How to Overcome and Stop Procrastination

Procrastination means delaying or putting off doing something. You are a procrastinator if you have the habit of never getting started or never finishing what you have begun.

But why do people procrastinate? Why do they delay or postpone doing the things that they should or must do especially those that will improve their health and wellbeing? Why do they hesitate, dilly dally and vacillate to begin or to complete something?

Look back at your own life. Where were you 3 or 5 years ago? What were you doing? How was your health, finances, relationships and your weight?

Look at your life right now. How many opportunities or breaks have you missed because you waited for the right time or the right person to show up?

"You may delay, but time will not." - Benjamin Franklin

Causes of Procrastination

Fear of failure.

The fear of failure is one of the major reasons for procrastination. You wait and hesitate because you are afraid that your actions might not produce the result that you hope for. So the best way to avoid failure and disappointment is not to start or try your best.

Fear of success.

Though you wish for success, a part of you is afraid that you may get carried away and become a different person. You are very comfortable with your life and you dread the thought that you will have to adapt and change.

Insufficient reasons to finish your task or goal.

When you don't have good enough reasons, you may lose track and abandon your goal. You lose the motivation to continue and only notice too many challenges facing you ahead.

The goal belongs to someone else.

Whatever you plan out to do or have started doing has to relate to your own desires and needs. If you do something to please someone else, you may stop when the person you intend to please is no longer your object of desire.

Not willing to change.

To create something new, you have to discard some of the old habits, attitudes, behaviors and pattern of thinking. As the saying goes, if you do the same things, you'll get the same results.

Doubt, timidity, indifference and laziness.

Doubts, timidity, feeling indifferent and plain laziness are also reasons why people put off doing things.

Negative associations.

If you think of the process, that is the tremendous amount of time and effort you have to put in, you will feel overwhelmed. Imagining a loss will also make you adjourn from taking action. An example is if you want to quit smoking. Unless you have something else to make you feel better to replace the addiction, you will keep on procrastinating.

The Strategies for Overcoming Procrastination

State your goals and the reasons.

Whether you want to lose your excess fat or quit smoking, you must have very good reasons to do so. Ask yourself why? Come up with as many answers as you can.

Your reasons will excite, inspire and motivate you to take action. Knowing what and why you want to have, do and become puts you in a state of determination to produce results.

Break down the tasks.

Break your tasks into manageable solution. Write down what you have to do first, second, and so on even if is a small step. Then take action from this list. When you break down the things you want to accomplish, you will feel less overwhelmed and in better control.

Write down what you have to do and do them.

A "things to do" or action list will help you get things done. Write down the actions that you need to take each day. Develop the discipline to follow through. Since you have a to do list, include an activity list to check on your progress.

If you want to lose weight, you can start by eating less fattening food and taking a brisk walk today. Don't defer it to the next day or month.

Associate your task or goal with pleasant experiences.

Picture yourself having accomplished what you have set out to do. Include all your five senses and put yourself in the picture. A picture of your accomplishments will direct your mind toward making things happen.

Change your mind set.

Old mental programming is hard to break. If you have been procrastinating most of your life, you may find it difficult to write down your list of goals, state the reasons, break them down and take action.

Visualizing and positive affirmations work very well to change old mental programming that creates negative and fear related emotions, bad habits and wrong attitudes.