How to get over procrastination

In my previous post I posed a question on the link between fear and procrastination. Have you thought about it? Well procrastination is sometimes entrenched in fear. Could be fear of failure that we discussed previously, or fear of rejection, fear of regret, fear of change and even fear of success. This goes to show that our fears actually feed procrastination.

I think both can be seen as a way of self-handicapping because they both lead us to avoid doing the tasks that we know we have to or ideally want to do. Last week we covered fear and now we are diving into the pool of procrastination.

I have a feeling we all get overwhelmed at one point or another and just keep postponing engagements while we await the ‘right time’ / eleventh hour. When looking through the different definitions of procrastination, I liked the one in Wikipedia most because it best explained what I feel during the times when I procrastinate. It says, "Procrastination is the action of unnecessarily and voluntarily delaying or postponing something despite knowing that there will be negative consequences for doing so." Have you ever thought about what causes procrastination?

One of the common reasonings behind procrastination (which I fall victim to at times), apart from fear, is the misconstrued belief that we work better under pressure. This is not necessarily untrue because pressure is a motivator but it's also a source of anxiety. I must admit that the pressure does work sometimes because I know that there are instances where I put off tasks to the last minute knowing that I will end up doing them "post-procrastination" when the pressure kicks in, and still complete in time.

In hindsight however, I always realise that the experience of doing and finishing the task would have been better with less to no anxiety had I started earlier. The thing is, you don't feel pressure when you are in your comfort-zone and I say this because I believe that pressure always kicks in once I step out of my comfort zone. That's why I can start an assignment late but then since submitting past the deadline is outside of my comfort-zone, the pressure kicks in when the due date is closer and I work to stay within my comfort zone.

So then what is the point of casting out procrastination if it invites pressure to do our tasks anyway? Well in my opinion, it's because not all the goals we have are within our current comfort zones.

I think we have goals for a comfortable life which are within our comfort zones and then goals for our dream lives. For example, it is my opinion that all of us want to at least live a comfortable life. So assuming you have a single monthly income then you would be comfortable if you could be able to afford transport, food and shelter without going broke during the month so you make a goal to have a budget for the month. This is living comfortably.

However if you want to work towards your dream life then your financial goals need to include not just budgeting but saving, investing and maybe finding another stream of income as well. But we usually find it hard to start these habits because we are still living comfortably in our comfort zones so while we have them as goals, we procrastinate on starting them.

Contrary to the popular "I work better under pressure" reasoning, the main cause of procrastination is actually a gap between the present and the future self. When we set our goals we set them in our present self for the future self. So when setting our savings and investment goals we set them for the benefit of our future selves. But there is actually a gap between these two selves because the present self prioritizes short-term mood and emotion while the future self values long-term achievement, and well-being. This is what we call the gap between the future-self and the present-self.

What can you do about this?

Future self-continuity through imagination

Future self-continuity has been linked with influencing time-related decisions, work behaviours, saving, academic and exercise behaviours. These are behaviours that are usually linked to attaining common goals such as body goals, career goals and lifestyle goals. So when you have a higher future self-continuity you have a strong sense of feeling with your future self and then ultimately you feel more motivated to start putting in the work towards that self.

This is usually something I feel after I set my goals for the month at every beginning of the month and I start to imagine my future self after having achieved those goals. I feel more motivated to put in the work towards my future self when I feel more connected to my future self and having realised that, I make sure to feed myself with images and content that provokes me to imagine my future self daily and I can admit that I have since been procrastinating less than I used to.

Studies have proven that a very important psychological tool that can be used to bridge the gap between our future and present selves is our imagination. One thing I can link this to is the quote that says "imagine your best self and show up as her". If you constantly and intentionally remind yourself of your best self or your future self to a point where you feel connected and closer to your future self then you will procrastinate less.

In my next blog, I will share about my experience with lack of motivation. While we wait on that, maybe challenge yourself to intentionally imagine your future self daily until you feel immensely connected to that self and see if you procrastinate less. Who knows, it might work out great for you too!