough time completing them. Procrastinators are often described as being "do-it-later" type people, which is usually an indication that they do not have high self-esteem and even self worth. It's easy for people to look at you and say, "They do it later, it must make sense." However, as a procrastinator myself, I know that it's not always the case. Procrastinators tend to be very subjective in their way of thinking: they value quantity over quality.
Okay, so why is procrastination a bad thing? It's important to understand that the term "procrastination" is a bit of a misnomer. In other words, the word "procrastinate" means to put off or delay an activity until a future date; meanwhile we really ought to be putting off doing something until tomorrow … like doing our laundry or spending more time with our family.
However, when it comes to your personal development, it's a little different. When you procrastinate on things like improving your finances or getting in shape, then you're the one who suffers. When you procrastinate on studying for an exam or preparing for an interview, then you're the one who suffers. In short, by procrastinating on these activities — especially those that are important — you'll suffer because of how it can affect your career and income.
While there is some debate about the definition and nature of procrastination as well as what causes it, there is no question that being a procrastinator can be detrimental to your life. In fact, as you'll see in this post, it can hurt your career and finances. So how do you stop procrastinating? Here are four of the most effective solutions to help you become a less procrastinating person.
1 — Develop a Plan
The first step to stopping procrastination is to develop a plan (or plans) for doing things that you need to do. I can't emphasize this point enough: the first step to stopping procrastination is developing a plan for doing things. That's right — developing a plan for everything that you need to do can go a long way in helping you overcome procrastination.
For example, if you need to lose 40 pounds and have been putting it off for months or even years, make a plan of things that you can do each day to help you reach your goal. If you have been looking for a job and can't seem to find anything, then sit down and make a plan of what things you need to do each day that will lead to finding a job.
A plan can help you overcome procrastination because it will force you to be proactive and stop being so reactive. Remember, the reason that you procrastinate is because you want to avoid doing the things you don't want to do. However, by developing a plan that leads to your success, then that same strategy can be used against you; it reminds me of a line from Dexter: "If I make a plan for everything, I'll never have any problems."
2 — Make a List
It seems like we're always being told to make lists and write down what we need to do. This strategy works great when it comes to studying for an exam or packing for a trip. But when it comes to procrastinating, you can use this technique to get over your fear and resistance. For example, if you've been procrastinating on studying for an exam by putting off reading for long periods of time, then start a list of all the things that you need to do in order to prepare for your test. Writing down what you need to do makes it easier for you to feel like you're getting something done.
The next step is to make sure that each item on the list is small enough so that there's a good chance that at least one of them will be accomplished. This way you can look at the list and say, "I've done something today. I'm on my way to completing my goal."
What this does is it gets rid of the fear, worry and resistance that naturally occurs when you don't do the things that you need to do. It also gives you a sense of accomplishment and confidence, which motivates you to move on to the next item on your list. As an added benefit, making lists makes sure that you're not forgetting anything. If there's one thing that we all have in common, it's a bad memory. So if we forget something, then we risk making ourselves look bad or even sabotaging our progress altogether.
3 — Break the Big Tasks into Small Ones
One of the main reasons that you procrastinate is because you have a hard time breaking down big tasks into smaller ones. There are two ways of looking at this problem: either you can think of it as a mental issue or you can view it as a physical one.
In the first case, your mind thinks that if you break up big tasks into small ones, then you'll feel overwhelmed and won't have time to get them done. But in reality all it does is make it easier for you to procrastinate because each task will seem smaller and less intimidating in comparison to how big the whole project really is. You'll still feel the same amount of anxiety or fear, but you'll be able to handle it because of how much smaller each task looks.
You can combat this situation by breaking down big tasks into smaller things and then creating a plan that leads to your success. For example, if you've been putting off writing a business plan because you think it will take too much time and effort, then set aside an hour or two on a regular basis and start writing a small section of your business plan. Then set another goal of making one change for every section that you write. This way every step is small enough so that it increases the chances that you'll actually accomplish it.
Conclusion
So what's the best way to stop procrastinating? It all depends on whether you view it as a mental issue or physical issue. If you view it as a mental issue, then taking action to develop a plan and make lists is the best solution for you. However, if you view it as a physical issue, then making sure that your tasks are small enough and that each step leads to your success can help you overcome procrastination.