im what everyone jokingly calls themselves, a terrible procrastinator. im not saying im different from said people, but i certainly deal with it worse than most.
perhaps… middle school? the fact of the matter is it doesn’t matter how it started, but when. i got hooked early on the sweet alluring tactic, and it took me for a ride all throughout my teens and early twenties. the worst part about this ailment is that it’s adaptive, meaning it will retract its tentacles just in time for major life events to be completed in a rushed, haphazardly fashion.
an example of this is in college, when i learned i could pull an all nighter instead of studying late for any exam. it became my favorite strategy for doing oh so average in classes i actually cared about.
here i am, with a bunch of things i have and want to do and yet i don’t. when it comes to deadlines, i actually prefer them, since at least the pressure of time will force me to act. so when there isn’t something with a deadline that i’d like to do, such as learning a new hobby or finishing a book, my instincts turn me away. there’s no big scary consequence if i don’t do that, so why should i even try?
i’ve tried a whole assortment of cures to fix my vice, and i’d like to share my experiences with them.
these help… to a degree. i think the cutoff of helpfulness was probably the 3rd book. reading the top recommended couple of books in the category gives you enough material to work with, and so any more than that is just over analysis of an issue. instead, you should work on the things that made you want to read those books.
i thought for sure this would help me more than it did, but i would just end up spewing my trails of thought onto the screen of my iphone. i would come to fully understand my issues by writing them out, but whats the point in knowing the problem and not actually tackling them? i gained nothing except a record of my internal voice.
eating better, working out, the whole shebang; they were like a healthy smokescreen. my main problem when it comes to procrastinating is that i will hone in on a specific thing to do and obsess over it for a period of time instead of doing what i actually have to do. thus when i’m in the mood to lose weight or exercise avidly, it comes at the expense of my main desires. when i come back to reality, i’ve done nothing but convince myself i was being productive by being good to my body.
environment changes. there’s a good reason why inside of every starbucks there are at least 5 people trying to get work done. the shared atmosphere of people doing the things they care about is great for moral.
no zero days. if you think it’s too late to get something done, don’t fear! just do a little bit of that task you were reluctant to start. at the very least you progressed somewhat, that’s better than doing nothing at all. surprisingly this habit can start to gain traction and you become a natural at doing a few things you thought were difficult per day without fail.
figure out what works and doesn’t work for you. the best thing you can do is realize that big changes won’t happen overnight. adopting small habits and learning what scenarios you thrive in is vital.
this post may come across as self deprecating, but thats not at all what i wish for. i’m more trying to explain the reality of why i act like so.
all in all i wish for greener grass to those who stumbled onto this digital pasture and i hope you can learn to control the vice i suck at dealing with.