The 3 types of procrastination, and tips to manage them

Many people put off tomorrow what they could do today, or put it off for next week or even later.

Procrastination is the habit of delaying our commitments irrationally and unproductively. It generates a lot of stress and not a few frustrations.

Maybe you have tried, without success, to be faithful to your purposes, but you always end up procrastinating, if this happens to you, please read on because this article can help you. Specific, we will see what the different types of procrastination are, and how to deal with them.

• Related article: "Procrastination or the "I'll do it tomorrow" syndrome: what it is and how to prevent it"

Why do we put things off for tomorrow?

We procrastinate because we are divided, our brain is rational and this is reflected in the division of the limbic system and the cerebral cortex.

We have an instinctive, fast, energetic and visceral brain that only thinks about now, wants things now and does not care about tomorrow, and we have Another brain, the rational, the reflective one, the one that thinks and analyzes and finds it difficult to act, is slower and more prudent, knows where it wants to go and thinks about it. future.

Procratination is the result of the struggle between the emotional brain and the rational brain and when the will of our reason yields to the whims of instinct is when we indulge in procrastination.

Related article: "What's behind the habit of constantly procrastinating?"

Different types of procrastination

This phenomenon depends on several factors, so there are different types of procrastinators depending on the factor that has the greatest weight in each person. Mainly:

• Expectation: Low self-confidence.
• Value: Dependence on reward and propensity for boredom.
• Impulsiveness: He can not wait.

1. Expectation (confidence level)

Excess optimism leads to inaction, sitting waiting for a miracle to happen.

This optimism, understood as the difficulty attributed to the task, is especially evident when estimating the time that it will take us to meet our objective (planning fallacy) and that ultimately tends to be greater than in our estimates.

We tend to try to calibrate the performance needed to achieve success with minimal involvement: we want the greatest reward with the least effort. There are procrastinators due to excess and lack of optimism, some believe they are more capable than they really are, this leads them to failure. Others, and they are the majority, more pessimistic, are not aware of their capabilities and do not even try.

In balance is the key, the tasks that are a feasible challenge they are the ones that motivate us the most for action.

Generate spirals of success

If we set ourselves a progressive series of difficult but ultimately achievable goals, we will maximize our motivation and give achievement meaning, a reflection of our ability. Each hard-won victory gives us a new sense of ourselves and a desire to fight for more.

In the early stages of a complex project, it is usually better to have process or learning goals than product or result goals; that is, the goals consist of acquiring or refining new skills or steps (the process) rather than reaching the highest grade (the product).

The essence of the success spiral is that achievement creates confidence, which in turn becomes an endeavor that generates more achievement.

Cheer up with vicarious victories:

Surround yourself with cheerful and optimistic people, attitudes are contagious. What others believe may influence your intention to act, do not share your plans with spoilers, do it with people who trust you and encourage you to fight for what you want.

Biographies of people who lead inspiring lives and who you can relate to are powerful resources that can help us. Watch motivational movies, attend talks by people who have succeeded, be part of a collective trying to improve yourself or better society, as a volunteer or create your own group of support for.

Visualize it

The detailed mental recreation of a performance engages mirror neurons, which record it in the brain almost as deeply as if it were actually being performed. However, do not settle for this, go further, after vividly imagining yourself crossing the finish line of a 10-kilometer race, do a reflection exercise and place yourself in reality, in your current situation.

Observe that contrast, where do you want to go and where you are and then think about the first thing you must do to reach your goal, what is the first step? Take that step!

Expect the worst and expect the best

Avoid the syndrome of false hope, think carefully about what could go wrong, not to fall into catastrophism, but to prepare for possible setbacks. Asking someone else's opinion can help. Make a list of the ways you tend to procrastinate and have it in your field of vision when you're working.

Avoid risky situations: turn off your mobile and avoid other distractions before getting to work. At work you have to take breaks so as not to overheat the engine, but stopping every so often causes the engine to cool down and have to warm up again.

