Procrastination is not equal to doing nothing. Procrastination means ‘doing nothing and feeling terrible about it’. Precisely that annoying, gnawing feeling, will stop you from doing something about it. Procrastinating might give short term benefits because you don’t have to think about it, but in the long run it can get you into trouble.
What does procrastination look like?
Usually we avoid the things that are good for us by finding distractions. These distractions can manifest themselves in one or more of the following ways:
- Gaming, smoking weed, drinking alcohol or using other substances
- Staying in bed for a long time
- Denial
- Worrying and stress
- Feeling down or depressed
- Low self esteem
But we can do something about this!
Tackling procrastination
Tackling procrastination starts with recognising there is a problem. There are four steps in the starting phase:
- Recognising that procrastination leads to problems
- Discovering your barriers
- Tackling your fears or doubts
- Finding your motivations
Procrastination is generally a lack of overview and motivation; see here the article about motivation.