~ Samridhi Prakash
What is Procrastination?
Procrastination is the thief of time. This word has its roots in the latin word, procrastinus, which means belonging to tomorrow. It talks about how we push things that we want to or should be doing, to tomorrow. Instead of being creative or productive, we spend our time wasting our energy on trivial activities. Our daily routine chart is marred with tiredness and remorse. The value of time is lost and every second we spend on matters unimportant, we lose those moments forever. The things we should be doing, the things we want to do, are all lost in the haze of doing things we actually end up with while procrastinating. We keep stalling our tasks to the very deadline. It is often confused with lethargy and laziness but that’s not the case. While procrastinating, we choose to spend our time on trivial matters unlike acting lazy and being inactive.
Why Do We Procrastinate?
Self control is the central factor affecting this habit. With the focus on individuality, we are required to make more decisions on our own. This leads to indecisiveness in a lot of people who start procrastinating in order to stall taking the important decisions. We are unable to understand and value the time we have and waste it on unimportant activities believing we have all the time in the world. We have to realise that life is finite, we are mortal, time is limited and start planning accordingly. Lack of self-discipline leads us to devalue our work and give it a backseat in our lives.
What are the Consequences of Procrastination?
Overtime, chronic procrastination leads to a number of problems-
- Devaluing the importance of time
- Losing out on opportunities
- Unmet expectations and goals
- Downward career growth
- Self-deprecating attitude
- Indecisiveness and inefficiency
- Loss of psychological motivation
- Low self-esteem
How to Stop Procrastination?
The very first step is being self reflective of the fact that you are procrastinating. You need to go through your daily routine chart and analyse how you prioritise your tasks. Then you need to reflect upon your attitude and grasp why you are procrastinating. Maintain daily plans and set targets to improve productivity. Indecisiveness, perfectionist attitude, unorganised routine may lead to your habit of procrastination. Furthermore, you need to adopt anti-procrastination strategies, give yourself incentives to overcome this habit. Keep some time of the day away for daily self introspection where you reflect upon your progress and daily efforts. Set a personal vision and adhere to it. Time is valuable and whiling it away in uncertainty. We need to understand how to be more productive in order to appreciate the importance of time.
MUST READ- https://skchildrenfoundation.org/hard-work-or-smart-work/
