Why Procrastination Is a B***h

Imagine constantly trying your hardest to find the willpower to do something but then you get that stupid little voice in your head saying, "Just do it later. You've got time. It's not going anywhere. It'll still be there even if you take a little time off."

Unfortunately, this happens to me all the time. I've been trying to wrap my head around WHY this keeps happening and I still seem to come up with the same reasons. I'm making excuses by distracting myself from what I have to do. I keep coming up with ideas to do something and then I suddenly start to distract myself from beginning.

Procrastinators tend to say that they perform better under pressure. It holds well with things like studying for tests, work deadlines, university and college coursework deadlines. But it is simply another excuse of not doing it. Some believe it is better to never tackle a task than to fall short of meeting expectations.

That is my reason for procrastination. I'm afraid of doing it, possibly due to the outcome. You know, success or failure. Critique isn't something a lot of people like. But we have to look past our excuses and just do it.

So, I've come with a new plan. One to hopefully help me stop procrastinating and actually focus on getting my tasks done.

1. My first objective is to remove all possible distractions. That includes, book, phones, tablets, family, and anything that I wouldn't be using on my laptop, such as YouTube or Netflix. Netflix is the worst, isn't it? It's amazing but it's also really good at distracting you from your goal.
2. The second objective is more simple. Wake up and affirm to yourself that you will get your task done today.
3. The third objective, set up a work space, or an area in which you will do your work and create it so that you will have no distractions around you.
4. The fourth objective is the best. JUST DO IT. Nothing is going to make you get over that hurdle than simply starting your project or task.

Once you start, you'll find it easier to continue and just get down to completing it. For example, this little post of mine. Before I began, I was actually watching a movie on Netflix and saying to myself I'll start when it finishes. It was so ridiculous. So I forced myself to switch it off. There's nothing worse than never having tried something. Accomplishing your task and getting it out there, just to get negative feedback is far better than not having done it all. At least you have ideas and criticism to use constructively. Most people fear the bad press. That's why most people get anxious about finishing their tasks sometimes.

Have you ever noticed that when you get towards the end of your deadline you start panicking a little but still don't do what you need to? You still wait. If you don't have a deadline it tends to be a little worse. Because it's a goal you set for yourself. One way to help combat this is setting small timers for yourself. Small goals of 30 minutes, or 45. Do as much as you can in that time and if you still want to continue then don't stop. If you do stop, set another timer and start again.

If you want to push yourself and make sure you do it, you can also tell a few people about your goal. You definitely don't want to turn around and tell them you haven't achieved your goal. It's a great motivational tool when people expect something.

Write out a full list of your tasks and break that list into smaller ones. Start with what is either the easiest or the quickest for you. Having one huge list can appear a little daunting and makes it harder to approach, so simplifying it a little and creating smaller lists of tasks is easier to achieve.

So just go for it. Bad days, bad thoughts, bad moments. Ignore all of that. The best time to start is NOW.