How To Defeat Procrastination
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Having procrastination is one thing. Understanding why it happens is another. There really are many causes of procrastination. However, the most important point here is to find the cause and remove it so that the person who suffers from it won’t have to suffer from it forever.

As was stated earlier, the causes of procrastination are many. These can include the following:

• Confusion and Fear: People who procrastinate do so out of confusion and fear. At times sufferers will take on a project without knowing the outcome of their actions. When they begin the project or assignment, suddenly they get confused because the project is not going as well as they expected, or they were looking for different results, and therefore become confused by what the outcome should be. This creates fear and confusion inside them to the point where they are now uncomfortable with continuing the project. So they hesitate and make excuses for why they don’t do it. This fear and confusion is not real but just a mistaken notion based on some subconscious thought or reaction that they can’t control. The fear aspect enters when the sufferer is confronted with the realization that such an undertaking can’t be accomplished because of an inward sense of doom or failure.

• No Planning: What happens with procrastinators is that they don’t make a plan of action for their projects before they start them. They just simply proceed forward with no idea of what they will do or how they will do it. They just get into the groove basically, and think they can accomplish the task like that. Then once they get involved with it, they find the realization of their actions is not in relation to the actual outcome. This, therefore, turns them into frightful, unsatisfied, guilt-ridden sufferers who now face a grimmer reality. Before they got involved in the project, they should have examined every aspect of the job and what was involved. This way they would have known what was expected of them in order to complete the job. They also had to know what steps to fulfill in order to complete the task at hand, and how to go about getting it done. Of course, one mustn’t forget the deadline. They must know the cutoff date for completion and keep that focused in their mind. They have to evaluate the circumstances that would result from failure to meet the specified deadline.

• Lack of Analysis: One of the reasons for procrastination is the lack of analyzing a situation. Every aspect of a project or situation has to be analyzed based on the results to be expected. Every part has to be examined and an estimate for time of completion has to be attached to it. Don’t try to analyze the whole event or project at once. That could very well put you into fear mode or even frustration. Take what is given to you and dissect it piece by piece. This is really the only way you’ll be able to work with it in a more desirable way. Maybe by doing this you can deal with the assignment much more easily. Perhaps you won’t be so quick to give up the ship and will stick with it. At least this procedure can help your cause, just as long as other areas of your life are working on all cylinders.

• Lack of Prioritizing: Another reason for procrastination is the lack of prioritizing. In general, arranging tasks in a certain order helps people to accomplish them because everything is broken down and set up in regular succession. This helps to put the focus on one part first, followed by the next, and the next. When you look at a project, assignment, or whatever it is you are instructed to perform, you need to list what you need to do as very important, important, not so important, or can wait till the end to complete. This way you have an idea as to what you must do first, followed by what comes next, until you get to the end. This way you accomplish all the tasks and don’t leave anything out. One problem with procrastinators is that they have a hard time prioritizing. But with practice, they can learn to prioritize.

• Avoiding Responsibilities: This is the trademark of a procrastinator. They hate responsibilities and avoid them at all costs. They'd rather not do anything if they can get away from doing it. The main reason for this is fear of losing control. If they don’t have control over the situation, they can’t handle it and give in to the pressure. This pressure leaves them feeling unfulfilled, which in turn leaves them feeling guilty for not doing it. It can really be a catch 22 situation, a type of situation that nobody would wish on their worst enemy.

• Depression: Depression has been known to cause procrastination. The sufferer just can’t get it together. The person may feel very moody and down about himself or herself. These feelings will imprison the person inside their shell. They will not take a stand to do anything because those fears and worries have taken control. Such an occurrence is only too real for the person who suffers from procrastination. If you approach the person and request some action to be taken for your sake or the sake of someone else, the sufferer will just excuse himself and make excuses claiming that he can’t do it or doesn’t want to be bothered. This presents a major problem for those involved.

• Fatigue: It has been found through research that some people who suffer from procrastination have had bouts of fatigue before or during their state of procrastination. Most of the time fatigue is based on some psychological or physical problem that caused it. No matter, it will keep you from performing your duties, since you will not have the ability to function. The best way around this is to get plenty of rest and exercise. This will help immensely. Otherwise, the procrastinator will have another arsenal at their disposal as an excuse for not wanting to perform the action.

