Do you know why you procrastinate?
Juanjo Marín
Work Smarter, Balance Better. The FASE Method. Expert in productivity and time management | Supporting managers & CEOs to live a balanced life | Certified Consultant & Associate University Professor I.Q.S. and UIC
Procrastination involves postponing activities that need to be worked.
These are replaced by issues of minor importance, even knowing that we are doing it wrong. Do you know why you procrastinate?
And why are so many of us who procrastinate and do so many times?
The day I read, "the human being prefers the immediate gratification that produces his bad habits." Even knowing, that the correct gratification is in many other actions that involve greater effort and time.
The human being prefers the immediate gratification that produces his or her bad habits
That day I understood one of the biggest excuses, that we all, at some time, have used.
"I will start tomorrow" or "next week I’ll start for sure".
And meanwhile, we allow ourselves to be unconsciously entangled by other issues that do not justify it at all.
And we continue to deceive ourselves.
We let ourselves be carried away by issues that do not require it. We create a false state of occupation that hides an active laziness to do what it takes.
And therein lies one of the main reasons for procrastination.
Be busy with what you shouldn't.
Many justify that they cannot fail to attend to the supposed urgencies or needs of others.
And they do it in a forceful way to avoid recognizing that they do not want to start with those most important, but more tedious and complex activities.
The most obvious consequence of this is that we leave many key issues for the very last minute.
The cost of this is very high. Much like using a credit card. We spend and spend, and when payment is due at the end of the month, we discover that we have no balance in our account.
So, after this analogy, let us reflect on what we invest our time in.
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Do we do it on issues that generate a low return?
Do we barely have time to work on the important issues as we should?
What will be the final quality of our work?
We plan our good intentions. We even think we're going to start early enough...
What is clear is that we are better at planning than executing.
And that's where the wheel begins to spin.
We let ourselves be carried away by the pending emails, by someone’s interruption, or by those dangerous social networks or mobile apps.
In the end, what I have discovered in recent years to overcome procrastination, is the importance of the environment.
Possibly there are no more powerful solutions than managing to control the possibility of letting ourselves be entangled by other issues, and focusing exclusively on what touches us.
As for the environment, the most important is the social one.?Nothing more and nothing less than making commitments to others to fulfill what we must do.
As I write this article on the train, I have no wifi or phone nearby, but I do have taken a commitment with our CMO to deliver it on the agreed date.
She already sent me yesterday the reminder of all the items I need to deliver and on what date. I agreed with her that I would do it fortnightly. This is my activator.
Best of all, I find myself involved in this activity enjoying more than expected.
On many occasions it is the action that leads us to motivation.
But of course, if we do not even get to start, we will not be able to discover it.
Project Management Professional | Technical Management | Mechanical Engineer
1 年Great article Juanjo Marín, Regards! #metodofase https://agustinperalt.es/curso-liderazgo-gerencial-metodo-fase/
Board Member - Investment Banker (M&A, RE) - Specialist in Corp Finance, Strategy, Governance, Family Co. and Turnaround - Ex CEO, CFO
1 年Congratulations on the post, Juanjo. Some time ago in a conference I heard a rational approach to this issue and that, at least to me, thinking about it often helps me to avoid procrastination. The issue is that we procrastinate because we think that the cost or effort of doing a task now is higher than what it will have later. Objectively, in most cases, it is false, just thinking a little about it, and even worse if we add the cost of anxiety or the mental space occupied by keeping that task undone. Therefore, first become aware that I am procrastinating and second think about why I will really be less lazy at another time. Regards.