Are you a procrastinator?
You very well might be, and if you said yes, you're not alone. Depending on how much you procrastinate, it might be a big problem for you. . . but before you scroll away, saying that you're not a procrastinator at all, I urge you to watch this video and think about the second kind of procrastination.
How Procrastination Works
In case you didn't watch the video, let me summarize for you.
Here's Tim Urban's take on how procrastination works: People who don't procrastinate have a Rational Decision Maker in charge of their brain and behavior. But those who do procrastinate have both the Rational Decision Maker and the Instant Gratification Monkey. As you might have guessed from the name, the Instant Gratification Monkey only wants to do things that are fun and easy.
There is a third character, The Panic Monster, who comes around any time there is a looming deadline. (The deadline needs to be really, really close.) He scares the Monkey away, enabling the Decision Maker to take control and do what needs to be done to meet the deadline.
Makes sense, right?
Two Types of Procrastination
However, there are two types of procrastination, and if you don't experience the first, you likely experience the second.
The first is exemplified by that person who pulls all-nighters to get the college paper done or to cram for an exam.
But the second is the far scarier of the two, because it's likely that you are that type of procrastinator and you don't even know it. It's likely that this procrastination is crushing your dreams.
The Second Type of Procrastination
This second type of procrastination is far sneakier and far more dangerous. If you miss a single deadline (procrastination type 1), it's likely that the consequences won't be life-altering. However, the second type of procrastination by nature stretches out for long periods of time, so much so that you might not even realize that you still have certain dreams, or that so much time has passed by since you thought about that thing you wanted to do.
It's this type of procrastination that causes us to have regrets.
In the video, one example given of a thing we tend to procrastinate on is taking care of our health. How many times have you heard of someone who had a health scare and then because of that "deadline" they were prompted to do something about their health? They were jolted into realizing there could be a consequence for not acting. There is, in fact a deadline.
We All Have Deadlines
This is the part where I urge you to stop putting off your dreams and to seize the day. But if it were that easy, everyone would do it, right?
You know that you're working against a deadline – whether it's 70 years or 100 years, or less or more, none of us know.
But what we do know about procrastinators is that they wait until the 11th hour, the Panic Monster is unleashed, and then they can kick things into high gear. The problem is with long-term goals like travel or getting into shape or investing in your relationships or having the career you want, is that they require time. And when the Panic Monster kicks in here, time is the one thing you don't have left.
So how can we trick our procrastinating brains into doing the things we want to do (especially the hard and not fun parts we have to do) to achieve our goals?
Achieving Your Long-Term Goals as a Procrastinator
Do you have a goal or goals that are important for you to achieve? Maybe it's getting in shape, achieving that next level in your career, writing a book or something else. . . but every time you know you need to do that little action to help get you there, you just don't do it. . .
You don't do the workout.
You don't take the career risk.
You don't write the pages.
And even though you know you should, there always seem to be a million and one other things that are more pressing.
What can you do?
Here are 5 simple ideas to consider.
5 Ideas that Stop Procrastination
Your life seems to be speeding by so fast it's sometimes a blur. The things you want to do, the things you dreamt of doing, you never seem to get a chance to do. And sometimes, it seems, you don't even get to slow down enough to figure out what you want now in life.
So how can you stop procrastinating on those big dreams, especially the ones you don't even know you have yet, and the ones that feel out of your grasp because there are so many other priorities?
Stop Procrastination: Idea One
This kind of procrastination is made worse because we might not have a set goal in mind, or a set deadline for that goal. Therefore, the solution is to spend some time dreaming (and planning).
If you can dream up a big dream for yourself, and then plan backward, you may be able to see that you do have a deadline looming. What are the steps to get there? And what would you have to do first?
This deadline isn't for the overall goal, but it's for the initial step. After all, if you don't put the ball in motion now, you will be too late to get it done later. All the little goalposts that you should have hit along the way to make that big goal possible will have passed if you don't. Start today!
Stop Procrastination: Idea Two
Remember the Instant Gratification Monkey? What if we could use him to our advantage here? Your long-term goals don't have to be all drudgery and boredom. They can be fun, no matter what they are. Or at least a little more fun.
Why not join a group? There are people out there doing everything imaginable under the sun. Want to save for the future? Join an investing club. Want to write a novel? Join a writer's group. Not so into other people? More of an introvert? Gamify it. There are lots of apps for different interests that can turn your dreams into a challenge or game that can get you to push your limits.
Stop Procrastination: Idea Three
Don't underestimate the power of tiny steps.
Many of us give up on our big dreams because we can't dedicate huge amounts of time to achieving them, but what we forget is the power of tiny steps over time.
If your goal is to learn a new language, use a language app for 5 minutes a day. If your goal is to be healthier, swap out one snack a day and put a veggie in its place. If you'd like to read more, designate one day a week where you don't watch TV after work, and you read for an hour instead.
You don't have to be super-human to achieve big goals, you just have to be consistent.
You Don't Have to be a Procrastinator
None of us wants to think of ourselves as a procrastinator. It doesn't make us feel good about ourselves, and we don't like what we see when we look back on our lives. Instead, implement one (or all) of these three tips and see where you are in a year from now. My guess is that you will have made a lot of progress!