Are you a Pro at Procrastination & how to change it?

You set up this impressive list of goals beginning of the year, and it’s probably mid-year or close to the end of the year now, and you revisit these and discover that forget about reaching some of them, you are still stuck on the one big thing that you really wanted to complete and you are far from completion.

You are one of those people that others look up to. They look at you and think that you have your act together! Apparently, you are a source of inspiration. When people think of an achiever — they think of you. When people think of who gets things done — they think of you. When people think of who is organized — they think of you. There is a lot of pressure on you to perform.

You have set targets and you know exactly what you want to achieve — you have this beautiful list of tasks you set for each day and you are more sluggish than the slowest snail you have seen.

The long and short of it is that the outside world presumes you have your act together. Little do they know that something is stopping you from moving forward.

On the other hand, you could be someone who has mastered the art of delay, are a master of procrastination, and are always looking to find excuses to justify why targets were not achieved.

Either way, neither of you is moving forward or taking action. So how does one change this pattern of procrastination? How does one move from being a PROcrastinator to a real PRO at getting things done?

Usually, a procrastinator is aware that he/she is stuck. He has the awareness that he/she needs to get things done but is unable to identify the cause of a lack of progress. So the one way to get unstuck is to identify the root cause, and then try to consciously work at changing it.

If you are struggling to identify the root cause of your procrastination, here are a few common reasons why people procrastinate.

One, too many goals to achieve in a year, month or week, too many tasks to achieve in a day, and feeling like you want to achieve it all and then achieving very little.

Two, you feel overwhelmed just looking at the size of the list of goals or tasks or the length of time it will take to achieve them. So you find it easier to just let your day be one that goes with the flow and before you know it, you haven’t progressed on anything that would make you come closer to your goal or task.

Three, you think you are not good enough and this thought or feeling consumes your time and attention more than the thought of taking action to achieve your task or goal.

Four, if you are reading this and the Corona Crisis is still on, you have probably been working from home for an indefinite period of time.

You could be one of those who have hardly stepped out. Maybe there is a lack of exposure to the sun and you are experiencing Vitamin D deficiency. You might be experiencing a lack of oxygen, breathing issues, a feeling of heaviness in the chest and this is what you may be reading as fear, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and this is causing the procrastination. Maybe what you need is a dose of exercise and some fresh air.

Maybe Work From Home in this environment has led you to feel a sense of loss of freedom, or has added on more responsibilities both at work and home, and this is affecting you and making you procrastinate.

Five, you lack vision and a purpose. You are just working or doing business because you have to do it but you don’t really feel passion for it.

Six, you have worked so hard in the past that now you need to pause and take a break before you get back to taking action in dynamo mode.

Seven, you fear failure or fear success at a subconscious level so you keep doing what you feel like doing even though you have an amazing roadmap in terms of goals or multiple task lists and calendars.

If you could relate to any one or more of the above reasons that are making you procrastinate, can you now self reflect and assess what specific steps you will take to change what is holding you back?

I wish more success to each Leader, each Team Member, each Organization, and each Business. Keep striving! Keep evolving! Keep shining!

If you resonated with this, please share this with the person who you feel needs to read or hear this the most.

Cheers,

Namrata Vishwanath

If you are a Corporate/Business Leader or Executive and would like to learn how to build your career, teams, and business through building a leadership mindset and skills, please join the Leader by Design Hub & click on the link for more information: https://linktr.ee/namratavishwanath