(5 min read)
Procrastination. Even the word sounds sloppy, lazy, and ordinary. Truth to be told, we have all procrastinated something we had to do at some point in our lives. The funny thing is that we later feel bad about it because our procrastination caused us to rush, stress and panic to complete a task within its due date, a task that would have otherwise been completed in a smoother way if we would have started it earlier. We feel guilty, we feel bad. We make a commitment that we will overcome the habit of procrastination, and yet, we still do.
But even worse is a personal goal that you have wanted to achieve for a long time and have not taken the necessary actions to achieve. It could be losing weight, learning a new skill, earning a new certification, getting a promotion at your workplace, starting your own business, a new house, a new car, you name it. At the end of the day, we have all procrastinated at some point on our goals and dreams.
Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something. The real problem is when procrastination becomes a habit. Like all habits, it can be replaced by a more empowering habit, one that will contribute to your success. First, we need to understand something. Procrastination is the opposite of decision. Every definite and real decision is followed by ACTION. If you haven’t acted on something, you haven’t really decided.
Decision is the Ultimate Weapon against procrastination
The verb decide comes from the Latin word, decidere, which is a combination of two words:
1. De= “OFF”
2. Caedere = “Cut”
In other words, when you decide, you cut off yourself from any other possibility.
But the real question is why do we procrastinate on the first place? Why don’t we make the decisions that get us to take the actions we need to take when we need to take them? Let’s dive into that.
Let me introduce you to the twin forces that influence all human behavior: Pain and Pleasure. Our brains are wired to continuously search for ways to move ourselves away from pain, and into pleasure. Is just human nature.
So, why do we procrastinate? It’s simply because we associate more pain to do a certain task and pleasure to not doing it. Any time that we get into doing something that we have been avoiding, it’s because the opposite happens. We associate more pain to not doing the task (getting fired, not meeting the deadline, not achieving business objectives, an unpleasant private meeting with your boss, etc) and more pleasure to get done with the task.
As previously stated, procrastination is the result of associating pain to do a certain task and pleasure to not doing it. The pain associations could be (just to name the most common)
1. Fear
2. Dislike of the activity/discomfort
3. Lack of knowledge on the task
Another interesting factor is that the longer you wait to complete a certain task, the more difficult it will be to get started with the task and get done with it, which bring us to our last topic.
The Law of Diminishing Intent
The Law of Diminishing Intent states that “the longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never actually do it.” A concept originated by Jim Rohn, it was John Maxwell who later wrote about it in his book titled “The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth”.
The bottom line is: you want to overcome the habit of procrastination? Decide. Take action now. Do something about it now. Don’t think on it. Act on it. Just do it. And make it a habit. You may find it hard the first couple of times, because you are breaking a pattern, but don’t let this stop you. Keep going. After some time, you will find it easier and easier taking action when you would have otherwise procrastinated on a certain task. It is ok if you cannot complete the whole task now, but at least get started. And make sure you include this task on your schedule to get it done. Remember, every definite decision is followed by an action.
“When you act as soon as you must, the habit of procrastination dies from not being fed, and no one laments it's passing.”
Productivity Hack
One final bonus hack to beat up procrastination. There is a productivity tactic called Eat the Frog (not a fancy name, I admit, but bear with me). Starting your day with your hardest task is often the best thing that you can do each and every day. That one task that you absolutely hate doing (usually the one you procrastinate) is usually the one task that is going to help you progress more than anything else. And doing it at the start of each days makes everything else seem pretty simple when it comes across your desk. Whether it be starting your day with working out, going on an inbox purge, making calls, or even just making your bed, make sure to do something hard to start each day, and you will begin to condition your self-discipline muscle.
To quote Brain Tracy from his book “Eat That Frog,” :
"If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.”
So, get to action (and remember to eat that frog).