Procrastination curse on human race

Procrastination is biggest roadblock on the path of success. Early you come out of it early you succeed. Be it your personal life or professional career.

Many times it is done knowingly or unknowingly. But it halts your success and takes you miles away from your goal.

People become creative in finding reasons to procrastinate. Few realise it early and come out of it but many get stuck to the reasons and start feeling those to be real and stop trying. And then they adopt easy way of blaming their luck. This is a dangerous trap and biggest roadblock to the success.

What is Procrastination

It is postponing the start of an activity or event. In this connection I remember the Nike punch line – Just Do It. Start with your first foot forward and move forward.

Roadblocks to action

There are numerous reasons for procrastination. Most common is overthinking but let’s list it down

1. Fear of failure
2. What people will say / think
3. Achieve perfection
4. Overthinking
5. Worried about typical negative comments by peers
6. Low self confidence

How to overcome

You need to consciously work upon this habit of procrastination. First thing to do is make list of the tasks in hand. Then prioritise them. While you prioritise the tasks ensure you consider the top down priorities. Once you prioritise and you are sure which one to attack first, then start the action. Focus on execution.

It is good idea to categorise the tasks as Urgent and Important. You can also use the quadrant to plot these tasks. Refer the figure below :

This is the best method for addressing professional issues. The matrix clearly indicates the action for tasks in each quadrant. The beauty of this method is that you are clear about the task slowly moving to adjacent quadrant. Hence if you act upon only Urgent & Important Tasks then you will be stuck in firefighting mode and will have no time for the other tasks which are important but not urgent.

Fear of Failure

This is also common blocker for the actions. The best way to get rid of this is through preparation. Do your homework properly and understand the risks involved. This will boost your confidence. The fear of unknown can be overcome through getting knowledge and understanding the challenges and consequences.

What people will say

In any case whatever you do, people will say something. Just ignore them. At the same time ignore negative comments. They are show stoppers. Just listen to your inner self and start the action.

Low Self Confidence

It is important to be confident. The key to execution is clarity of thought and confidence. Strong homework boosts your confidence. Don’t worry about the failure.

Conclusion

Procrastination is biggest roadblock in achieving your goals. It is important to understand that you are trapped in the habit of procrastination. Once you are aware of the problem work on it. Analyse your reasons and make efforts to overcome the roadblocks. Then get into action mode.

All d best