Stop Procrastinating: It’s All In Your Head

Have you ever ignored a mount of dishes piling up in the sink and decided to do something to distract yourself from tackling them? Like watching Netflix? 

Maybe you’ve forgotten the boring, mundane, yet important phone call you told yourself you’d make on Monday, but it’s now Thursday, and you still haven’t gotten it done. 

Or, you have a work task to complete by an upcoming date and have let it go from ‘I have plenty of time’ to ‘It’s due tomorrow, and I haven’t even started’. 

These are examples of procrastination, I wanted to start the blog this way because I understand how relatable these will be to the average person. 

Procrastination is extremely common, and the most shocking part is most people do not know they do it, or that it even has a name. 

I want you to simply imagine how much more productive you’d be if you got things done with no delays or ignoring.

If the idea of being that person excites you, keep reading to find out how. 

The Root Cause

Why do you think we do this? Why is it that we find workarounds and easy distractions from doing what needs to be done?

If doing them was easy, surely we’d get them done right away, right? 

The funny thing is, they are easy. Most things we procrastinate about are very easy-to-do tasks, yet, the thought of doing them feels uncomfortable.

And that, I believe, is the root cause.

The discomfort that’s associated with carrying out the thing that stops us from doing the thing.

But, and it’s a big but, the discomfort of thinking about it is always worse than the discomfort of actually doing it.

And, when we procrastinate, we prolong the thought of doing it, therefore we prolong the discomfort. 

We do this so much that when the time comes when we can no longer delay, and we need to act, the build-up of negative association has made doing the thing feel worse than it should. 

Simply put, procrastination makes everything worse, yet, we still do it. 

We not only do it, we do it so much that it becomes a habit, we do it without realising.

Procrastinating, that being finding other easy tasks to do, or finding easy distractions, becomes the automatic response. Without even realising it, you’ve become the least productive you could possibly be, all because you try to avoid discomfort.

This leads me to the next point.

How To Stop

If then, you’re someone you’d rather not be, it would most likely be a good idea to try to ‘unbecome’ them, and aim to change. 

So, considering procrastination, at its core, comes from avoidance of discomfort, that’ll be what you should aim to change.

The first way this can be done is by becoming comfortable, being uncomfortable. 

If the discomfort that comes along with the thought of doing the things didn’t bother you, you probably wouldn’t try to avoid them.

So, if you procrastinate, but you’re also someone who doesn’t do anything difficult, or at least tries to avoid discomfort completely, you should probably start there. 

Don’t forget, that many things that could set you on the path to becoming a better version of yourself and completely change your life are usually uncomfortable.

Taking on responsibility, starting exercise, losing weight, dieting, reading, and meditation are all things that feel uncomfortable, but change you for the better. 

So start there.

Another way to tackle procrastination would be to experience what it’s like to not procrastinate.

I know this sounds silly, but bear with me.

As I said the discomfort all stems from the thought of carrying it out, and the build-up from delaying it. 

When you simply get things done, exactly when they need doing, you avoid the discomfort altogether and are left with the pleasurable feeling of a clear mind.

So, by experiencing this, you’ll teach your brain that procrastinating is more uncomfortable than doing the thing, and you’ll start avoiding procrastination in an attempt to avoid discomfort. 

This is all great in theory, but how do you do this?

Do what you must, maybe give yourself the target of avoiding procrastination for a week or two weeks to experience what it’s like. 

You could write this down in your journal and do daily progress updates to ensure you’re reminded of the goal every day. 

Another thing that could help you achieve this is to avoid easy distractions.

Distractions are how procrastination survives. Without them, it dies.

So on the path to killing it, make sure you find a way to limit anything that may be distracting you.

If you’re trying to finish a work task, leave your phone in another room for example. 

Limiting distractions will be specific to the individual, from different distractions to different solutions for each, just make sure you remain conscious of what’s going on when you have something to do and how you react to doing it. 

From here, the job is yours, stop delaying and start doing.