How often has your sink started with one utensil on a Monday and ended up with 38843843432 on a Friday? Procrastination! – We’ve all been there. 

We’ve all missed a laundry day, pushed an assignment till the last day of submission, not cooked when we were supposed to and then used ramen to survive instead. Unfortunately, for some, their day does not end without having procrastinated at least one task a day.

Apart from having to go through the anxiety of doing things at the last minute, procrastination is an unhealthy obstacle pushing our life goals further away.

Are you looking to climb out from the depths of procrastination? Here are some ways that may help you.

Emotion management

People often associate procrastination with time management when it’s more of emotion management. 

We resort to procrastination mainly because of the feeling we associate the task with. For example, cleaning up our room, completing our assignments, and rinsing our dishes are often tasks we look at as chores. 

Instead, if we force ourselves to look at the positives that we may derive from the task, it can help us in not wanting to delay it. For instance, giving more importance to the rewards after completing the task than the task itself; a clean space, not ruining the entire day thinking about doing an assignment, peace of mind, you get the idea.

Allow your heart to experience the high of having completed a task.

Set start dates instead

Often when we are presented with an end date for a task, which does not tickle our emergency nerves, we keep telling ourselves that we have until then to complete it. That leisure sets in. 

Try setting up a start date for the task instead so that you at least begin on a particular day rather than leaving it to the end date to let the pressure build. We do not always work the best under pressure.

Take a break

Sometimes, more often than not, the reason we end up procrastinating is that we’re tired. Yes, it can be as simple as a tiring day which leads to an overload of things piling up in the future. However, if the task needs to be done that day itself, taking small but timed breaks while doing it can help. This way, you’re doing the task, but at the same time, you’re giving yourself time to relax.

On other days, take a break and laze out, just make sure to balance it out by utilizing the next day!

Use the two-minute rule

Whenever you find yourself avoiding a task, use the two-minute rule, where you reduce the entire task to what you can get done in two minutes. This way, even if you’re not completing the said task, you’re at least doing some of it. This builds consistency; doing even 2% of the task regularly is enough to keep it from piling up. Often when you start with the two-minute rule, you’ll find yourself getting the task done anyway.

YOLO

No, we’re not kidding; we’re taking it literally. This technique often comes in handy when you avoid doing a critical task for your personal growth, career or life.

When you find yourself pushing a task to laze around, you must remind yourself that you only live once. You only have now to prove yourself, so get going!

Procrastination is not just laziness; sometimes, it’s your attitude! We hope these tips help you overcome it.

Tackle procrastination with these 5 tips for improving mental health during the school year.

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