Mason Cooley once spoke the famous words, “Procrastination makes easy things difficult and difficult things even more difficult.” A hard truth, so read that first sentence again! I also believe that every person suffers from procrastination to some degree. But where did this come from? More importantly, how do we address it so that we continue to make progress, be proud of ourselves and feel happy? Read the answer in this blog.
Becoming aware
The very first and most important action in all this process is to dare to hold a mirror up to yourself, be honest with yourself and thus become aware of the tasks or things that prefer to be pushed aside. Once you dare to admit which items have been on the to-do list for more than a week, then the real work can begin. I suspect this will bring not so nice feelings for you such as demotivated, low energy, stress, fretting,…. High time to address this though so you can move forward, and free yourself from that to-do list that keeps growing. Becoming aware of your procrastination habits is already the first step toward being the master of your own time and energy!
Stop procrastinating
We can already agree that procrastination never starts from positive feelings. We are already aware of this. After this, it is important to also effectively do something with those insights and turn theory into practice. Focus on action and on the result and the feeling it brings. This is how you train your brain, so to speak, to tackle things and feel good about the actions you take to get things done. Also engage critically with your daily schedule. Do you really need to spend that much time scrolling through social media? Or could you use that time differently? The idea is to start breaking that negative spiral of wasting time and energy and get yourself to that first step toward tackling things because only then are you going to become a master at making progress!
Be kind to yourself
Throughout this process, you often have to look critically in the mirror. Easier said than done. The better you do this, the more time you will have to spend alongside this on liking yourself. You don’t change a habit by being angry with yourself. You should always try to start from your strengths. And one power that everyone can master is the power to like yourself. So do you go from procrastinating to tackling things? Then be extra nice to yourself for once. You too are on a learning curve and that’s totally okay! The fact that you already want to be intentional about this is a win that should be celebrated!
Are you also now so motivated to take back control of your to-do list and start working effectively? I am very curious to see if this will cause such a positive mindshift in you as well. Remember, start at the beginning and not everything has to be perfect. Give yourself a chance to learn and grow but keep thinking ahead!
