Procrastination – A barrier to success…!!!!

Procrastination is an Art..Yes it is!! Its the art of doing things which are less important instead of doing things which are more important. Like take an example of right now, as you are reading this blog, isn’t there anything that you are supposed to do instead which is more urgent? But now since your are here and I am glad you are reading my blog (Thank you!!), lets talk about how we can get our tasks (both urgent and non-urgent) done on time.

First off, you are not alone. There are many people around the world who procrastinate every minute. I mean no one is perfect. Even super heroes in movies take out time to kiss the girl they like or sneak a glance when they should be rather saving the world and catching the bad guys!! (I wanted to use a real life example but I didn’t want to hurt sentiments of people or communities). But do we want to be one amongst the crowd? Or do we want to stand out? Don’t all of us crave that moment of glory (can be both inward or outward) where you find yourself doing what others haven’t figured out yet? Well, if you do, lets find out how we can deal with this thing called “Procrastination”.

1. Stop lying to yourself – Yes, you don’t have time. Time is precious and it is running out, so if you have an exam coming or if you are planning to clear your wardrobe or drawers, do it NOW!! Don’t put off things for tomorrow because tomorrow you will have more urgent things to do. If some work has presented itself to you this instant, then do it now, not later.

2. Don’t over burden yourself – Now when I say that you need to start working NOW…I don’t mean that you have to finish the task right now. Break the tasks into smaller parts, complete a small chunk of the task everyday. Make sure the parts are more or less equal so that you don’t feel burdened and hence lose interest and hence keep the tasks for later and again get trapped in the vicious cycle of procrastination. You see where I am coming from?

3. First do what you do best – Once you have divided the task into smaller chunks, start the task with what you like the most. Like if you have to clear your wardrobe, pick whatever section you like most, for example you could start with the jewellery drawer, or the scarves hook or your socks and handkerchief section or maybe the bags section. So start with the section which interests you the most and keep you hooked on the job. When you are done with your favourite part, the other chunks will be a cake walk..!!

4. Take away the distractions – Take you phone, tablets/iPad, laptops or anything else that will not let you focus on the job at hand and keep it away in some place where they are not visible. I am so hooked to my phone that sometimes, I just start moving towards my phone in the middle of doing something else as if I am in a trance state where the phone has put a spell on me to go and check it every 5 minutes!! My point here is focus on the job at hand, finish it and then go and do whatever it is you have to do. “I solemnly swear that I shall do that myself :D”

Procrastination is a habit, and a bad one. In order to change any habit, we have to trick our brain in doing something different. And when you do that, your brain won’t be happy, you won’t be happy, but “You got to do what you got to do”, there is no running away folks, this is what it is. So the choice as always is yours. I hope you make the right one. Take care.

Image Courtesy : https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasleuthard/10891456256/sizes/m/