Escaping the cycle of procrastination
Introduction
You wake up, brush your teeth, wash your face, but don’t get dressed… You prepare a simple breakfast and begin to eat, all meanwhile you glance at your laptop, imagining the work you still have pending. You look around and notice your home is a mess, therefore deciding to begin cleaning instead.
At 12:00, your stomach growls, so you decide to make a nice lunch—but strange feelings begin to eat at you. It almost feels as if the back of your head is yelling something to you, but you are too far ahead to hear it. You’re torn in two, but why?
Read again.
“Help me…”
It isn’t that you don’t realize the cycle, it isn’t that you want to stop it from controlling you, it isn’t that you don’t know what is happening. Do those thoughts sound familiar to you? The bad news is, there is no quick fix to it. The good news is, you know. Sometimes identifying the problem is the biggest step you can take. Sometimes it can also be the cruelest—you know what is happening, but you don’t know how to fix it. Most of the time, the next step is knowing where it is coming from, which can help you understand the situation better and regain control over yourself.
In the many, three of the main ones include:
Fear of discomfort. The task might feel too heavy, boring, or confusing to start.
Fear of failure. Thoughts of, “What if I can’t?”.
Time discounting. Underestimating how long it will take to finish the task
Which one is closest to what you feel. Maybe you fear the consequences of failing more than you fear of starting, or maybe you think it’s easy (even if it is) and you can finish it later. Whichever it is, what can help you start? Yes, in fact, that is the goal; start. You don’t need to think of the whole project finished—as if your hands were able to finish once they touch the paper, computer, or whichever it is you use. You just have to place one word. Yes, even if it is “THE”.
What might also help is asking someone to, not root for you, but talk to you while you start—anything within subject.
Another is thinking of the most ridiculous scenario while starting, but within subject as well.
It isn’t always you who is the problem in everything that happens in your life. Everything really is complicated and unexpected, but figuring out what it is you will do with the problem and how you will bring it down is what will determine the next step.
Even if it includes some of these little tips for inspiration.
What might also help is asking someone to, not root for you, but talk to you while you start—anything within subject.
Another is thinking of the most ridiculous scenario while starting, but within subject as well.
I might not be a big figure, but I am also human. :)