• Lack of Vision: Procrastinators do not have a vision for what they are looking to do. They really don’t want to go beyond the first step or two because they don’t know if they will go any further. It is just a matter of convenience to them to stay in a neutral position. This way there is no fear, frustration, or commitment, which makes the procrastinator feels more comfortable.

What was covered above is only a part of the iceberg. There are many more causes that can be referenced. The more you know the better you can recognize this problem and resolve it.

The first thing you must do as a procrastinator is to understand why you don’t want to do things that are assigned to you. Why don’t you want to perform a certain task? You must analyze very carefully any task you are trying to do or are involved in, but haven’t completed yet, to determine why you can’t complete it. A lot of it is poor time management. You have a poor concept of time so you just think you can put off whatever you need to do to another time.

If you are a good time manager, there are obviously other reasons for your problem. These causes can include:

• Lack of Relevance: If something that you face is not really important to you, you won’t want to get involved. You won’t have the motivation to actually do it. You will make excuses claiming it isn’t right for you or you just don’t have the energy to get it done. You just don’t think it is worth your time so you don’t do it.

• Other Goals In Mind: Oftentimes a procrastinator will be given a task to do and find it doesn’t suit them. They may not find it interesting enough so they look toward other goals to do instead. This can be a common thing for a procrastinator. If the project is not to their liking, it won’t get done. Unless they are forced into it, the task will not get done because they don’t have the enthusiasm to do it, and therefore will quit, or just simply prolong the avoidance.

• Perfectionist: This is an ugly word but it fits perfectly for the procrastinator. This is because in many circumstances, the procrastinator is a person who must have things as perfect as possible in order to do something. If it is not perfectly done, it won’t get done. This is one of many reasons why procrastinators will not engage in certain activities, simply because if they can’t do it perfectly, they don’t want to do it at all.

• Lack of Control: One of the biggest concerns for procrastinators is not being in control. If you are a sufferer and you do something, but you find you are not in control of the outcome, you will suffer from lack of control and will back out in a hurry. You will feel embarrassed by it probably, but your comfort zone will have been compromised to a point that you can’t take the feeling any more. This forces you to withdraw into a safe haven, a place where you do not have to conform, and become an inactive participant.

• Uncertainty: If you are not certain as to the outcome of an event or are uncertain as to what people expect from you, this will cause you to withdraw from it and not want to get involved. Assurance is the prerequisite to accomplishing the task at hand. Without that there is no involvement.

• Fear of the Unknown: This is a big one for procrastinators. This is one of the top reasons for procrastination. Those who suffer from procrastination do not want to get involved in any kind of pursuit, knowing they have no idea as to the outcome or what is ahead of them. They have no way of knowing how they will perform what they have to do and this leads them to not want to take the necessary steps toward action. This puts them in a state of inactivity which can result in depression and anxiety for fear of entrapment. And this entrapment can keep them locked in their own little world where no one has permission to enter.

• Can’t Handle a Task: If you don’t feel adequate to do a job, because of a lack of training or whatever, you may decide not to get involved or to take on the project. This has the possible outcome of keeping you in a state of confusion and disbelief. In the end, you won’t partake in the task and will refuse to do so. You may even use lack of skills or qualifications as your reason for not proceeding forward.

• Lack of Self-Confidence: As a procrastinator, you may have low self-esteem. You may think your effort is not worth anything so why try it. You may believe within yourself that you feel inadequate or incapable of achieving the goal of doing something unless you can do it perfectly.

• I’m Busy: A procrastinator may use the excuse that he is too busy to take on any more assignments or projects, when in fact he isn’t busy at all. He may even use this as an excuse if he is late getting a project done.

• Being Stubborn: Believe it or not, procrastinators have used stubbornness as a way to get out of doing something they don’t want or like. They may tell you they will do it when they feel like it.

• Manipulation: A procrastinator may use manipulation as a way to control a situation or others. They have the attitude that no one can do a thing until they arrive.

• Pressure Reliever: Many people will use procrastination as a way to control their lives and what is happening around them. This way they avoid pressures and anxieties that life can bring.

• Victim Attitude: Those who are procrastinators feel like victims. They can’t really figure out why they can’t achieve anything in their life.

