Procrastination can be a massive problem if you let it take over your life. It can strangle motivation, and spell the end for your hopes, dreams and plans. There are several causes of procrastination which this article will outline. Once you know of and can recognize these causes you can cut them out of your life and increase your productivity tenfold.
Procrastination simply put is when you find yourself putting off things that you should be doing, in favor of doing something more enjoyable, or perhaps even something just more comfortable. The problem with this is that you never push yourself, you never learn anything, and rarely achieve any large successes.
Here are some common causes of procrastination to look out for:
- Feeling Overwhelmed: Possibly the most common cause. If you just don’t know where to start, or the task is so big it will take forever there can be the temptation can be to put it off. However this won’t make it go away. You will just have to do it at the last minute, under even more stress, and probably do a worse job. Do yourself a favor and get it out of the way early.
- Wrong Priorities: Procrastinators work just as many hours as everyone else, but they may not understand the importance of prioritizing urgent tasks over routine work. Next time you have a “to do list” on your hands be honest with yourself and ask yourself if the task you are starting is the most critical.
- Waiting for the“Right” Time: There is never a right time. You are making excuses. If you just start you will soon realize that the present time is perfectly fine and you will soon be making good progress into the project.
- Fear of Failure: Rejection and failure are feelings we try and keep away from. it hurts our egos and upsets us. Next time you feel these feelings think of the success and how good it will feel instead.
- Poor organizational skills: This could be anything from having 5 unfinished projects on the go at the same time, to having an untidy desk. Organize yourself and you will know exactly what you need to do and when. You will be in control.
- Perfectionism: This is where you feel you don’t have the knowledge or skills to complete the task to satisfaction. Sadly this is counter productive as you gain more knowledge and skill through experience than you ever can from reading and researching about it.
We hope you have enjoyed this article on the most common causes of procrastination. If you are honest you will probably recognize yourself in the above statements somewhere. We all procrastinate from time to time, but when it becomes a real issue we get nothing done and move closer and closer to failure with every step.
If you are serious about overcoming your procrastination then view our stop procrastinating subliminal CD. It contains powerful positive affirmations to help you rewire your inner mind, eliminate the thoughts that are holding you back, and replace them with thoughts to make you act in the moment, and get things done.