{"id":44682,"date":"2016-10-13T19:10:19","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T03:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=44682"},"modified":"2017-10-04T06:53:04","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T14:53:04","slug":"the-psychology-of-procrastination-5-ways-to-stop-putting-things-off-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/the-psychology-of-procrastination-5-ways-to-stop-putting-things-off-for-good\/","title":{"rendered":"The Psychology of Procrastination: 5 ways to stop putting things off for good"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Let me start this off bluntly, if that\u2019s ok with you.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re struggling with procrastination, the reason is a lot simpler than you probably think.<\/p>\n

In fact, it\u2019s frustratingly simple.<\/p>\n

And that is this: you don\u2019t hate<\/u> procrastination enough.<\/p>\n

Which is completely fine, but you need to know a few things.<\/p>\n

Procrastination takes away from our happiness more than we\u2019d like to admit. It\u2019s a silent killer that, like fast food and smoking, can steal years from us.<\/p>\n

It increases our stress, takes hours from our day, and means that when we have free time, we\u2019re often unable to fully enjoy it because we\u2019re constantly thinking about things we haven\u2019t yet finished. And the worst part, procrastinating (unlike fast food and smoking) isn\u2019t even very enjoyable in the moment!<\/p>\n

Imagine if there was a food that did all of those things. Imagine a burger that just tasted average. And every time you ate this burger you felt anxious, plus you had to drive an hour a day to buy it, and everything else you ate after that burger tasted a little off because you still had the taste of the burger left in your mouth.<\/p>\n

What would you do?<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, obviously you\u2019d stop eating the damn burger!<\/p>\n

But even though procrastination essentially does the same thing, we allow it to do so because we\u2019re not always aware of the effects.<\/p>\n

Once we grow to dislike procrastination enough, we can start implementing strategies to beat it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So without further ado, here are 5 ways to stop putting things off and overcome procrastination for good.<\/p>\n

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  1. Remind yourself what procrastination is taking from you<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The first step to stop putting things off is to remind yourself exactly what procrastination is taking from you.<\/p>\n

    Whether it\u2019s time with your family, enjoyment at work, a calm state of mind, every time you procrastinate you are losing something, and once you see that, it\u2019s natural that you\u2019ll become a lot more motivated to get things done.<\/p>\n

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    1. Find the ways you are procrastinating <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Once you are aware of the perils of procrastination, it\u2019s necessary to take an honest look at exactly how this phenomenon is playing out in your own life.<\/p>\n

      You can use a daily journal to track how you work from day to day, and importantly, how you procrastinate. Social Media? Text messages? Smoking or snack breaks? We all have our own mechanisms, and once you know what these are for you, you can create ways to minimize them.<\/p>\n

      If Facebook is your biggest time-waster you can use a site blocker, if it\u2019s text messages, put your phone on silent \u2013 whatever the issue, the first step is to reflect on why it is happening.<\/p>\n

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      1. Have a decision-making strategy in place<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        We have to make dozens of decisions every single day, so it\u2019s natural that they\u2019re going to take up a lot of our time. What you want however is to make sure that you have a decision-making strategy in place so the process is as quick as possible and you don\u2019t get stuck at each fork in the road, and end up procrastinating because of decisions that need to be made.<\/p>\n

        You can try creating and using a decision-making matrix<\/a>, which is essentially a roadmap to guide your decisions and speed up the process.<\/p>\n

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        1. Manufacture Urgency<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Motivation is a product of natural and manufactured urgency. When you feel you have something that needs to be done. In the case of natural urgency, you typically have a visible threat, if you miss this deadline you\u2019re going to be fired or your house is on fire so you have to get out.<\/p>\n

          Manufactured urgency, on the other hand, is a sense of urgency that you create. For example:<\/p>\n