I have a confession. I am a procrastinator. More specifically a selective procrastinator. Selective because I choose what to procrastinate on. On the flip side, I am a selectively proactive. I decide and choose what I want to be proactive about. I know that I am not alone in this category. A recent deadline got me thinking, what factors contribute to the procrastination? Could it be the following:
- I am not interested or passionate about the topic or task to begin with.
- It is not important to me.
- It is not a priority for me.
- Over time, after ignoring it, I have just forgotten.
Whatever the reason, procrastination does not solve the problem. In fact it could make it worse. So learning from my most recent experience, I have come to conclude that procrastination will:
- not complete the task at hand.
- not make the problem go away. If anything, it might make it bigger.
- not mean that other people have forgotten what you need to do.
- give you unnecessary anxiety and stress when you realise that you can no longer procrastinate.
- cost you something.
Therefore, in order to avoid all those unpleasant situations above, here are my top 3 sure-fire way to force yourself to act:
- Find someone to remind you. In fact constantly remind you. Give that person the permission to be your voice of action. Let that person be the “fly”. Buzzing around you until it is done.
- Deadline. There is a reason why the word is DEADline. It has to be a reasonable deadline else you will procrastinate. Don’t give yourself any room to make excuses.
- Reward Yourself. I personally find that the best motivator. Reward yourself when you get the task done. Make the reward more compelling than the task at hand. You could even “pay” yourself for the work completed.
If all those still does not work, just pay someone to do it. Now if paying someone else to do it is out of the question or you can’t afford it, then just get it done yourself! Which ever path you take, it will cost you something. The question is which price are you willing to pay.
