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Writer's pictureAYBERK YAVUZ

What to do against procrastination?

The most common problem people face in business and student life is procrastination.


And I'm hearing this specific question a lot " What to do against procrastination? "

Procrastinating what does it mean?


Putting things off until later also known as procrastination involves delaying tasks or decisions for a time. This habit often involves prioritizing more enjoyable activities, over important tasks, which can result in increased stress levels and decreased efficiency. People tend to procrastinate for reasons such as fear of failure the pursuit of perfection lack of motivation or feeling overwhelmed, with their workload. Understanding why we procrastinate and implementing strategies to combat it can enhance time management skills. Boost productivity.


Overcoming Procrastination


Most people actually know what they need to do to be successful at something or finish a job, but they avoid doing it as if they were running away from the plague or a sickness.


Yes, most of the time the problem is not not knowing what to do, but not doing it and encountering internal resistance every time you try to do it.

an image shows a person procrastinating things


For example, think of students who knew that they needed to prepare for the exam, knew how to prepare for the exam, and said they would study tomorrow, but could not start studying for months. This is such a disturbing thing. What is disturbing the most is the strong opposition they face, especially when they really want to do that job. This internal resistant situation is very interesting. It's as if something inside them has vowed to stay the same and resists change, no matter what they aim for themselves. Because while this resistance emerges strongly when a person wants to do what he thinks is really good for them, it completely disappears when they are idle for hours.


In fact, most of the time the reason you procrastinate is not laziness. If you do those things, the changes that will occur are costly for the brain. It needs to tear down automatic programming and install new ones. But besides this, the reason you procrastinate is your fear of the subsequent changes, because going beyond the ordinary will cause you to enter an unfamiliar area and it is risky.

an image shows a person procrastinating things

The issue I want to talk about here is more practical. My answer to the question of how to overcome procrastination is usually to sit down and wait. For example, do you constantly postpone starting to write a document? Decide to start at a certain time and spend a certain amount of time, and open the document and sit down with it. Do you constantly postpone studying for a lesson? Set a certain time and duration, put the textbook on the table, open it and sit at the table.


After doing this, there are two possibilities. First, you will start fiddling with the thing shortly after you sit down. The second possibility is that you won't be able to start and you will put the document window open on the computer to the back and access social media, look at the phone or get up and chat with your colleagues. If you are a student, you will start texting on the phone at the desk, maybe you will lie in bed, maybe you will watch porn, etc.

an image shows a person procrastinating things

What's going on here? Here's what's happening. As soon as you sat down to do what you were going to do, the trouble we mentioned earlier came. Instead of going through that distress, you chose to take drugs to suppress the distress.



Best Way to Stop Procrastinating


So what to do? For example, we decided to do this with a friend that I talked to about this issue.


“You will work 3 x 1.5 hours, that is, 4.5 hours, from 09:00 to 10:30 in the morning, then from 11:30 to 13:00, and then from 14:00 to 15:30. You will sit at the table during these hours. Your phone will be off and not in the room. There is no bed, you will be at the table.


“You will sit at the table at 09:00. You will either work for an hour and a half or sit at the table and look at that book. But even if you are not working , you will not run away to distactions and drugs. Leave it there and get bored. You will be very bored. Even if you don't have the will to work, at least show the will to not get up.


Even if you don't work at all, get up at 10:30, rest as if you worked, and at 11:30 you're back at the table, everything is the same. Once you sit at the table, you start working 60% - 70%. Maybe you will just sit for 3-4 days, but if you do this persistently and do not resort to drugs, you will start working in a very short time.”


an image shows a person procrastinating things


If you need to write a document, open that document, turn off the internet and look at that document on the computer for an hour and a half. You will either study that document or look at that document. You will not do anything else. You will be bored there.


If you don't feel like going to the gym today, you will get dressed for the gym and go to the gym. Even if you don't lift weights, you will sit there at the door of the gym and not look at your phone. You will either lift weights or get bored there.


What I have seen from my own experience and from the experiences of many other people is that if you sit down and get bored, mostly at the first time, but eventually you start doing that job. If you get up from that job (physically and virtually with the help of phone or computer screens), that is, if you do not experience boredom, you will not start that job until the very end of that work, or you will not start at all. Look, I repeat, it is very important that you do not get bored and just stay alone with that task. At least have the will to not run away from the screen or the table. You will see that the rest will come naturally.


an image shows a person procrastinating things

Procrastinate Procrastination

Look, this is not such an attractive method at all. Unfortunately, most self-improvement advice ignores a simple truth. Almost every job that is useful and develops people is boring. At the same time, feeling boredom and being exposed to this boredom is essential for you to start this business. Your animal brain almost always prefers instant pleasure and fun over boredom and anxiety. It's hard to sit there and focus on a boring task when there's Instagram or YouTube spending billions of dollars to exploit the human's primitive brain, disconnecting it from the control of the human's advanced brain. The only solution to this is to eliminate all alternatives to the job you need to do for the time you need to do it. The only alternative to doing that job is to get bored looking at it.


If you can't sit at the desk and study, at least sit at the desk. But without your phone. Without getting up from that table for an hour and a half. You can daydream, but when you catch yourself daydreaming, stop daydreaming. Get bored. Be very bored. If you fall asleep while doing that job, it's not a good thing and try to resist it, but falling asleep is much better than opening your phone and looking at Instagram.


Conclusion on procrastinating procrastination

Understanding the concept of procrastination is the first step towards overcoming it. By now, you should have a clear idea of procrastination meaning and the impact it can have on your productivity and well-being. To truly defeat procrastination, it’s very important to recognize the underlying reasons that cause you to procrastinate. Procrastination isn’t just about delaying tasks; it's about addressing the root causes and finding strategies that work for you.


When you catch yourself procrastinating what does it mean? It often indicates a deeper issue such as fear of failure, perfectionism, or lack of motivation. By identifying these triggers, you can develop personalized approaches to tackle them head-on.


_procrastination

Remember, the key to overcoming procrastination lies in taking small, consistent steps. Whether it’s setting achievable goals, breaking tasks into smaller parts, or using productivity tools, each effort counts. Don’t let procrastination define your actions. Embrace the journey of self-improvement and discover the satisfaction that comes from conquering procrastination once and for all.



This was my perspective about What to do against procrastination? I hope you liked the article, please let me know your comments about the topic in the comment section below.


Here is a TED-Educational Video about the topic:


Enjoy the video and please leave a like for the article below.



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