A Habitual Procrastinator’s Tips for Breaking the Habit
I am a habitual procrastinator. I always carry a long “To Do” list of ideas and strategies I plan to implement on the subsequent weekend or an extended holiday that never comes.
My problem is that I know I am a procrastinator, but even then, I have been doing it for the last twenty years. What a shame!
I knew I needed to do something before it became too late, and the time had come for introspection. I decided to go for my typical brainstorming session. Strangely I never procrastinate when I plan my brainstorming sessions.
I started this session the following Saturday early in the sunny morning in my garden with a cup of herbal tea in my hand.
When I started contemplating, the first tip my brain passed on to me was, “Don’t worry, you procrastinate because you are a talented creative thinker and a dreamer and not a doer”.
Because I know a little bit about psychology, I understand how our brain functions. Its utmost priority is our safety, so it generates reasons emphasizing all is well so that you don’t unnecessarily take any risk. Many times it becomes counterproductive for you.
The good news is that it is easy to train your brain the other way. And you can do that by challenging its opinion by giving an example.
And my example was: I go to work every day at 08:30 PM and work there till 04:40 PM without procrastinating. I never tell there; oh, can I start today at 09:00 AM because I am not in a mood to work, or I am in a mood to think and not work today? If I start doing that at work, they will kick me out the next day.
That was my Eureka moment. I had sealed my reason for procrastination. I only work if I have external pressure. It’s similar to a boat that only moves when the wind pushes; without any external forces, it will remain stuck in the same spot.
I have two options:
- Train yourself to work even if there is no external pressure.
- Apply external pressure when you are working on your personal projects and ideas.
I evaluated these options and realized that the first one is too difficult to do as, in some way, your genes are involved in that habit.
So, I was left with option 2.
It was time to make my roadmap for option 2. I had planned to implement a customized GPT interface on my WordPress blog this weekend. I needed to put external pressure on myself to remain motivated and complete the job.
As a part of my strategy, I told many people about my weekend plan. To put some extra pressure, I told my daughters, friends in the pub, colleagues at work, and even my boss.
The pressure was already building. These are significant connections in my life. I can’t let them down (or, more correctly, I don’t want to become a laughingstock in front of them)
Believe me, guys, it worked. That Saturday, I continuously worked for 7 hours, followed by three hours on Sunday to finish my project.
What a satisfying moment it was, like the ultimate bliss!
Now my life is more in control.
This worked for me, but it may not work for you. Every person is unique. Even if the problem of procrastination is the same for most of us, our solutions will always be different. I introspected to find out why I procrastinated; you also need to introspect, pinpoint the problem and then find the appropriate solution.
Most of my ideas are derived when I do brain-storming sessions at:
SCHOOL OF POSITIVE TRANSFORMATION
Transformation in Action
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