Based on the evidence stated above, you can see what causes procrastination. But how do you know if you really are a procrastinator? There are a number of ways to find out whether you are a procrastinator or not. If you fit the following situations, you are a procrastinator:

• Do you believe that if you ignore doing a task, it will go away? For example, if you have a mid-term exam coming up, do you ignore it thinking it will disappear, although you know it won’t?

• When you are assigned a task, do you underestimate it? Or do you find you overestimate your own abilities and find you can’t cut it after all? An example of this would be if you undertake a test and say you find it easy and can do the test in 10 minutes when in fact, it takes you two hours to do it?

• Do you believe that a lower score on a test will still be enough to pass it? For example, you’re in a math class taking a test. The goal is to get 100 but no less than 70 to pass. You believe that if you score a 68 or lower that you will still pass. Because of your thinking, you lessen the effort you would normally make to do well on the test, although you realize this could lower your overall grade point average. Whether you know this or not, by committing to this pattern, you will find your life will be unmanageable and you will meet failure after failure all your life.

• Do you substitute one activity for another lesser activity; despite the fact that the first activity will give you better or higher results? For instance, you are told you have to complete a writing assignment that is due on Friday, but instead of working on it, you take the time to clean the house, or go see a movie.

• Do you find yourself constantly delaying a project or some minor event? And do you believe that doing this is harmless? What if you have an important project to finish, but you'd rather do something else, thinking you will only spend five or ten minutes doing something else and then return to do what was required? The only problem is you never go back to the important project, and so it never gets done, or you have to rush to do it at the last minute.

• Do you make it look like you plan to do something when in fact you don’t? An example would be that you promise to work on a task that has a deadline, but you have to go out of town for an emergency, so you take your laptop with you so you can work on the project while away. The only problem is you never do the work on the laptop. In fact, you keep the laptop in your travel bag tucked away in the closet of the room you are staying in.

• Do you find you are doing something but you are persevering only on one part of the task but not finishing the rest of it? A good example of this would be if you have a term paper due but you only focus on getting the introduction right, while ignoring the rest of the paper.

• When you are given a choice between two different projects to work on, but you are having trouble deciding which one to take. In fact you waste more time trying to decide that, and by the time you do choose, the deadline has already passed and you missed your deadline.

If you agree that one of all the above scenarios fit you to a tee, guess what? You are a procrastinator. The way to cure yourself of the problem is by first admitting you do have a problem, and then you can take the steps to cure your problem. Once you get past the denial phase, the actual steps you need to take next are the action phase, where you get into the steps to treat the problem. Hopefully, by the time you finish the action phase, you will no longer have to deal with procrastination.

The treatment may be from a psychological perspective or it could be medical. Whatever treatment option that is found, it will turn into a long-term treatment, if your condition is worse than the standard.

In order to really overcome procrastination, you have to get rid of many types of emotions and feelings or at least change the way you think. An example of this would be the following:

• Difficult: You can’t sit there and think everything is difficult to do. If you do think things are difficult, you won’t want to deal with them.

• Time-consuming: If you think what you will need to do will take up too much time, this will be a defeating attitude.

• Lack of skills: One reason for not wanting to do something is because the person’s skill level is not high enough. This will force the person to think twice about taking on any kind of assignment.

• Fears: If the person has any kind of fears, this will prevent him from doing anything. He will prefer to do nothing and stay out of harm's way, rather than risk getting hurt or disappointed.

Procrastination does not have to control your life if you don’t let it. If you have dealt with it for a long time it will be hard to break free from it. But it is not impossible. The important consideration is learning the ways to deal with it. Then once you know that you can take the next step to overcoming the problem.

Before you can safely rid yourself of the problem of procrastination, you must first recognize it as a problem. Once you recognize it as a problem, you have to come to terms with it and understand why it is hard to get rid of.

Not all people have been cured of procrastination, at least not right away. It sometimes takes days, weeks, or even years before the sufferer can escape its evil clutches. However once you do understand the reasons behind procrastination and why it is such a hard problem to get rid of, you can get to the root of it, and find the one ingredient that will help remove it from your system for good. The next chapter will discuss the reasons why procrastination won’t go away so easily.

Hopefully after you have had a chance to read it, you’ll be better able to deal with this problem.