Are you wondering how to stop procrastinating? Do you want a quick answer on how to stop procrastinating and start acting now? If so, you’re in the right publication because you’ll quickly find the answer to your question.
“The right time to start is not tomorrow or next week, but now.” Arnold Joseph Toynbee
What is procrastination
Let’s quickly clarify what procrastination is. According to Wikipedia, procrastination is the habit of delaying activities or situations that should be attended to, replacing them with more irrelevant or pleasant ones. Behind procrastination, there may be fear or laziness to face them.
You already know what procrastinating is, and I’m sure what has you here is the answer on how to stop procrastinating. So, let’s move on to that topic.
The Procrastination Habit
Everyone at some point has procrastinated on an important task. It can happen for any number of reasons: unforeseen events, too many activities, disorganization, and so on.
It is how the habit of procrastinating ends up becoming a vicious cycle. Procrastination generates frustration; this produces anxiety, and anxiety ends up producing more procrastination.
Now, with so many things competing for your attention, the habit of procrastinating is widespread.
Procrastination comes to me when I need to write my paper for college or do some extensive report at work. So, I know how difficult it is sometimes to handle it. However, to attack it, I have a quick answer.
Quick answer on how to stop procrastinating
When you want to defer an activity, the quick answer is simply taking action. You can even do it through a first action step. It doesn’t matter how small it is.
For example, you want to exercise or like me to write an essay. Start by getting out of your clothes to do it. The next day walks for just 5 minutes. Keep it up, and within 30 days, you’ll be doing at least 30 minutes of exercise. Start to write ten sentences every day. Stanford professor BJ Fogg, in his book Tiny Habits, calls these little habits. He then recommends moving from small habits to accumulating habits. In other words, it consists of creating a game plan to develop chains of small actions.
In other words, the solution to procrastination lies in breaking inertia through a small action step.
Questions to stop procrastinating:
What is the thing you need to do that you are not doing?
What would be the first action step you should take?
What decision do you need to make to take action?
When are you going to start?
Why is it important to stop procrastinating?
The ability to make decisions is one of the powers you have as a human being.
“External circumstances can strip us of everything but one thing: the freedom to choose how to respond to those circumstances.”
Viktor Frankl
Decisions give you back command over the situation you are in. Taking back control over the circumstance helps you change your state of mind. You will move from helplessness to power and avoid the consequences of procrastination.
When you decide to do something, you realize that any task, no matter how routine, can have enormous emotional rewards.
No matter how small, decisions and actions show that you take responsibility for what is important to you. And every time you take charge of the things you value, your satisfaction immediately increases. This new state of mind automatically generates an upward spiral that lifts you from achievement to confidence.
By taking action, you just have to do something simple, straightforward, and small. Remember that the important thing is to break inertia. Small changes, even if they don’t seem like it, make a big difference. Make a to-do list, small tasks with a deadline and you will see the results. It’s not about willpower. It’s about dividing and fragmenting to avoid procrastination. Additionally, you will increase your productivity.
Remember that your goal is to start today. And to get started, you just have to get moving. James Clear, in his book, Atomic Habits, calls it marginal gains.
The advice is simple:
“As hundreds of small improvements accumulate, good results will start coming sooner than anyone can imagine.”
Final thought
Always keep in mind the quick answer to stop procrastination: “decide to take action.”
Also, it’s essential to know that your action doesn’t have to be driven by intense motivation. The important thing is to do something even if you don’t want to do it. Because once you take action and are on your way to what you want, motivation will follow.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Chinese Proverb
What are you waiting for to get started? Don’t give up on this vital aspect of your personal development?
Get to work now, because if you don’t start, you can’t get anywhere.
If you don’t start, you can’t get anywhere.
