5 Lessons I’ve Learned From 4 Years of Procrastination

“You stop procrastinating when the pain of not doing something is greater than the pain of doing it” Tony Robbins.

I procrastinated for four precious years of my life. I was always the one who left every single task to the last moment. I would always tell myself that I will start work from tomorrow but that tomorrow never came. It was a never-ending cycle.

I was devastated and felt like a complete loser who had big dreams but didn’t want to work for them. My grades were low, even though I would spend the whole day on a laptop. I would have months to complete my university project but, I would wait until the last day to start it.

No matter what techniques I tried to beat procrastination, I couldn’t let go of my habit. I spent four years thinking about tackling my to-do list but never took any action to do it.

Now that I look back at those years, I realize what I could have done in the past to overcome this addiction. Here are the five lessons I learned from procrastinating for four years. I hope they will help you in overcoming procrastination and inspire you to live a productive life.

Procrastination is NOT Laziness

For most people, procrastination, irrespective of what they say, is NOT about being lazy.I used to think that I was a slacker and lacked focus but, I could be very focused and active when I wanted to. I wished to check tasks off my list but, I couldn’t bring myself to start them. I used to write all the tasks in my planner but never got around to do them. It wasn’t because I had a time management issue or I was a lazy person. In fact, I had plenty of time and was quite active in completing tasks that made me feel happy. But, I would feel like not doing it today every single day. Hence, end up delaying it tomorrow again. This loop is hard to get out of if you don’t know how to.

Procrastination is not a matter, solely, of having poor time management skills, either, but rather can be traced to underlying and more complex psychological reasons. Habitual procrastinators are often perfectionists like I was. I wouldn’t start a task until everything in my surrounding was perfect, including my mood, weather, room temperature, etc. I’d always find excuses for not doing the work like the weather is awful and I have time, so why not do it tomorrow. But the real reason for me avoiding and delaying my tasks was rooted in my fear of doing poorly at my work or not completing it in time. Another reason was my dislike of those particular tasks like organizing my closet, doing laundry, or writing my English assignment.

When you catch yourself procrastinating next time, I want you to ask yourself and analyze why, exactly, you are procrastinating, rather than blaming laziness for delaying your task. Are you postponing your work because you don’t like it? Is it because you don’t feel like doing it? Do you fear that you are going to fail at it? Are you scared of being judged for not doing it perfectly?

Focus on One Task At a Time

Most procrastinators think multitasking is the definition of productivity but doing more than one task at a time, especially more than one complex task, takes a toll on productivity. Most humans aren’t multi-taskers and, That’s Ok. I often juggled several tasks at once but always felt more stressed, burnt out, and disappointed in myself. Our brains lack the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time — in moments where we think we’re multitasking, we’re likely just switching quickly from task to task.

When you focus on several tasks simultaneously, you are more likely to fail in them. Think of it — Have you ever tried answering phone calls and writing emails at the same time? And end up with a unfinished inaccurate mess. It’s because your attention and focus were split that got you distracted.

I broke my habit of multitasking by prioritizing my tasks. I now dump all my chores in my planner then, I assess and determine which one requires my utmost attention. On deciding, I use the 40/20 rule to complete the task. I devote all my focus without interruption to one task for 40 minutes and then, take a 20 minutes break, away from my work. This way, I feel accomplished at the end of the day that I at least did something, if not everything.

Get rid of Distractions

Avoiding distractions while working is tough but not impossible. Distractions could be of different sorts like technology, internet, toxic environment, noise, etc. All of these distractions affect your focus by sending you directly back to the procrastination loop.

I lived in a noisy neighborhood that affected my productivity A LOT. According to research, noise affects cognitive performance and brain signals. Whenever I sat to work, I would often get distracted by car honks, loud music of my annoying neighbors, and construction sounds. All of these distractions sucked my energy and left me drained. I would try again to take action but felt emotionally heavy and complex to do so.

I started building habits to eliminate distractions and take back control of my focus. I switched my phone on silent and put it away from my reach, I started using noise-canceling headphones, and when my mind wandered in between work, I started meditating to bring my focus back to where it belongs.

Break your Task

I can’t stress this point enough. My main reason for procrastinating to death was that big tasks made me overwhelm and anxious. Tasks that required way too much focus and energy intimidated me.

What I started doing is simply breaking a intimidating task into smaller tasks and, I started committing myself to complete one task each day. By doing this, my work became more manageable and less overwhelming.

For example, if I had to write a long blog post. I would break the process into several steps like searching topic name, finding keywords, deciding title along with heading and subheading then, committing myself to each step a day.

A technique that can keep you steadfast in committing yourself to each step is rewarding yourself with a break, a cup of coffee, or your favorite series when you complete a task. Rewarding yourself upon completing a task will help you keep going and, you will look forward to doing the task because it makes you feel accomplished.

JUST DO IT

The difference between dreamers and doers is that dreamers keep dreaming their entire life whereas doers just go for it. We all have dreams, passions, ideas that we want to pursue. Some don't do it because they fear the unknown and failure. They spend their entire life regretting not taking any action. Don't be one of those people.

The only way to succeed lies in the power of taking action. Sometimes you just want to start against all odds. I know it’s not easy when you are stuck in the loop of procrastination. But, when it hit you that no one is coming to do your tasks, no one is coming to make the process easier for you, no one is coming to help you achieve your dreams, and the choices you are making today are going to shape your future. If you don't do it right now, you will spend your entire life in regret.

When you see yourself falling into that pit of hopelessness by procrastinating all the time, I want you to snap out of it and do something, anything but just do it. I swear the tiny step you take today is going to take you a long way. When you feel like delaying your task to the next day, ask yourself if this is what my ideal future self would do? How is this going to affect my dreams? Do I want to regret not taking action all my life? SCARE YOURSELF. YES! SCARE YOURSELF. Tell yourself what you are going to lose if you don’t take action now.

Procrastination is a never-ending battle. Even after breaking this habit, I still sometimes feel like not doing anything and, it is ok. It is normal. We all do it. You can’t eliminate procrastination completely. However, you can take measures to stop it from turning into a habit. You must find a balance between working and resting as they both are incomplete without each other. It took me four years to get out of this habit. So, it’s not a magical process that just happens. You take tiny steps to betterment every single day. Don’t forget to be kind to yourself in this journey and love yourself enough to take a break when necessary without beating yourself for it. Forgive yourself for procrastinating and move on. Because moving on is the only way forward.