Making an emergency plan can also help - have someone to call if you feel like you might be tempted to encourage you to stay true to your commitment.

Accept that you are addicted to procrastination

Assuming that a single failure leads to a breakdown of the will can be helpful to some people, as in the case of Alcoholics Anonymous. Follow these guidelines:

• Register it: Reflect on the times you have drifted away from the target and write it down.
• Recognize that the will betrays us with self-delusions of the type: "it will only be this time."
• Keep in mind that the first delay will allow you to justify all the others.

2. Appraisal (propensity for boredom)

Faced with this type of procrastination, you have to make the tasks become motivating.

Turn your tasks into a game, set goals

The tasks we hate are among the ones we tend to put off the most, especially those repetitive, monotonous and very simple tasks.

Make it a game: make boring difficult, you must strike a balance between your own ability to perform the task and the difficulty of the task in question and thus generate a state of flow: a state of maximum concentration and involvement in what you are doing.

If it is too difficult you can get frustrated and give upIf it's too easy, you'll get bored and want to quit.

Create a chain of small goals that serve to achieve a long-term goal, this goal should be something motivating so that it is easy for you to go from link to link in the chain. It is easier to sweep the dining room if this is part of a more ambitious plan: throw a party at home.

Set the objectives as positive, reformulate the avoidance goals into approach goals:

• Do not focus on what you do not want to happen, but what is desired. This motivates more.
• Getting promoted (approach) is better than getting fired (avoidance).

Distribute your energy well

Tiredness makes us procrastinate, it is hard for us to start if we do not have energy, self-control and self-motivation will generate wear. Recognizing that our energies are limited will help us distribute them better.

Do not go hungry, try to eat five meals a day, eat a healthy and balanced diet. If you eat junk you will not perform, you will have little energy and you will be an easy target for procrastination. Nuts and long-chain carbohydrates are your best allies, but don't forget the rest of the food and drink water.

Do cardiovascular exercise, it is essential to stay healthy, energetic and vital. It will increase the effectiveness of your immune system, you will not get sick as often, you will feel invigorated and even though you may think that you don't have time for that, half an hour three times a week is enough and your productivity (and your health) will look very benefited. What costs is to start, once you make it routine the difficult thing is to quit. What's more, schedule the heaviest tasks when you have the energy spike (normally the morning and noon).

Sleep the necessary hoursNormally we adults sleep between 7 and 8 but that depends on the case of each one. Practice good sleep hygiene, respect bedtime and wake-up schedules.

Respect your limits. If after all of the above you still feel tired, reduce your demand or seek help to comply with everything, but do not overdo it.

If you're going to procrastinate, do it right

Many people start to clean the house, tidy the storage room or do all kinds of useful things but that distract them from what they really should be doing. In my adolescence I had a colleague whose room was especially tidy during exam time, because instead of studying, which is what he had to do, he began to order everything.

Look at the task that you should be doing but are avoiding (eg // study). Establish other tasks that, although they are not so important, are also necessary and you want to do them more (eg // tidy up the desk while listening to music).

Find the balance between being distracted by these less important and more enjoyable tasks and that main task that you are scurrying away from. You'll finally end up doing it, but give yourself a break doing other tasks that are more enjoyable for you.

Combine unpleasant tasks with small rewards

Procrastinators don't reward themselves after finishing their work. Giving self-praise messages and words of encouragement is a technique called "learned diligence." It also helps, incorporate this into your life.

Make a list of small prizes you can give yourself: go shopping, have a breakfast fit for a king, go out... what motivates you.

Promise yourself one of these prizes when you finish the task you're sneaking out of. Think of ways to make boring tasks more bearable: analyze current affairs politics over your favorite coffee, do your laundry listening to music, or study algebra in the company of a friend.

