Procrastination : The Tiny Monster Dwelling Within All of Us

Are you one of those people who make it a habit to leave work off till the eleventh hour? Do you spend hours watching the Panda Cam? Simply going gaga over Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and Bei Bei; when you really should be working on that assignment due in 3 hours? Or have you ever wasted time, educating yourself on celebrity gossip to find out which Kardashian is pregnant; when a presentation was due? I bet; for at least half of the people, the answer is yes.

So, what is the the reason behind this? If you ask my mom or your mom; they immediately would proclaim, that it all comes down to laziness. Carelessness. Inattentiveness. Negligence. And a string of lot more adjectives. Now you know how it is with mothers, and parents in general. They are strangely right a lot. But turns out that there is a more definitive term for this plague, which a lot of us seem to have fallen prey to. It is called Procrastination. I am going to assume with all the diligent hours we spend online, you are familiar with the term.

Now, how would you define Procrastination? I personally describe Procrastination as a tiny monster; that lives within me and comes up with innumerable creative ways, to make my life living hell in the long run. All it wants is short term gratification and fulfillment. It has zero concern for the future implications. That is just my very humble view, so let us see the more scientific definition for this curse. Procrastination is, in simple terms the lack of progress. It is self defeating behavior. Allow me to elaborate, it is akin to setting yourself up deliberately for failure. Where you know deep in your heart that, you are doomed if you continue the way you are and yet you lack the will to correct your course. All you do instead is, prolong it. Delay the inevitable temporarily. It is in short, a situation where were people hide from there true responsibilities and duties.

This is not something insignificant that we can discard off, thinking it will get better. Or that it is just a one time thing, or that it is just a phase. Because you see, although all of us Procrastinate, but only some of us are Procrastinators. There is a difference. And out of those, only some, turn out to be chronic Procrastinators. So it is really important, for you to take time and analyze yourself to determine if you are a procrastinator. If you are not; good for you, you are quite something. But if you are, welcome to the world of Procrastinators. It is a tough world. But it is not impossible to traverse through.

Now the key to effectively dealing with Procrastination involves a few steps. This is the guide I follow through. Maybe it can help you to deal with your monster too.

1. Accept that the Monster has a hold on you.

There is no shame in having fallen prey to procrastination. It is something, that is far more widespread than you can imagine. It is not limited just to school, college and university. Or the workplace. It can even be things like, delaying going to see a doctor when you know there is something wrong with you. Staying inside all the time like a hermit, pretending to be busy while blowing off your family and friends. Putting off working on your dream project. Or staying in bed all day, because you just see no reason to get up and get dressed even. All these sound simple enough don’t they? Some people are probably scoffing and saying it is all harmless. Well it is not!

It can completely derail your life if it goes unchecked. Think about the long term implications of all the above. Only one person suffers, you! Taking above examples, you delay going to the doctor for years and when you finally go, the problem has exacerbated. You keep blowing off loved ones and soon you will be all alone. And that dream project of yours that you have been putting off? Maybe by the time you get motivation to do it, someone else might have gotten same idea and beat you to the punch. So, the only one getting harmed is you. It is your life that is getting ruined because you cannot bring yourself to do simple things. One simple thing leads to the other, it forms a chain reaction. In Procrastinators case, no actions are taken and in the end life blows up. So step one. Accept it. Accept that you have a problem.

2. Find out what’s feeding the Monster

Fear is at the root of Procrastination. You see, contrary to popular belief; Procrastinators are the true, extreme perfectionists. So for us perfectionists, it is more acceptable to ourselves and our subconscious not to even attempt a task, if we feel like we cannot perform it to the best of our ability. It is basically all about perfection or none attitude. So in this case, what is the monster within us feeding on? Fear! The fear that we are not good enough. The fear that our work will not be the best. The fear that our work won’t be well appreciated and accepted. These fears are what eggs the monster on. So, we Procrastinate. Put everything off, waste tons of time watching mediocre TV serials when maybe, we possess the potential to write a TV series that is 10 times better than the one we are watching.

So how do we fix this? How do we starve the monster, of the food it needs to survive? Simple. You have to conquer the fears. Master them and then, they will no longer have any hold over you. You have to have trust in yourself, in your capabilities. Remind yourself each and everyday, that you possess potential of unimaginable magnitude. You must believe that you have what it takes, to make your dreams come true. Have confidence in the work you do. And tell yourself; your biggest competitor, is your ownself. So all you have to really do is, break the records; set by yourself. You are the architect of your own success. You alone determine, how much of your talent; you will show to the world. It is all in your hands. So fight the fears holding you down. Stop feeding the fears. Stop believing your fears, they are just figments of your most negative imaginations. Nothing more.

3. Enslave the Monster and push yourself to work.

This is easier said than done. But it is far from impossible. You can control the tiny monster living within you. You can control it and limit the hold it has over you, because nothing is stronger than your own will. If your will and inner strength is iron clad, there is nothing that you cannot attempt. There is a saying, if you do something consecutively for three days straight; it becomes a habit. So start now, those first three days are going to a tough fight. But once you train yourself to do what you must do and on time without delays, it will slowly become a habit. And rest will start to come more naturally to you.

Set your priorities right. In fact, each day before going to bed, spend 15 minutes noting down what you absolutely need to complete the next day. Force yourself if you must. Promise yourself rewards upon successful completion of each task. And cross out each task the minute you complete them. This would appease the tiny monster within you. Give yourself breaks at specified times and during those times do whatever your heart wishes. Go read up on AI or look up Hitler’s romantic conquests for all I care. That will be like throwing a snack to the little monster in you to keep it at it’s bay.

So to conclude, Procrastination is a real problem with every real, devastating long term consequences. We cannot afford to look the other way and hope that one day, we’ll wake up and get over it. It can cause significant stress, anxiety and even cause you to spiral down the very dark paths of depression. Procrastinators may even grow to resent and hate their own selves. Be riddled with guilt and self loathing. No one deserves to go down that path. It is something that can be managed effectively with time, patience and help. But you have to truly want to fix it. You have to want to free yourself, from the clutches of the little monster within you. So let us all take a moment to assess ourselves and make the necessary adjustments to pave the way to lead more happier and meaningful lives.