Procrastination, as dictionary defines it, is action of delaying or postponing something. It is one of the key challenges for almost every one. This has turned out to be a bad habit now a days. I must say, every second person suffers from procrastination. This is just not a personal disorder but it leads to loss of productivity, loss of time, increase in hazard due to unnecessary delay. If left untreated, may lead to many personal or professional hazards. This may sound funny but indeed this is one of the most dangerous factor. Believe me, this may play havoc in personal and professional life.
Fighting procrastination is not easy. This as tough as reducing weight or trying to wake up early. I am notifying some of the wonderful ways to overcome this.
1. Will-Power: This a powerful tool. With enormous will-power one can overcome any bad habit (Of Course, Procrastination as well). Robin Sharma quoted that will power is like a muscle, you have to flex it to make it strong. Wonderful thought ! Yes will-power need to be exercised in order to make it really strong. With strong will-power all bad habits can be dealt with.
2. Identify The Problem: In order to find out the solution, one need to find out the problem first. This is one of the toughest jobs. At times, we avoid many works like this only. But if we go deep, we will know that we are avoiding a job due to some specific reason. This can be some fear, some past experiences, some financial problems, some suspected embarrassment, or even laziness as well. At time problem is quite funny. But we need to identify the problem.
3. Find out the solution: Once you know what the problem is, it is easy to find out the solution. Remember, every problem has a solution. You need to find the key to open a lock. If problem is fear, then look for ways to overcome it. If the problem is some experience, try to get that out of memory and make a fresh start. If problem is financial, take help of a specialist to overcome it. If problem is bit suspected embarrassment, the look for the ways to avoid it. If your laziness prevents you to do the job now, then keep challenging yourself every time. But please do not sit on the problem. Look for a solution. Sitting on a problem will make it complicated with every moment passing.
4. Develop “Do It Now” mentality: This may sound philosophical, but this is an excellent tool to overcome procrastination. This is a habit which need to be developed. This will take time, so keep trying. Habits come from Sub-conscious part of our mind. So in order to develop this habit, you need to train your sub-conscious mind. Well, I try train my sub-conscious, by a simple technique. What I do is, when I go to sleep or wake up, I say a particular affirmative phase ten times. Let us assume you say “I will do all my work instantly without any delay”. Say it ten times before sleep and after waking up. More you say this more it gets registered in sub – conscious. As it gets registered in sub – conscious, it becomes a habit. Beauty of sub-conscious mind is it cannot differentiate. So you can train your sub-conscious way you like it.
5. Make a note of violation of resolution: Well, in order to start this phase, you need to make a resolution first. Say you make a resolution that you will do work instantly. Then you train your sub-conscious as per above mentioned point. Now it is not easy to live by resolution. As per an article by Dan Diamond, editor of the Advisory Board’s Daily Briefing, published in Forbes website in Jan 2013, only 8% of people achieve their New year resolution. Is it not a shocking fact? Yes, it is! But, please do not think I am discouraging you to make resolutions. Please make resolutions and try to live by it. Everytime you miss to follow the resolution, just make a note of it. This process will act as autopilot for you. At times owing to various factors aircraft deviates from the laid path. Auto-pilot mechanism checks the deviation and helps to bring it back. Like this your autopilot by noting your deviation, you can bring yourself back to the laid path.
Above five points are proven ways by which many successful people have achieved excellence.
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