Overcoming Procrastination: Unlock Your Potential and Achieve Your Dreams

If you are active on social platforms, you might have encountered this "Many dreams didn't take off because of procrastination." often. So many people out there want to get rid of this dream-killer habit. I am no different from you. I have a shattered dream because of it. As a result, I understand certain things that go in mind while you waste your time. In this post, I have written something that I feel about procrastination. Read till the end. You will surely relate to it.

Why do people procrastinate?

Is it because they don't want to work?

There could be many reasons behind it. However, these are the five significant reasons that lead to procrastination.

• Perfectionism
• Distractions
• Overestimation
• No Motivation
• Instant gratification

Suppose you cannot start because you want to start when you know in and out of that thing. In other words, you want to be perfect before you start. You are never going to start with this thought process. Perfectionism is related also to fear and anxiety. Somewhere, you fear your work is not up to the mark. It also shows you don't believe in yourself.

Instant gratification will never let you prioritize your task. Many other things will come to your mind when you plan to do certain things. For example - There will be some or another better TV series on Netflix or Prime Video. There is nothing wrong with watching, but starting when you have completed your work is better.

We live in a social media age where reels and short videos surely entice you all the time. There are tons of things to distract you. You will need more than just scrolling social media to fix your problems. I have binge-scrolled social media platform X(Formerly known as Twitter). Nothing fancy happened in life. If you follow the right people, then it is alright. Learn from them and work. FYI, I also create short videos.

The reason I said overestimation is because it is coming from personal experience. Whenever any work came to me, I believed that I could complete it in a bit of time. Often, I have overestimated myself. This has led to starting the task in the time frame I can finish. Motivation is to start. However, it has little role to play in the long run. Discipline takes over it. But to take the first step, you need inspiration to begin. If you lack it, you will find it hard to start anything.

How do you overcome procrastination?

I have spent countless hours putting off important tasks, often until now. Then, I realized I missed big things in my life. Don't we all aspire to have a dream life? That dream life will be a dream for you if you are a procrastinator. This stuck in my mind, and I decided to change it. You have one life, and there is no point living in misery. There has been a change in my mindset not to continue doing things that delayed my growth. A shift in perspective will help you overcome this. However, following the below will amplify your effort, and the result will be better.

Here are a few things that helped me improve my sleep cycle.

Set Clear Goals and break them into smaller ones.

Do you remember the dart and board game? You hit in the middle or somewhere only when you look at the board. So, a clear goal is essential. It sets you on a path to work. However, a big plan can also deter you. It is necessary to break bigger goals into smaller ones. The first thing on your mind should be to do less challenging things because your mind is not trained for complex things. This is where breaking goals into smaller ones helps. The smaller goals will be achievable and train your mind to work further. Getting rid of procrastination will help you develop it.

You are thinking that you have wasted your life.

If there is guilt that you are unable to fix things in your life.

Remember many people have messed up their lives. You are not the only one who is in life misery. We get trapped in a life doldrum. The important thing to understand is that you can clean the clutter. There is no need to go into a guilt trap. Things will change gradually when you start doing the right thing. Year for mess takes time in cleaning. However, if you keep doing required things for over the years. Your efforts will result manifold.

Become a better version of yourself daily.

Learn time management techniques.

Whether your goals are bigger or smaller, you must manage time. Time blocking is one method that will help you and give you a quick result if practiced for a long time. However, it is a challenging task as you are a habitual delayer. The mind will wander, but you must focus to complete the work you have allocated the time. You can do a 25-minute focus work and take a break of five minutes. This is a known Pomodoro Technique.

Some work might take less time to complete, giving you a sense to do it another time. Don't fall for that thought. Please complete such tasks. Your time management techniques will be worthwhile when you can prioritize your tasks. You must know which job is most important to you.

Working on focus will also help you manage your time. So, you should do things that help you focus more.

Incentivize yourself / Celebrate Progress.

You must be aware of getting incentives or bonuses at the workplace. You know when someone gets it. The same is what you also need to apply to overcome procrastination. Set a reward for yourself when you complete a specific task. However, you will have to be firm with your decisions. I am setting an example for it.

You will eat pizza only when you complete a specific task. So now, only go and eat pizza after completing the task. You can set rewards according to your convenience and keep changing them to motivate yourself.

You completed a task, so remember to celebrate it. The reward you are giving to yourself is also a celebration. A small celebration will refresh you and push you to achieve more. You must have heard the saying celebrate the small wins.

Conclusion

Taking a break from work is not procrastination. We are humans, not machines. There might be a time when you won't feel like doing things, which is perfectly fine. The point is to avoid getting trapped in a mindset.

However, if you want to grow in your life, memorize it.

Never delay things for tomorrow, which you can do today.

Because

If you are procrastinating, you are delaying your growth.

Reading a book

One of the reasons behind not falling asleep quickly despite going to bed is the mind chatter. We think too much. However, the mind is not like that. We can fix this by bringing good things to mind.

Reading is good for your mind and your growth. Books are always on the table beside my bed. However, I am not a bookworm, but I read. Reading before bed is best because it helps in multiple ways. It has helped me reduce my screen time. Before sleeping, this habit will unclutter your mind, which is a good thing. You are going to sleep without any stupid thing on your mind. So you will fall asleep quickly.