How to Beat Procrastination and Stop Procrastination

A month to submit a report but you do it the night before. Already a year postponing the exercise routines that you need to comply with. Have you heard of procrastination ? Almost all of us have suffered from it at some point or period of our lives. Perhaps it has become ingrained in your way of being. If so, you know how difficult and problematic it is to study , work and even specify matters that concern you and/or others.

This article introduces you to several strategies that have become famous for their effectiveness in combating and overcoming procrastination. Knowing them you will have fresh ideas to apply them and test their results. Keep in mind that procrastination is a pattern of behavior (postponing, postponing, leaving for later), not an isolated behavior. Likewise, it has levels of severity and varies in its characteristics and direct causes from one person to another.

Pomodoro Technique

Well known and with a good reputation. It consists of alternating periods of action with minutes of relaxation or another task using a timer. The duration may vary. In general, 10 minutes of concentration on the task and 3 to 5 minutes of distraction are recommended, taking a longer break (15 minutes) every three cycles. The Pomodoro can be very useful if you need an external stimulus and interrupting the task does not affect its result.

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Reinforcement

Psychological concept. It is basically about granting yourself pleasurable stimuli (reinforcements) after having achieved what you wanted or had to do. Reinforcers range from food to situations. Rewarding yourself for taking action and not procrastinating would increase motivation to start, continue, or repeat. Never reward yourself before doing something! It would no longer be a prize. This is very effective with simple tasks. You should be careful not to overdo the frequency or type of rewards, especially if they might be harmful in themselves (for example, candy, alcohol, or video games).

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Decompose/Simplify

A task can be carried out with more agility and consistency if it is divided into several simple actions that give order and do not generate avoidance. If you have to set up a project, you divide it into: choose the topic, select the variables, read some sources, come up with a working title, write the first part of the problem, then the most complex... and so on. Doing each of these things within realistic timeframes is less intimidating than thinking about the project with its deadline and all that that implies. It can be frustrating the amount of tasks to be done is too much and you get saturated. It has no effect on routine activities.

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liven up

Basically, making something less unpleasant by combining it with something you like. For example, cleaning while listening to music, exercising with interesting people, and reading in a comfortable place. You run the risk of letting yourself be carried away by the pleasant element until you abandon the task; however, it can help you manage pressure and stress.

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Therapy

Sometimes procrastination is just a symptom of more serious internal conflicts and problems: perhaps fear of failure, confusion between what you want and the expectations of others, impostor syndrome, or an avoidant personality, among other possibilities. Seeking a psychotherapist to address these issues when other strategies have failed is a good idea. Negative side: it is perhaps the most expensive.

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To close

Procrastination is an evil of our times, not because it did not exist before, but because now it has a name and is more visible. You are not alone, you are not mediocre or you are not sick. Also, there are no magic formulas. Be patient and apply trial - error. You can achieve it.