Everyone knows it: The deadline, the deadline or the deadline is approaching. Actually, you should really start now so that you don't get into a time crunch later. Of course, there are thousands of things you'd rather do. You have a motivation problem until you have a time problem. And suddenly the deadline is around the corner and the Mayhem breaks out. A classic case of procrastination!
The good news is that you're not alone. Many people are good at putting off important matters until the last minute. Don't worry, there's a rescue for you. Because with just a few little tricks, you can get your motivation problem under control the next time you have the chance. Feel like boosting your productivity level for good and counteracting procrastination? Perfect, then this article is just right for you!
Let's answer this question with a little look into the dictionary. Duden online describes the phenomenon of procrastination as "the postponement, putting off of pending tasks, activities". The term comes from the Latin word "procrastinatio", which also stands for postponement and procrastination. But why so many people are affected by it and what the reasons are, the definitions do not reveal. So let's take a closer look.
Here we have to deal with a particularly insidious kind of completion anxiety. Instead of dedicating oneself to the one really important seminar paper, whose deadline is approaching tirelessly, one busies oneself eagerly with the search for the right font, the marking of text passages, which one has already read ten times anyway or one writes off the index cards again nicely with coloured pencils. Also a beautiful means of the hidden Prokrastination is simply already finished tasks, which one feels however as less annoying, to revise still a few times. To the outside world, you appear to be an ambitious student, but in fact you are doing nothing more than occupational therapy.
So after an hour of learning, in which you have summarized the first lecture, you have already earned a little break. As long as there is a healthy ratio of learning and break, there is nothing wrong with it. With reward procrastination, however, an hour of concentrated work is often followed by a three-hour coffee break with like-minded fellow students or a marathon series through the new season of House of Cards. If you start this kind of procrastination early, you can even finish studying or writing on time.
The deadline is tomorrow, the result is not even close to where it should be. Panic slowly turns into the realization that you won't make it anyway and that grades are much less important than personality and practical experience. And then you get asked if you want to go out for pizza today and what can you say - the temptation is just too great. This type of procrastination usually ends in a night shift with lots of coffee, despair and good will.
In denied procrastination, gullibility and fatal overconfidence play the decisive role. One has not "onlyYou don't have "one week" for 15 pages of homework or for memorizing ten lecture notes, no, you "still" have a whole week for it. That's easily one or two afternoons in the park. Staying an extra hour in the morning and quitting early in the evening because you still wanted to see the new Marvel movie - no problem! Stress is an unknown variable here, except when the insane procrastination sets in shortly before submission.
"I just can't be productive without time pressure," the deliberately procrastinating student tells himself. Whether that's true or not, he or she justifies procrastination and has a good time until shortly before the deadline. Some students simply need the kick of time pressure to get going at all and to get the semester successfully behind them.
So that you never again have to say "I'll do it tomorrow ... or the day after tomorrow" when it comes to really important deadlines and deadlines, you will find ten helpful tips against procrastination in the following lines.
In the first step, you should do everything you can to avoid being overwhelmed. Means: Organize the chaos, get an overview and create a master plan. Write down concretely what you have to do by which date. Break down your task, i.e. your goal, into many small intermediate goals.
With concrete subtasks and deadlines you structure your work. And with a good structure you in turn prevent Overloadwhich quickly leads to the feeling "I won't manage that anyway". When this feeling spreads, procrastination is literally already knocking on the door. Don't let it in, create a clear master plan that you stick to.
Routine is worth its weight in gold to avoid procrastination. If you work on your goal a little bit every day, it will eventually become a habit. You don't question it anymore and don't constantly think about what you would rather do instead. Small example: You have four weeks for your project work. You set the example of working on it from nine to twelve o'clock from Monday to Friday.
After the first or second week at the latest, you will have become so accustomed to it that project work will be part of your daily routine. It is simply part of it and your inner swine has understood that it is not worth fighting a motivational battle every day - he would lose it mercilessly.
