9 Ways to stop procrastination

MF editorial team 16 Aug 2015 updated the 6 October 2015 à 22:52

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Activate motivation
"Motivation works as an appetite, which comes with a necessity, like eating," says psychologist Laurence Einfalt*. She says it is often enough to start a task and to encourage oneself ("I'm brave!") to generate action. But you can also apply the following:
1. Adopt the 'five minutes' plan in order to be able to cease your efforts after five minutes. Replace the long chores with smaller ones to accomplish everything you need to complete.
2. Skip the 'I must' to 'I can at least', that is if you can't shave your legs, at least consider grooming your eyebrows.
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Note what has been done
Besides the chores, we can also delay or push back our time. By being late to the office or missing your appointment with the physiotherapist - like Laurence Einfalt, an individual suffering from subjective perception of time. To fix this, there is a solution: make an assessment noting what is expected to do in the next hour, then what you actually did during the previous hour. "This shows how one does or avoids a certain task," says the psychologist.
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Play with your money
Taxes are never a piece of cake. For some, it is even a nightmare: the credit card slips and accumulates, bank statements are never unsealed... There is so much tension in the air. How do you overcome it? The first step is coming out of denial and trying to "understand the reasons that lead to backlog," suggests Einfalt. His advice: if you continually procrastinate to do your taxes, turn it into a game. Race against the clock, for example, by timing yourself. This will boost your motivation and will make you aware that this is not a superhuman effort, but far from it.
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Accept frustrations
Do you expect your doctor to label you as overweight before you start your diet and you finally start exercising? Maybe it's time to understand that, "A harmonious life is composed with both pleasures and frustrations," explains Bruno Koeltz, a physician and behavioral therapist. If the layer of stress you feel is indigestible, cut it into smaller parts. For example, offset your overeating one night with a more balanced breakfast the next day. Rather than taking your car to go buy your sandwich five hundred meters away, walk and have a wholemeal bread salami. It will allow you to regain control and face what you fear, so to gain self esteem. Need a carrot to advance? Reward yourself at every step you've taken.
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Increased fear
Sometimes it's fear of failure that leads us to repel a deadline. Fearing a verdict that could undermine our self esteem, we look forward to making a record, to request an increase in the age of individual interviews. "If unsuccessful, we give an excuse: it was done too late," says Dr. Bruno Koeltz. This is even more true that the fear of success, or rather its consequences, may also be inhibited. "Earning stripes, for example, exposes jealousy. A salary increase can be seen as a duty to prove that we deserved it. In awareness, you can better help to meet the challenge and fulfill your ambivalences."
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Clear the way
For months you've wanted to repaint your living room and every day the gray walls remind you that you did not do it. To become a good behaviorist, Koeltz suggests making a plan of action by anticipating the difficulties of each task. For example, in steps, do an equipment check and list the tools that you might have missed. In the 'empty furniture' step, think ahead that it might be more convenient to protect them under a plastic tarp and pile them up in the entrance. Once the obstacles start getting eliminated, there is no more putting them off.
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Create a good habit
"It's not my fault, I'm just not used to it..." How many of us are too accustomed to putting off the chores that we're just not used to doing? It's been long that your bed has been made for you, and even the clearing of your table for breakfast... What next? Everything is acquired. How does one shorten the time between saying "I should probably vacuum," and "I'll start!"?
"By creating a habit," suggests Einfalt. A routine is acquired in twenty one days after that, so the task is wired and we don't ask anymore questions. "Come on, pack up your excuses!"
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Be in control of your perfectionist side
Pushing the deadlines is not always a sign of laziness. A perfectionist nature can make us too demanding of ourselves and discourage our impulses. "Perfectionism is not bad in itself, it is the dosage that turns it into poison," notes Koeltz. Some examples include:
• The level of excellence referred is unattainable.
• You dwell on little details at the expense of the essential.
• You are convinced you have enough time.
In all these cases, reflect. And if the fear of failure paralyses you, remember these three golden rules to find the urge to act.
• Consider failure as a source of improvement.
• Agree to limits.
• Do not summarise your personal value to your results when they should just be used for feed.
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Be sure of the time
Some may miss their gym session, escape the parent-teacher meetings of their teen, forget to do the taxes, or even forget their calendar or address book. Others let themselves be hypnotised by the Internet or by a telephone conversation. What about you? "Identifying our time-mania is essential," advises Koeltz, because it allows us to imagine admonitions. "For example, sticking a post-it on the phone will make you think it would be good to set your paperwork before you call your girlfriend."

Writing an email, filing a folder, changing a light bulb… Without realising, we always look for a good excuse to buy time. Why do we procrastinate, and how to evolve? Here are 9 tips on making the first move.

Procrastination – we all do it, whether we like to admit it or not. It’s an easy way to temporarily put off the things that allow for a little bit of pushing aside. That is, till the very last minute. How many times have we vowed to clear the laundry basket over the weekend, only to let it pile up and finally get to it the following Friday? Or tell ourselves to start stocking up on diminishing food supplies but decide to go to the supermarket only once the last morsel of food is eaten?

While the scenarios mentioned above seem like small, petty issues, procrastination can get the better of us even in more serious situations. Avoiding big responsibilities and letting it take a back seat for the moment is not a healthy habit, so to combat those problems, we look to the experts for some advice on how we can better ourselves and feel the drive to get things done in the spur of the moment.

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9 Ways to stop procrastination

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