Procrastination

The Art of Procrastination

Hi, I’m Dr. Neha, and today we are going to talk about the art of procrastination.

How often do we think to ourselves, you know, I’ll just do this tomorrow? I’ll wash the dishes later, I don’t feel like going to the gym, honey! I’m not going to do this right now. How many of us are believers in the same? Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow? And then when the deadline is near we groan and mourn and think how unfair it is that we have to do this, and we feel anxious and we feel sad, and end up doing a half-hearted job, and then we wonder why we never get the results we expected. This is procrastination – the act of postponing, avoiding or delaying something that needs to be done.

Maybe you are thinking it’s too hard, I’ll never get this done, it’s not going to be perfect so why bother? I don’t like doing this. I’m going to fail if I do it. Or maybe you’re a thrill seeker, and you think you work best under a deadline-induced panic. Any of these thoughts ring a bell? And how do they make you feel? Happy? Excited? I think it’s more like sad and anxious. And I’m sure they don’t actually motivate you to get these tasks done. So what do you do?

So here is an action plan. Write down one thing that you’re currently procrastinating. Write it down right now, while you’re watching the video. I think it will help. Write down the reasons why you cannot complete the task today. Written? Okay, so for example, I can’t go to the gym today because the time I usually go at has already passed, and it will be too crowded. Look at the reason. Is it a excuse, or is it a valid reason? You can of course go to the gym, of course it will be crowded and uncomfortable, but you can do it. So if it is an excuse, write down the excuse next to it. How many excuses do you have on that list? So what do you want to do now? I think you’ll find that if you actually do something, it’s not so bad at all. Practice this trick the next time you find yourself procrastinating, and with time, you will learn to get things done. And that’s the real art.

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