I Am Working On My Habit Of Procrastination

Procrastination is a word that I didn’t even know existed until I was watching the movie “Journey to the Mysterious Island” and there was a dialogue where it was mentioned. I was curious what it meant, so I looked it up.

And voila, it has stuck with me since then. No, I am not talking about the meaning of the word, but the habit itself. As I am growing older, bidding adieu to each year, I find this habit multiplying even faster than how a bacteria would.

Strange, right?

But, this year, much like every year, I have decided to beat this habit and not let it take control. Well, I am hoping I would be successful this year at least.

What is Procrastination?

I know, there are many people who would stumble across this post, not knowing what Procrastination means and that’s okay.

In fact, let me help you know about this a little better.

According to our trusted buddy Wikipedia,

“Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished by a certain deadline.”

So, really, the habit that you have been brushing aside to be just laziness does actually have a name and it’s known as Procrastination.

Exhibit to explain better

It is always easy to understand things better when we throw in a few examples, right?

So, just as 2019 was about to end, I was struck with an idea of writing a blog of the “19 things that I am leaving behind in 2019” which sounded like a great blog post in my head, right?

Well, to be honest, I delayed it so much that by January 02^nd, 2020, I was like, there’s no point writing it anymore.

This is what procrastination does and this is not the first time that I have pushed myself to a limit that I have either crossed the deadline or didn’t even bother to get things done, which sucks big time!

So, this time around, I have decided to not let it dictate how I get things done.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to get rid of this habit within the snap of the fingers but I believe the gradual progress can help? Maybe? Right?

What am I doing?

As I did mention, I am pretty serious to not let this overburden the piling stress that I am already struggling with.

I don’t have a big list of 20 things that I want to do to get rid of this habit but a few small ones that I think would be helpful for me in the long run.

Let’s start with the small tidbits, shall we?

Stay focused

Well, I have witnessed that with the increasing habit of procrastination, I have lost focus from activities. This is one of the reasons why I find myself succumbing to the deadlines at the last moment. This year, I am working on staying focused on things to somehow help reduce my habit of procrastination.

Journaling

I am not big with the journaling scene but following a number of YouTube videos and reading blog posts of people who have shared their experiences with this, I have come to learn that journaling does help out a lot. I have started doing a little bit of daily journaling to sort out my activities throughout the day and find a healthy way to manage the time that I have. It is not much but it is a start.

Not keep things pending

One of the worst things that I have experienced with procrastinating is that I leave things for tomorrow. Every time that I push my deadlines, I keep them piled up for the next day which keeps growing with every single day. This is where I want to put a stop and find a way to finish the work that I have listed out for the day in the journal and not carry it forward for the next day.

Say, for example, it is 12:32 am right now when I am writing this to post for my blog tomorrow and since I am challenging myself with the deadlines, I don’t want to keep this for tomorrow, which is why I am getting this done by the night so I can sleep at peace.

Timing myself

Lastly, the one thing that I think will help is timing myself. It is not necessarily the healthiest option because I know that I will end up over-obsessing things but to be fair, I can only get out of this constant loop of self-destruction when I challenge myself. And, I feel that timing my work and activities throughout the day can help me plan things better so I can get them done accordingly.

Procrastination is more than laziness. I have come to know this over time and to be honest, I procrastinate even now, even when I am writing this blog post. But, we learn along the way and from our mistakes, don’t we? So, it is finally time that I take the wheel and channel things the right way.