Causes of Procrastination And How to Overcome It

Understanding the causes of procrastination will make you understand the strategies you can take to overcome procrastination. People who are procrastinators usually think about why they procrastinate so much. They also think about why they keep on procrastinating even if they know it is bad for them. Procrastination is a habit for some without them knowing it.

 

People who are procrastinators, avoid things and tasks which are difficult in themselves. They tend to delay in work, relationships, etc, almost everywhere and this truly impacts their quality of performance in their personal as well as their professional life. It basically rules their life. They are having problems in their life and basically not get motivated to solve the problems.

 

The point is that everyone ignores some tasks in their lives but when you keep on postponing them and ignoring them, they will slow down your mood. This will affect your mental health as well. Ignoring behavior usually slows down your goals and dreams which can create some stress and frustration in your life. Here the time management becomes totally useless and shows up in your day to day life.

 

Causes Of Procrastination

 

Every one of you has different experiences and strengths which makes you different in yourself. Like this, you have different reasons because of which you tend to put things off. It is seen that even the most successful people have a tendency to put difficult people off their reach. Procrastination will not let you make use of your full potential and therefore you should stop making excuses and start taking a charge of your life with some strategies to overcome procrastination.

 

Some reasons for procrastination are:

 

1. A need for perfectionism: When there is a need for perfectionism, you worry to make mistakes or you may worry you’re your weaknesses will be revealed. The fear of weakness is the real one and because of this, you put things off for the other day. It all depends on the way you think of your strength and abilities. And this was explained by Carol Dweck in his book “Mindset-The New Psychology Of Success”

All want to give high-quality work but the problem arises when the goals are not fulfilled.

 

2. There is a fear of failure: Fear is basically an emotional response to some kind of perceived threat. In most cases, fight or flight response is presented and the flight is basically the avoidance here. You are not able to perform because of your fear of failure and therefore you make excuses to avoid it, which is known as procrastination. Researchers have also shown that procrastination is linked to a fear of failure and you feel incompetent to complete the tasks given.

 

3. Length and complexity of the task: The size, length, and how complex the task is always taken into the consideration. When the size and the length of the task are for example taking around 3 days or maybe 7 days, it is taken for granted and you can put it off. The same is with the complexity of the task. These kinds of tasks can make you question your skill level and they seem impossible to be completed.

 

4. Some nonenjoyable tasks: Some tasks are so lengthy that you do not enjoy them. This makes you feel tedious and tired. You ultimately start feeling sleepy and hence put the task off.

 

5. There is a lack of motivation: Even when the task is easy and comfortable for you, you are not able to start it. This may be because of the lack of motivation in procrastinator you and you may put it off the reality. People who usually procrastinate find difficulty in setting goals and believe that doing the tasks is pointless for them.

 

6. You are not able to start: When you are resisting that you should do a task, you are not able to start it. For example, you know that you have to wash clothes but you keep on gathering them in the corner of your room. According to the researches, the biggest obstacle in doing a task is to start it.

 

7. There is a lack of self-compassion: When you fail to do a task, you self criticize yourself. This self-criticism may lead to procrastination. Negative self-talk may lead to negative emotions and negative or overthinking and this will finally lead to procrastination and stress.

 

8. There are distractions: When there are distractions by your side you may put things off and hence procrastinate. For example, you have an important task to do, and your phone is near your eyes. The result will be a distraction because of your phone and this will lead to procrastination of the important task which you have to do.

 

Procrastinator often recognizes that there are some short term effects of that but there emotional impulse for diversion of things come in between and they are not able to control it anyway.

 

Overcoming Procrastination

 

When you want to say no to your procrastination, you can follow the simple steps. The following are the ways to overcome procrastination:

 

• Make a time limit you spend on a task

 

• Reframe the task and make it less aversive

 

• Keep a check on the excuses you use for procrastination

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• Take self-compassion and leave self-criticism

 

• You need to just get started and this will be followed by motivation to do the tasks

 

 

• Limit the distraction

 

• Make concrete tasks and stick to it

 

 

 

If you think that your behavior is procrastinating book an online session at TALKTOANGEL. Discuss with experts and know about yourself.

 

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