STOP PROCRASTINATING, START DOING !

How often it happens with you that you make a very nice plan in details about learning something but you do not even complete 10% of what you planned? You make a schedule or a timetable and try really hard to stick to it but can never follow it for more than 3 or 4 days. You screw up the beginning of your activity and just because of it you are not able to complete what you started. You keep on thinking that you are not in right mood or not in the proper mental state and keep promising yourself that from tomorrow onwards you would definitely start but that tomorrow never comes. You plan for jogging in the early morning but you never wake up or even if you do, you are not able to go for more than 3 days and keep on thinking that you are tired today or it’s raining outside and you would go tomorrow. You never hit the gym, you didn’t learn the language you thought of learning years back, you have pending assignments and homework, your preparation for any exam is lagging behind by a great amount and still you are not able to start. If you suffer from all this, then like me and like most of the human beings you are also a procrastinator.

To err is human and to procrastinate is for sure human, because an animal never thought of going to hunting the next day and sit today, doing nothing because he is not in mood. Telling a procrastinator to develop a routine and sticking to it is like telling a chain smoker not to smoke or disconnecting internet connection of a Facebook addict, some things are not possible because they are not just bad habits or lack of determination, they have deeper psychological roots and require hell lot of efforts for any improvement rather than mere words. We really enjoy the planning phase; it is so much fun to gradually imagine all the improvements we will have once we will start following our plans. We stay so much energetic and optimistic and we are so sure that we are going to follow all the plans, it gives us a very genuine kind of happiness when we create an outstanding plan for a task but not for once we think that what are the odds of us following that plan.  

Procrastination is one thing in which we are naturally expert, but I guess the worst effect it has is not the fact that we failed to complete something important but the guilt of it. We all feel bad if because of our own laziness we are unable to finish something, we feel really guilty and that guilt traps us into a vicious circle. I was reading this article where it described the procrastination loop. The steps were pretty easy. We plan to do something but we think that our mood is not good right now and we should wait for some time to get the proper physical and mental power to complete that task, the wait never gets over and this further screw up our mood as we aren’t able to do what we planned and as our mood is bad we can’t start the task and we keep on forcing it on tomorrow.

If we plan to study till 2 AM and feel really tired at 1 AM then we think that perhaps I should sleep now and wake up an hour early to study and as I would have better focus in the morning it would yield better result. But we aren’t able to wake up early in the morning and we keep on thinking about the 1 hour loss that happened because of our laziness and we aren’t able to study for the whole day thinking about that 1 hour. This scenario can be generalized to any other thing not only study. So, we can easily see the problem is not only the habit but also the inability to tackle the guiltiness properly and letting it hamper our next day tasks and plans.  

So, what’s the solution? Interestingly, I have written on the same topic 4 years ago and I don’t think I quite followed what I thought back then. http://mayankviews.blogspot.in/2010/11/kal-se-pakka.html.

Anyway, I guess we underestimate the problem of procrastination as a personal weakness and it keep on haunting our life, making us sad and guilty for no reason and affect our performance. Even right now, I thought of finishing this article at 9 PM and I am far behind my schedule but anyway I am happy that I am not procrastinating the blogging anymore. I am far more active then what I used to be, but only for the English blog, I keep on delaying the posts for Hindi blog and it’s been 2 years almost I have updated it, the posts are getting piled up inside my head but I am yet to give them any shape on the paper. I tried to create a generalized plan and I hope it would help not only me but all of you, fingers crossed people, let’s hope for the best.

1)      First thing, always make a goal that is practically feasible. If you haven’t touched your book for ages then you can’t suddenly start studying for 10 hours a day. If you are not exercising then you can’t do 50 pushups in a day. The primary reason for procrastination is that we set up our goals too high when we make the plan but when it comes to following it, we are daunted by the unrealistic odds and keep on delaying it. So better, make a plan that gradually increases the efforts and that is realistic and doable. At the end of the day, fancy figures won’t help you if you are not putting any efforts and keep procrastinating with the thought that one day I would study this much or exercise that much.

2)      Always keep a margin for uncertainty. You may have to do some assignment at college, or some guest might come, or you have to stay late at office, there might be some social function you got to attend, or you are sick. There are multiple reasons that might prove big hurdles in your plan , so better keep a margin for them also instead of regretting that you wasted lot of time in that issue.

3)      If you are planning to do something, do it now, there is no such thing called proper time. No your focus won’t improve if you will sleep, your coffee might not help you, talking to a friend won’t improve your mood and you would suddenly start working hard. Don’t delay the work for lame excuses, your brain has become an expertise in tricking you and deviating you from the right path. It would always tempt you to listen to 1 song or watch an episode of FRIENDS before studying, a half hour nap before exercise, accessing the facebook once before start working. Don’t listen to it, your brain is a trickster, it would keep on making your hopes high and stab you in disguise. Be very cruel to yourself and start doing whatever you are supposed to do without any deviation.

4)      Instead of a daily schedule, make weekly goals and plans and try to distribute your time accordingly to finish all those tasks in a week. A daily schedule is very hard to stick to because there are various uncertainties in life but if you are determined you can easily distribute your entire tasks wisely and adjust for daily losses or gains and finish the tasks in a week.

5)      If you are preparing for an examination, or hoping for a healthy body, or trying to learn a new language, the best motivation is self motivation. Try to think about the scenario of the end result for 5 minutes before starting, it will surely boost your moral when you will see yourself without a tummy, or as a student of your dream college or company or speaking a new language and impressing others. This 5 minute process can surely motivate you enough to go for hours.

6)      Don’t be unreasonably harsh on yourself in the beginning or for catching up if you are behind the schedule. You can’t start on with 100% efficiency, starting should always be slow and focused rather then forced efforts and if you are lagging behind many days, you can’t cover up by giving efforts for 12 hours a day, it is unrealistic approach, you would exhaust yourself soon and quit forever. Don’t panic, just increase the daily quote of hours by 20 to 25% and give yourself proper time to get back on the track.

7)      I am not saying to abandon social networking but if your task is high priority and time is less, reducing the frequency to once or twice a day if you spent a lot of time on these things would help a lot. It would keep your mind really refreshed without any deviation and you can focus properly.

8)      Try to maintain a routine; especially for the bed time and wake up time with at most half hour uncertainties, it would really keep your mind in a far focused state than an ad hoc random routine where you yourself don’t even know what you are going to do in the next half hour.

9)      Take breaks at proper interval daily, weekly, monthly to recharge and refresh your stamina. You are not a machine and even machine needs oiling. If you stuck in a routine it would result in boredom and you would start procrastinating again and you won’t even enjoy that non productive phase so better have a pre plan for enjoyment.

10)   Lastly, try to focus more on consistency then concentration, efficiency than hourly efforts, retention than learning a lot and proper revision than aimlessly moving forward. Learn to forgive yourself, if you are not able to follow your plans no point in reproaching and accusing yourself and thinking that while others are studying/working I am wasting my time. No one runs on 100% efficiency and no one is that much dedicated or always motivated. Everyone has issues, so do you, forgive yourself, pat on your back, and start from where you left at the last point instead of planning again.

All the best people, I promise you all that I would definitely stick to my plans and won’t procrastinate and I hope you would do the same. Stop procrastinating, start doing !