Procrastination

Do you wonder why you avoid doing some tasks, especially if you know it won't take that long to do? You're not the only person who has asked this question.

Here are some of the top reasons you might procrastinate:

1. It feels too big and overwhelming.
2. You feel anxious and would rather avoid it.
3. You feel it must be done “perfectly" and don't want to start until you figure out “the perfect way" to do it.
4. Time management isn't your thing. You feel that you have plenty of time, or it won't take that long.
5. It's not fun.
6. You figure “it's better late than never." You assume people will be understanding or they won't really care.
7. You have other things that need to be done first.
8. You feel like the task isn't important and doesn't matter.
9. You don't want to complete the task for fear that you will be assigned another one.
10. You don't want to disappoint others, so to avoid their disapproval you don't do anything at all.

So now what? How do you fix this and stop procrastinating?

1. Identify why you're procrastinating.
2. Make a to-do list. Avoid overscheduling. No matter how much energy you have you will not ever be able to be two places at once, be realistic about this.
3. Timers can be your best friend when it comes to procrastination. Play “Beat The Clock". Set a timer for 15 minutes and guess what you can get done in this amount of time and see if you can beat your guesstimate.
4. Give yourself permission to not be perfect. Having something done with a mistake is better than not doing it at all.
5. Find a way to make it fun. Try bundling the task with something fun for example only eat your favorite candy while doing your math. Or try giving yourself a fun reward when the assignment is finished.
6. Set personal deadlines then announce them publicly, ask someone close to you to hold you accountable.
7. Change your mindset. Instead of trying to see how little of work you can do, see how good of job you can do.
8. Break down big projects into smaller more manageable tasks. Try to do the “worst things" first while you have the most energy, get them out of the way.
9. Ask for help. If the project is simply too big or you don't know how to do it, find someone who can help.
10. Inspire yourself to greatness. Figure out how the things on your to-do list make a difference in your future goals or how they help others.​