PROCRASTINATION: Why do we DAWDLE?

Last week we discussed about how to pump up productivity and what simple hacks and twitches can enhance our productive levels in the day. 

But, have you ever thought what is one thing that puts the whole zest of productivity to death? It is PROCRASTINATION- and this is the theme of the week. 

We all have been the procrastination pest at one point or the other – be it doing the laundry or working on that project or starting the fitness regime.

Procrastination is basically the tendency of an individual to put the task off. In other words, it is the joy of instant gratification that takes over the effort in doing the task and hence you intend to delay the less pleasurable task at hand.

But why do we really procrastinate? There are mainly 2 root reasons of why we love procrastinating- these 2 root reasons give birth to other multiple reasons.  Lets discuss below the two main reasons:

Lack of perspective: We often develop a love affair with our myopic world- where we tend to care more about our present happiness and pain than our ability to relate our-self with the future picture. This is the reason we like to enjoy the instant benefits and pleasures of the present. When the perspective gets blurry- we are not able to relate our present selves with our long term goals or our future plans, that is when we are trapped in to the chronic, “I’ll do it later trap”.

Tip: Build a clear perspective where you are able to align your present actions in sync with your future goals, plans and life.  One simple trick can be to visualise the benefits if you take that action instead of procrastination. For example: imagine how would you look if you lost those 10 pounds of weight.

Fear of the failure:  Another reason for procrastinating is the fear of failing at the task. One of the common tendencies of human nature is to stay in the ‘safe zone’. Any activity that requires taking up risk, or facing an unknown element  develops an emotion of fear in us. This is more common with people who have a fixed mindset- who are afraid to try new things and stick to what they are best at.

Tip: Drop the notion of picture perfect- To err is human. We are gifted with skills and talents that can be enhanced with practice, and practice comes with taking actions. Ponder over questions like: ‘Am I afraid of process or end result?’, ‘ Will I be able to handle the outcome?’ ‘ What will be the worst case scenario?’- this will lead you to find answers to your fear.