In the modern world, when we all have so many things to do, it is increasingly important to know how to manage our time and our life management. What really helps is learning to manage the emotional reaction we have when we need to do something we don't want to do, don't like to do, or are convinced we just can't do. Learn to understand why we avoid something, and it is a great deal easier to find a way to deal with it.
Sometimes we put things off because we just don't like doing them. Sometimes we don't do something because we think we can't actually do it. Often we don't start something because we don't think we can do it well enough. For some people, there is a deep rooted psychological reason for not doing things. For others, it can just be a question of realizing that you don't enjoy doing something, or really dislike doing something.
It is important to find out our own reasoning for putting things off, as this is the best way to devise methods of overcoming the problems of procrastination.
There are all sorts of ways in which we can overcome procrastination. Not addressing the problem can be very life damaging. Procrastination can easily become habit forming, and can have a serious impact on our life, the lives of the people around us, and ultimately our health, both physical and mental.
Methods of overcoming procrastination range from doing a little bit of self analysis to work out why we put things off; using some basic time and job planning; to getting proper behavioral therapy.
For most people, it is a question of establishing that there are underlying emotional links between the tasks we put off and our inability to deal with them. So spending some time seriously questioning our feelings, as well as our actions, is really helpful. We also need to recognize that only Superman is likely to both enjoy and be good at everything. It is not to our detriment that we are not good at everything. Our self esteem does not need to be given a hammering if we accept that we have aspects of life that we are not good at, or just plain don't like dealing with.
If you know you are not particularly good at organizing the finances, and accept that, you are more likely to be able to convince yourself that you should spend an hour or two dealing with the bank statements etc, than to spend it worrying that you won't be able to make the figures balance.
Take the emotion and the fear out of the equation, and suddenly it's a whole lot easier. When you suddenly feel that sinking sensation, don't get up and find something else to do. Stop, and think about why it is you need to do this particular job. Think about the fact that, in deciding to do the job, you are doing something that will improve your life and something that is definitely in your best interests.
The worst thing you can do if you are a procrastinator is to do nothing. The best thing is to begin by putting some effort into understanding why you do it, and by establishing some fairly straightforward organizational rules about how to use your time.
For most of us, there will be one or two things, at least, that we will put off dealing with. It is quite normal to procrastinate over something or other. For most of us, the problem is not too great, and doesn't threaten to destroy the quality of our lives. So time management, time boxing, etc is the way to deal with getting things back on track.
Find a time each day when you will deal with something that you know you don't want to do. Give yourself a pat on the back when you have put in the time and effort even if you haven't finished the job completely. What you have achieved is important and you have made a start, and you have not run away from it.
However, for some people, procrastination is a much more serious problem. For some people, there are deep seeded reasons for putting things off, or just not dealing with things at all! Some people have a subconscious reaction resulting from over controlling parents perhaps. Some have a deep rooted fear of failure, which has led to a resistance when dealing with certain tasks. Some people are frightened of not doing something perfectly.
It might be painful to establish the reasons why we procrastinate, but it will certainly help to spend some time thinking it through. There are lots of fairly straightforward ways of helping ourselves improve our ability to deal with the million and one things that need to be done to keep our lives on track, and still have time to enjoy our leisure.
Getting to grips with the idea that better time management, better task management and better self management is really about getting the best out of life. Wasting time is really not in our best interests. Making time for enjoyment is.
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