Most people make decisions based on how they feel. In other words, we tend to feel before we think. This makes us avoid negative feelings. We generally stay away from any task that could inconvenience us in any way. We would rather focus on things that are pleasurable; tasks that make us happy almost immediately. This leads to procrastination of tasks that seem difficult and less pleasurable even if such tasks are more important.
One of the easiest ways to deal with procrastination is to manage our emotions. We need to separate how we feel from what is important. The fact that a task makes us less excited does not mean we should avoid it. The more complex a task seems, the more likely we are to avoid such task. If we keep working with the way we feel, then we might never get any important task done.
We, however, have the option of adjusting the task. Once you can do this, your mood will change. You can adjust a task by breaking it to smaller parts that make it easier to carry out. When a task is less stressful, you tend to enjoy carrying it out. The smaller the task, the easier it is to accomplish.
Furthermore, you should try as much as possible to avoid bombarding yourself with plenty things at the same time. Focus on one thing at a time. Once you accomplish a small task, you move to the next one and eventually, you will be able to accomplish that seemingly big goal.
To increase your pleasure in carrying out small tasks, you can reward yourself at the completion of each task. This will encourage you to carry out all the other tasks that are left. You don’t have to do anything big to reward yourself. All you need to do is give yourself a pat at the back for a job well done or probably buy lunch for your self. The choice is all yours.
Combining positive tasks with negative ones is also advisable as it will help you manage your emotions so that don’t focus on only the things you feel like doing. You won’t accomplish so much if you only do things when you feel like doing them. We must consciously learn to separate how we feel from what is important. This takes a lot of practice and time but once you get used to it, you would be able to accomplish much.
Procrastination is the fertilizer that makes difficulty grow. The more you procrastinate a task, the more difficult it becomes.
2 comments
Wise words right there.. Thank you