We've been talking a lot about procrastination lately. Both in the office and during online consultations, you share with me how difficult it is for you to complete your tasks or projects right away. The problem intensifies when you have too much on your plate, plus less and less time. Unfortunately, the pandemic and the shift back into online mode doesn't make it any easier to study or plan. Remember that everything can be changed and every tendency and habit can be worked with to improve your learning, work and daily life, which is, after all, what we want! You can breathe and forgive yourself - procrastination usually affects hard-working and ambitious people. And it is certainly not laziness. Don't give in to this nomenclature, it is hurtful and wrong. You probably don't know, but Leonardo Da Vinci was in his time considered a man who never finishes projects on time! Moreover, it took him as long as 16 years to paint the famous Mona Lisa! In turn, the fresco of the Last Supper was completed by him only because his patron threatened to cut off his livelihood.
We usually put off projects because... we're afraid we won't make it. A paradox, but it is so. We put off because we are afraid of failure. We're afraid that we won't succeed, that we'll do something completely hopeless, then why do it at all.
So what chance do we give ourselves to achieve the goal and the results? Minimal.
Poorly:)
How does this affect our self-esteem and competence?
Poorly:)
It has to be perfect, perfect. The best.
It doesn't have to be. Sometimes it is worth letting go of 100%.
80-90% can also be top for the moment and give satisfaction.
Below I have some quick tips for you to help you achieve your goals, the ones you want to achieve and the ones you need to achieve. I hope they will be useful to you at many stages of learning:
Think about whether what you have been putting off for so long is really important to you. Give yourself a few minutes to do so. Often we put off projects and tasks that we never really wanted to get started on, but somewhere along the way we lacked honest reflection. How much do you want to accomplish it, how much does it need to happen now. Cross off the list what you're not convinced about, don't agonize over it, and plan strategically - listen to your thoughts about what you want most.
However, if it's a project you need to do, or just most simply want to accomplish, then:
describe what it should be specifically. Remember that we are pushing back what is an indefinite dream, a cloud of associations, something undefined. Concreteness gives shape to action.
Put it into words, goals, parameters. It is very difficult to get down to something undefined. You don't know the nearest step to take in such a situation.
Divide what you will be doing into smaller parts
Sometimes we literally have a moment to realize a desire, a wish, a dream or actually a project for credit "after hours", next to our ordinary life.This moment comes, you have, for example, only 1 hour of complete peace and quiet for it - and... you don't know what to do!
Break down the big thing into smaller steps, stages, time periods.
Every project task starts with one simple activity.One. This is called the first step
Write them out first, and then only
Find a time allotted just for that. Only. Without getting distracted by anything else. Once you carve out that time - keep it, mark it, circle it, color it in your notebook, and do nothing else in that brief moment!
A daily + weekly + monthly plan gets the job done. It's a good idea to take a calendar and write out goals for the week and for the month. Then treating the hours as "from-to" blocks try to stick to the time of doing the planned activities, e.g.:
8.00-9.00 breakfast
9.00 - 14.00 classes
14.00 - 16.00 class break ( what can I do here, e.g. plan a project, go to the library, shop, etc.)
17.00 - 18.00 exercise
19.00 -22.00 study + doing a project.
23.00 sleep
The next day may be planned quite differently, but seeing it on the calendar you know what awaits you and are able to predict the timing and consequences of your actions. This is very helpful and motivating.
Approach a project you've already started in a cyclical manner.
It can be slow, but rhythmic.
Mobilize yourself to revisit a topic once a day/week (just like you mobilize yourself to brush your teeth, to shop, to pay the bills).
When you lack the inspiration, it's on autopilot, just - sit down at your desk and take a step forward.
The work expands to fill the time available to complete it
To combat this, set yourself an "artificially" shorter deadline to complete the task. Imagine that the deadline is pushed to two days earlier than it actually is.
Put down the social media.
All social media has been built so that you can't leave it. You click on one article, photo, status, only to have another and another pop up immediately. These tools are incredibly conducive to procrastination. When you have an hour or two to complete a project - put them out of your sight or turn off the tab on your monitor.
after every hour of work you can reward yourself with 5- 10 minutes in SM channels. Pleasant with useful, but don't bend time.
Perseverance is the KEY issue now.
Remember that once you start, once you see the first results - it is much easier to act.
It's all the way,
Try it.
Keeping my fingers crossed!
Sonia Ziemba Domanska
Academic Psychologist
