If you’ve ever been faced with the dilemma of procrastination, but never found a solution, then this blog post is for you.
In fact, I guarantee if you follow these steps and make it an established part of your routine,
there will be no more procrastination in your life.
Skip breakfast or lunch that day
Head straight for the list of tasks that need to be completed
After completing all of these tasks in sequence
Have a warm cup of tea and take a break
Go to bed early and sleep well
Wake up early the next day and repeat the process over again
In no time, you’ll be overcome with the feeling of being productive all day long,
you’ll be skipping meals, sleeping less, and getting more tasks completed everyday.
This theory starts with the assumption that procrastination is simply laziness, and part of laziness is eating when you’re not hungry.
So the solution is to skip meals in an attempt to make yourself more productive.
Many people believe that this myth has been debunked many times, but it isn’t necessarily true.
Some people might still think skipping meals will result in them becoming productive, but there aren’t any studies that connect eating and productivity.
As for drinking too much tea, most people find drinking tea is relaxing,
it’s likely to be a way of taking a break or sleeping better at night, with no effect on work output whatsoever.
The results of this study support the findings of a study conducted by Silvia Gattino and colleagues,
which was published in the “Journal of Health Psychology” in 2006.
In this study, researchers found that participants
who drank caffeinated drinks before bed reported higher levels of procrastination compared to participants who did not drink caffeinated drinks before bed.
Another study conducted by researchers from Canada’s University of Windsor also revealed that people
who consumed caffeine were more prone to procrastinate than participants who consumed decaffeinated beverages.
Some psychologists and behavioural scientists suggest
that procrastination tends to increase during times when we are under stress or experiencing negative emotions such as anxiety and depression.
As mentioned before, procrastination can be defined as an “anti-productive” behaviour.
The opposite of being anti-productive is being productive.
A person who does everything they can to do their best work is called an “aggressively productive person”.
Procrastinators score low on this trait.
One of the main reasons why people procrastinate is because they seek social approval through doing their work without pains or effort.
This kind of behaviour actually provokes powerful emotions and therefore encourages procrastination.
Finally, procrastinators tend to be more impulsive and therefore they tend to procrastinate over doing things properly.
This causes them to feel uncomfortable.
For example, if you’re feeling anxious about something happening, the last thing you want to do is procrastinate at work or in school.
You’ll rather focus on your anxiety than worrying about what is going to happen if you procrastinate even more right now.
Procrastination can be genetic according to Adrian Raine’s research in 2008.
Raine used fMRI brain scans on 20 people who procrastinated and compared them with 20 people who never procrastinated.
Some tips to overcome procrastination:
Follow the “what you do in the dark comes into the light” rule.
This means that if you do something wrong in the dark, it might become public in the light.
If this happens, your reputation might be damaged and you could be embarrassed.
However if you do something wrong when no one is watching or when no one cares what you do,
then there is no need to worry about people knowing when they observe your actions in daylight.
The same goes for when you write something down,
it’s much easier to see when writing your thoughts down than keeping them stored in your mind.
Learn how to work efficiently.
The more you know about your work, the better you will be able to do it and the fewer mistakes and faults you will commit.
If you make a mistake or fault, then learn from it and correct it before it becomes a habit.
Don’t be afraid of making mistakes;
they can be very helpful in making us learn and develop as human beings as we notice them and correct them as soon as possible.
Get involved with other people’s lives if that helps you become more productive.
For example, if someone else is running late for an appointment, then try to help them out without delaying the task at hand yourself.
Do not just focus on getting work done,
also consider activities such as meeting new people with similar interests and hobbies.
Learn to say no when others ask you for help or accept invitations
you don’t feel like attending in the moment.
If your work involves social interactions or involves meeting new people,
then try to avoid holding negative feelings towards what you do and focus only on the task at hand and how good it will be when completed.
