Procrastination

Procrastination drives up the levels of stress and mental fatigue. This is a disregarded and under-evaluated pain.

We very often think about that thing, that thing that annoys us? We don’t want to do it. We think that we will do it later. It can deals with cleaning the house, tidying its bedroom, learning for an exam, managing those administrative issues, launch a new project, plan a wedding….

But we don’t take action and we just continue to do what we were doing.

On the moment we feel like we made a good deal….

We have delayed the task. But the problem is that by postponing an action, as long as it is not done, we feel anxious at the idea that we didn’t do it...

We feel queasy until we do it, we reach a stressful state of mind, and we often feel that we lack of control on our life…

It’s like that we don’t fully live the moment because we think about the moment when we will have to do it.

The problem of procrastination plays in loop with stress and low self-esteem.

It can be the origin of issues to people who have skills, who have potential and who want to accomplish great things… but who doesn’t succeed to do simple things in life.

It seems like this is not a lack of bravery, of willingness or of cleverness. If thinking overwhelms doing , we will constantly think and at the end we won’t succeed.

HOW TO HANDLE IT ?

First, should we look around the cause of it.

What is the reason of it? Is it because of an important stress? Is it because of a lack of trust? Is it because of deficit of motivation?

One strategy highlighted by Benjamin Lubszynski could be the following. With the help of a smartphone, we can plan to do things that are pleasant but also plan the ones that are not. The goal, throughout the week, is to abide by the minutes the completion of this unpleasant action. Step by step, we will increase the complexity of the task, or the number, in order to avoid stalemate until that the habit has been totally settled.

THE FLOW

Do we lack of control? Do we lack of discipline? Are we overwhelmed by stress?

One interesting idea is the “FLOW”. This notion has been developed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in the years 1975'. It was used in many fields such as sport, music, education, spirituality and even seduction. It is very similar to what we could call the “hyper-concentrated” state. Besides, it is not only a individual state, as it can be shared by a group or a team with a “copresence” feeling.

Steven Kutler, a speaker and author, has dealt with such topic. Indeed, flow follows focus. He says that such mindset only shows up when all our attention is “the right here, right now”.

“We pay the most attention to the task at hand when the challenge of the task slightly exceeds your skill set.

He adds that you want to “stretch but not snap”. In fact, this is utside the comfort zone but just a few steps from the inside.

This notion sits not on but very near the midpoint between boredom (not enough stimulation, not paying attention) and anxiety (paying too much attention).” This sweet spot is called the “flow channel”.

95% of the time procrastination is: the challenge is too hard | The challenge is too boring.

How do I motivate myself to get started? How to push myself into the flow state?

This is important to figure that out since once we get in that flow state, we can enjoy the process and it might be difficult from putting us away from that work.

Example :

If this task is too simple, how can we manage to make harder, like slightly harder?

Steven Cutler speaks about the fact that when he started writing as a journalist, he would take any story and write about it. But some of these stories were less than interesting. Thus, he would put himself as Charles Dickens or Hemingway in order to write the story, with their voice. He would ask himself how would they write such story. Suddenly he became interested.

The difficulty is to find balance so that the task isn’t too hard or too simple.

TIPS

- PLACE: It can be to do the work you need to do in a new place, a new library or a coffee shop for example;

- TIMING : You can use the Pomodoro Technique. The initial idea was to set a timer for 25 minutes, work, and then take a short break for 5 minutes and then repeat again and again. The idea is to create a sense of urgency;

- SPREAD : You can create a to-do list with the compounds of the tasks, and if this is still too overwhelming, you can split again and create more tasks: break that up into more manageable goals;

- Clear your workplace. Usualy this is a factor that has an impact on our motivation. With a clear and well-looking worplace, we feel more capable to get to work;

- Think about the level of satisfaction you will benefit when you have your work/task done.

CONCLUSION

Actually, the best part of overcoming procrastination, (and check-off all those items from this to-do list) is that you can enjoy a much-deserved break, completely guilt-free.

A moment free of pain.

A moment fully lived.

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Thanks for reading :)

Valentin