Procrastination - NOT a Problem!

"I'm feeling guilty because I procrastinate too much"

A quick search on Twitter confirmed my hunch.  At that place are a lot of  people talking virtually procrastination, and the tweets I surveyed  are filled with feelings of guilt, regret and remorse.

The word "procrastinate" is a heavy ane, and I believe that people are  trying to solve the problem the wrong manner, leaving them with baggage that just won't seem to go away no matter what they do.

Procrastination: Not a Problem!

Perhaps procrastination only isn't the problem we think information technology is.

Webster's Dictionary defines the word as follows:

procrastinate: To put off from solar day to day; to delay; to defer to a hereafter fourth dimension

Anyone who is skillful at managing their fourth dimension will tell you that the  act of "putting off from mean solar day to day," "delaying" and "deferring to  a future time" are required skills in today's information age.

With engineering science has come an increased number of demands on our fourth dimension,  and a diversity of ways in which we allow ourselves to exist  interrupted, reminded or prompted to make new commitments. The only smart tactic to take is to put things off until subsequently.

Take the elementary example of checking your email Inbox.

In fifteen minutes it's possible to scan 100 new items, while making  thirty instant decisions to take further action.  Information technology's impossible to human activity on  all xxx items immediately.  Instead, it's a much improve thought to focus on a  single item at a time, rather than trying to split one's attention between multiple tasks.

In other words, it's better to "put information technology off from today," "delay"  or "defer to a future time" than to endeavor to practice multiple actions  at the same time, in the very adjacent moment.

Why is procrastination deemed to exist such a problem if, by its definition, the activity is such a benign and even useful i?  I suspect that  when we call a problem past its wrong name, we preclude ourselves from seeing clear, common-sense solutions.  The give-and-take "procrastination" is being used to label the wrong problem.

The Real Problem

To sympathise the existent problem, let'south await at some cases in which  actual failures occurred, and why they had nothing to do with  procrastination.

Failure #i – A Missed Due Date: Sam'southward homework was due on Monday forenoon, and she waited until  tardily on Sun evening to get started.  Later on she started she institute  out that the assignment required  at to the lowest degree xx hours of piece of work, which she could not complete in time.   The assignment was handed in tardily, and her tardiness cost her a  full alphabetic character course co-ordinate to the rules stated in the syllabus.

Analysis: Most might telephone call Sam a procrastinator, merely I but encounter that she has a weakness in scheduling her fourth dimension.  The failure started by  not properly estimating the size of the task, and continued when  she didn't use her calendar to determine the all-time time to beginning the assignment.

In this case what nosotros telephone call procrastination is actually a trouble  with the bailiwick that time management experts would telephone call "personal scheduling."

Failure #2 – Several Delays: Mike has made an internal decision to cutting the lawn on Saturday,  an activity that he despises.  On the appointed 24-hour interval, other events intervene, and he decides to cut the lawn on Sun instead.

Sunday rolls around and once again he decides to postpone his date  with the lawnmower until Wednesday.

On Wednesday he decides that next Friday would exist better, and  he in one case again foregoes the much needed chore.

On Fri he finally cuts the unabridged lawn in ane effort.

Assay: Was Mike procrastinating?  Many would say yes, and  they might strongly imply that he was just being lazy.

If I add in the fact that it rained on Fri, Monday and Tuesday  nights rendering the footing soft and unsafe for a cut, would it be  said that he was nevertheless beingness lazy, and procrastinating?

If I add in the fact that his neighbour cut his lawn nether similar  conditions would y'all change your heed?  And if I add together in the fact  that the neighbour is known to exist a drunkard who sometimes does  crazy things help yous to change your  mind again?

The problem with the way we utilize procrastination is that information technology has come to mean much more than the dictionary definition, and now brings with it  an accusing tone filled with arraign.

If we were to employ the dictionary definition of the word nosotros'd conclude that he was simply re-scheduling.  The fact is that he deferred  the activity, and according to the dictionary, he was procrastinating.  Co-ordinate to our common-24-hour interval usage of the discussion, it all depends on  whether or not he was to blame for the delay.

The charge of being a "procrastinator" that we lay confronting  ourselves and others has a go a mode to cast arraign.

Solutions

The negative judgements and feelings related to procrastinating  don't come from the delays, the  putting off or the postponements.  Instead they come from our  judgemental minds which  accept decided that something or someone is to blame.  A close expect at the examples above reveal that  it's really the negative thoughts that are producing the guilty  feelings and the blame, and Not the actual rescheduling.

What tin can nosotros do well-nigh these negative thoughts?  What tin can we exercise if we  go on to arraign ourselves and others for procrastinating?

There are a variety of approaches that we can apply, but  this is  my personal favorite.  Byron Katie'south methods of dealing with  stressful thoughts is the method that I have used for the past four years. (Her entire approach tin can exist found at her website.)

Her thesis is simple, and is a practiced lucifer for the problem of blame.

Stress is never caused by life circumstances, just instead it  originates in the thoughts that we have, and whether or not we  believe them.

In the example above, Sam'due south consignment was late (a fact,) but her thought that "I'k a procrastinator" would only crusade stress if she believed it.

On Katie'due south site, there is a powerful and simple process. Information technology involves dealing with stressful thoughts by  get-go writing them down and then  applying 4 questions and what  she calls a turnaround statement (an opposing thought.)

The event of using her procedure on stressful, judgmental thoughts nigh procrastination is a sense of relief in which statements  like "I should stop procrastinating" might still recur, but  without the stress that usually comes.

While this kind of habit might non seem to be related to time  management, there are and then many who struggle with thoughts of  procrastination that if they could get past their own thinking, it  would aid bring peace of mind — which is the goal of every time management arrangement.

So, if you lot retrieve you take an issue with procrastination, showtime past  separating your actions from your thoughts. Bargain with your skill at scheduling if you demand to. According to the dictionary, you are  probably doing the right thing by procrastinating.

If you discover that you have blaming thoughts that continue returning, and that  they are causing stress, use Katie'south method to free yourself to be as productive as you lot tin be without this  harmful addiction.

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Source: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/procrastination-not-a-problem.html

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