Overcoming procrastination

Have you filled out the job application?

Not yet, but I plan to.

When?

I don’t know. I have time.

Why not do it now?

I don’t feel like it.

Hey, it’s been a week and I see you still haven’t filled out the application.

I know but I will.

If you feel frustrated reading this, it is probably because you know or live with a procrastinator. Procrastination can be frustrating to those who like to get things done.

If you are a procrastinator and want to change this behavior, work on time management along with regulating your emotions when under stress. To break the habit, allow yourself to feel the anxiety of doing a task, then work through the anxiety rather than avoid it.

Here are 10 additional tips to help break procrastination:

1. Break down the task to small, doable parts. Then decide when and how long you will work on that task. Just start. This is key!
2. Begin with an easy task. This will build momentum.
3. Identify your excuses. When they come to mind, label them as excuses!
4. Focus on what it will feel like to finish instead of how good it feels to avoid. Tell yourself: putting this off is just delaying the inevitable. Finishing will feel good!
5. Have a few mini delays built into your schedule. Take a small break, answer an email, and then get back to the task. Teach yourself to return to the task at hand.
6. Reward yourself for any part of the completion process. Whatever small step you accomplished, acknowledge it, and tell yourself, you can do this.
7. Build in accountability. Report to someone.
8. Don’t overthink the task. As Nike taught us, just do it!
9. Work on the task each day. Putting the entire task off is overwhelming and creates last minute anxiety that can be paralyzing.
10. When you finish, remember what you did and practice it again and again. This builds mastery and changes your brain.

Spiritually, consider this accountability found in Hebrews 12:11. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”  This verse reminds us that not all things we do are pleasant, but part of our discipline is to push ourselves to live a better life.