Overcoming Procrastination
Productivity in today’s society has been used as a measurement to gauge how well days are utilized. Time is very precious to us, we can not obtain time loss and there are no guarantees that we will have more time than we do today. Productivity gives us a sense of accomplishment especially when we find ourself closer to our goals. Unfortunately, productivity has a born nemesis and that is procrastination. We have a tendency to procrastinate when we opt for short-term gain or pleasure in exchange for long-term pain or negative consequences. This can be illustrated when we are working toward big goals (applying for school) or small tasks (renewing our licenses). Instant gratification is the initial human preference and sometimes this can back fire on us. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy has an explanation as to why we procrastinate and by understanding the why we are more prepared to comeback and overcome this tempting behavior.
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy identifies three factors that contributes to our procrastination:
Low Frustration Tolerance
Ego-Anxiety
Anger/Resentment
Low-Frustration Tolerance
Not knowing the how to accomplish tasks is rarely the reason why we procrastinate, it is when we magnify or exaggerate the effort it takes to accomplish the task and this is called Low-Frustration Tolerance. Anytime we convince ourselves that it’s too hard to walk up in the morning or we’re too busy to respond to emails, we are exhibiting low-frustration tolerance. Another example of this belief is when we tell ourselves that we aren’t motivated enough to complete the task or we’d rather be doing something else rather than focus on the task at hand. A fun way to combat this thinking is prompting the question: If I were given $10,000 to complete the task would the excuse still be valid? If I proclaimed that enduring a task is too hard to bear and I was given $10,000 for every minute I can spend on the task…you better believe I'd invent a Time Machine and accumulate as much of the money as I could!
Ego-Anxiety
In some cases, we base our total self-acceptance on the outcome or the judgement of others. We begin asking ourselves, what will the outcome or judgement prove about me? We procrastinate on writing a book or breaking up with someone we no longer love because we are concerned with our image and we make an effort to protect our ego. A great way to combat and challenge this thinking is by detaching the totality and essence of self on the outcome or other’s judgment. That if you manage to fail at a task, it doesn’t make you a total failure and suppose your action is deemed bad by others, it doesn’t make deem you entirely bad to the point where you see yourself as a bad person!
Anger/Resentment
This is actually one of the most silliest of thinking that we human beings subject ourselves to. We often procrastinate as an effort to punish others or the world. We’d rather drink the poison expecting the other person to die. I’ve had individuals procrastinate on doctor appointments because they don’t like their assigned primary care physician, when the appointments are necessary for their health. We believe that procrastinating will teach others a lesson or make things right in the world, when in reality we are experiencing the suffering. An effective way to combat this thinking is by accepting the unpleasantness of the situation, but realistically evaluate who would really be impacted by the procrastination.
Other Helpful Ways to Overcome Procrastination
Start with the task you make yourself most anxious over. Oftentimes, we save the worst for last, but rarely do we find the energy or motivation to complete the task we put off in the first place! It’s better to complete the task you are the least motivated to complete so that you can get it out of the way. You may find that the experience wasn’t as painstaking as you made it seem.
Break a large task into small steps You may have a big task or goal for yourself and you may make yourself overwhelmed or stressed out. You will find that if you break the task into small manageable steps, you’ll have a more pleasant experience completing it…think about it, no one eats a huge turkey in one bite!
Begin and give yourself 20 minutes. Individuals may make goals for themselves and hope for consistency, but rarely is motivation consistent, it’s mostly the discipline to do the task. When motivation is lacking or non-existent, it’s better to commit to focusing on the task for 20 minutes and you’ll often find your groove to a point where you don’t even want to stop. Apply this for the next time you want to workout or when you want to get back into your hobby of reading books.
Bonus: Pull from a hat: Find yourself with a long to-do list and you’re making yourself anxious over where to start, write each tasks on a scrap of paper and put the paper in the hat. Then pull from the hat and begin the task! it takes the need to indecisiveness out of the equation!
