Procrastination

Procrastination is a self-regulation failure characterized by the irrational delay of tasks despite potentially negative consequences. Many hate this behavior because of the last minutes' craziness: stress, chaos, regret....all the negative feelings resulting from procrastination are unpleasant. ​ However, procrastination is very difficult to overcome. There are loud shoutouts of "Stop it!" over the internet. However, the reality is: procrastination is still bothering many of us. Let's learn more about procrastination and explore practical approaches to dealing with it. ​​

Why do we procrastinate? Many reasons can lead to procrastination. 

• Present Bias -  "I still have time, let' me enjoy my time."  The most famous reason for procrastination is Present Bias [2]: "when we tend to settle for a smaller present reward than to wait for a larger future reward. The famous talk in this area is Tim Urban's wild monkey idea in his TED talk "Inside the mind of a master procrastinator" and his blog site waitbutwhy.com. The talk essential discussions about when we satisfy our present enjoyment, represented by an instant gratification monkey who likes immediate happiness, we lose control. Tim mentioned, "Two months turned into one month, which turned into two weeks and one day, I woke up with three days until the deadline. Still not having written a word,". In the end, it becomes a nightmare. 
• Losing Focus due to indolence- "This is more enjoyable."  When social media takes over our time, our Focus blurs, and our timer gets lost. Hours can pass while = listening, browsing, and twitting... when we passively accept information, the details go to our unconscious mind. You will forget them later. With focused learning and digesting, the data becomes knowledge. We can only use them when needed because we control this information. It's a kind of sluggish behavior when we avoid putting more effort into digesting, analyzing, and thinking.
• Dreaming -  "I have great ideas. I could do something..." If you are a dreamer, Adam Grant's TED talk on The surprising habits of original thinkers is an excellent talk to listen to. The critical message is that we must know when to stop our wild imagination and put something into actual work when we are creative. Adam talked about keeping a notebook for ideas. After we put our thoughts down, we stop wondering and start actions. Many great ideas are in people's minds. Really. A lot of them. The challenge is to get it done. Avoid dreaming I would do this and that... Do something first. 
• Perfection: "if I do it later, I can be more prepared to do it better." Psychologists refer to this as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The problem of a perfectionist is insisting on doing something perfectly. In reality, nothing is perfect. Our life assignment is to finish as much as possible in a limited time. Bear in mind it's a timed task, so take actions now and distill them later.
• Losing Focus due to lack of priority: "I have to fix something first and then work on this later. "​ When we don't have a goal and plan in mind, we can be easily affected by outside stimuli or distractions. We start firefighting. We were then buried in endless duties. 

How to deal with procrastination? After summarizing all solutions passed, procrastination needs more planning and discipline to follow the plan. So, we can deal with it with a four-step approach which we also discussed and practiced in our productivity book camp: 

• ​​​Set Goals: What do we want to achieve? 
• Make a Plan: How to achieve the goal? We can write down the list of actions related to each destination, putting them in order and scheduling them on the calendar. If you are a dreamer, add an idea notebook to your plan books. When you dream it, please write it down and revisit them in your next planning time or the time to adjust the plan. 
• Focus on the Plan: This is about following the plan diligently and starting deep work. We can adjust the project but not put anything on the agenda later.
• Adjust the plan: we purposefully review and adjust our plan regularly. We are making it a routine to avoid distraction or interruption. 

Lastly, if we rethink procrastination, it is partially correct. Self-protection makes us happier by enjoying the present, enabling us to do things better by taking time and avoiding the risk of rushing decisions. We need to organize our life on on-purpose while embracing and controlling procrastination.