Make your passion your vocation

Not everyone has the privilege of dedicating themselves to what they are really passionate about, which is a shame, since we spend many hours of our lives working. There are those who cannot choose, due to multiple factors, but If you have the opportunity to combine your passion with your vocation, do not hesitate, jump in.

If you can dedicate yourself to doing what makes you jump out of bed every day to get to work, you will undoubtedly end up succeeding in that field.

Also, follow these tips:

• Make a list of those professions in which you do activities that you are excited about.
• Be honest with yourself: discard those that exceed your possibilities or that require skills that you do not have and / or are not willing to acquire.
• Classify the ones that you have not yet discarded according to the demand of the labor market.

If you have difficulties in all of the above contact a career guidance service Who knows how to effectively assess your skills, who know how to direct you towards what you are good at and have a greater chance of succeeding.

3. Impulsiveness (the core element of procrastination)

All of the above is useful but what really sabotages us is our impulsiveness, it is the power of that instinctive brain, which is faster and more untamed than our rational brain. So when we think "I shouldn't have eaten that cake" it's too late, because the emotional brain is like a rearing horse that has a lot of strength.

Here we will learn to use that other, more well-trained horse, our reason, so that the cart goes where we want and not where our impulses take us.

Precommitment: commit now to ward off temptations.

Find out what your temptations are (what misleads you from the goal and wastes you time). Make a list. Put these temptations out of your reach: put your phone in airplane mode when you're studying, install software that blocks Internet access at certain times of the day ...

Do not allow your needs to reach a certain limit, if you need to play a game before starting to study do it, the point is that your work is not interrupted because suddenly you can't take it anymore and you have to play.

Add disincentives to your temptations to make them repellent, if for example you prefer to stay at home dozing before going to the gym then commit to a friend to send them a picture of your soaked jersey after the training session or else pay them a fee agreed.

Use your attention to your advantage

Learn to manage distractions, neutralizing its effects on your will. For this you can use your attention:

Imagine catastrophic consequences if you unleash your temptations, the more vividly you imagine the disaster the more repellent it will become and the easier it will be to evade them. This is called covert awareness, if for example you are thinking about quitting smoking you can imagine your family crying inconsolably around your coffin in the funeral home. Yes, it is very extreme, but the question is that it helps you achieve what you want.

When a temptation appears, focus on the most abstract aspects. You are more likely to fall for a hamburger with juicy meat, melted cheese and crusty bread than if you look at its more abstract attributes such as shape, how heavy you think it can be, etc.

Eliminate, especially in your workplace, any incitement that is an alternative of distraction and replace those promptings with messages loaded with meaning for you, that link you with your values ​​or with the reason for which you work. The photograph of your family or the next vacation destination you want to go to can be good examples.

Separate as much as possible the place where you work from the place you do your leisure activities. If, for example, you do not have two computers, at least create two profiles with different wallpapers, that will give the signal to your brain of "time to work" or "time to play".

Set specific goals

This is the ultimate weapon against procrastination. Define your goals in a concrete way, knowing precisely what you should do? and when?

Break up long-term goals into short-term goals. If you have to study a human anatomy manual, start with the chapter that motivates you the most, first one, then another... do not see the goal as a whole, break it down into small objectives.

When it is difficult for you to start with a specific goal, propose something that serves to “break the ice”, for example, if you intend to go to the gym but you are terribly lazy, just propose to put on your tracksuit, put on your sports shoes and go with your bag to the gym door, nothing more. Once there you can turn around, but when you have taken the step of leaving home it will all be downhill.

Organize your goals in the form of routines that are carried out regularly, always in the same time and place, so that habit and familiarity with the space will play in your favor.

Conclution

Procrasstination is a complex phenomenon Since there are many factors involved, we are constantly mired in an internal struggle between desire and duty and sometimes we sabotage ourselves. "Know your enemy", know how procrastination works and the ways to overcome it and this will help you achieve your goals.

Don't put it off for tomorrow, put these tips into practice today.