Everyone likes to put off unpleasant things. However, in most cases it does not make things better, but only worse. Because if you're constantly thinking about what unpleasant thing is coming up, you'll be permanently unmotivated. But if you do this one annoying thing right at the beginning, you can finish with it and concentrate much better.
Some people work best early in the morning, others late at night, and others sometime in between. Find out when you are personally most productive and use that time for your purpose. You'll find that you'll make wonderful progress. It's a great way to nip your dawdling behavior in the bud and get unpleasant tasks done right away.
While you're working, WhatsApp off, Facebook off, Instagram off - unless you're working as a social media manager. This means that small distractions interrupt your flow of concentration and make you much less productive than you need to be. At the end of the day, you may have answered quite a few messages or checked posts, but you haven't really made any progress. And that doesn't have to be the case, right?
Rewards are a must! They reward your performance so far and motivate you to stay on the ball. Even small partial successes can and should be celebrated. Think about a nice reward right at the beginning for the Achieving your big goal. Even better is to visualize this reward. Just give it a try!
Social pressure increases the chance of not falling victim to procrastination. Why? Simple: If you meet regularly with colleagues or like-minded people and everyone presents their interim goals, this increases the pressure to actually work on them. After all, you want to show what you've got and not be the one who hasn't made any progress.
Keeping a diary can be a great way to get rid of procrastination. To do this, regularly log when you worked and how effectively you completed certain tasks. Also write down who or what distracted you. Gradually, you'll be able to make connections and analyze how you can improve your performance. Once you've figured out how to perform at 100 percent, you'll benefit from it again and again.
Breaks are just as important as power times. That's why it's important to draw clear boundaries and consciously switch off in your free time. This gives you new strength, makes negative feelings disappear and makes room for new ideas. Before you go on break, after work or during your relaxation time, you can quickly write down how far you have come. That way you'll know where to go next time and won't waste valuable time.
...because it's never gonna come. It's not going to happen that you're suddenly going to have more desire, more inspiration or Motivation you have. On the contrary, waiting often makes it much worse. Because before you know it, you'll fall into the procrastination trap again. Therefore, start right away. Start now! The first step is always the hardest - after that it goes steeply uphill.
Procrastination" is particularly common when you have the Motivation Missing. When you have to do a task that you don't really feel like doing at all - for example, an annoying project work. The lack of enjoyment of the subject matter or of doing project work in general leads to aversion. And things you're averse to, you tend to do poorly rather than well.
However, there are a few other factors that lead to procrastination - even when you actually enjoy the task at hand. These include, for example, a lousy Time Management. Not everyone is a born planner and you may fail to plan well because you misjudge priorities. Concentration problems can also cause you to keep putting off certain tasks.
If you misjudge yourself and your ability or your performance and speed, you can also be confronted with procrastination. This is the case, for example, if you assume that you can complete the required project work in three days - and then realize that you need at least a week just for the careful research of sources. Fear of failure can also fuel procrastination: Fearing failure, you'd rather not start at all. A nasty cycle that you should definitely break out of.
Scientists led by Manfred Beutel of the University Medical Center Mainz, have found in a large-scale study (participants: 2,527 people aged 14 to 95 years): The phenomenon is particularly widespread among young people - with significant consequences: People who put off important activities were more likely to live a single existence, were more likely to be affected by unemployment, and had a low income. What's more, they also suffered more often from Stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness and exhaustion.
The representative survey showed that people who frequently postponed activities were less likely to live in partnerships, were more frequently unemployed and had a low income. Young men were particularly affected. Pupils and students procrastinated more often than their peers who were working or in education.
Manfred Beutel
According to Manfred Beutel, procrastination is a learned behavior that is directly reinforced by avoiding unpleasant activities. The reason why certain activities cause negative feelings is questioned too little by those affected. Performance requirements are often associated with fears of failure, one's own performance expectations are possibly too high, and Objectives unrealistic. Moreover, substitute actions such as media consumption often have immediate positive consequences. Adverse negative consequences such as failure, Depression or loneliness, on the other hand, only occur in the long term and are thus less determinant of behaviour.
There is one crucial way you can overcome procrastination: By self-honestly reflecting on yourself and your behavior, becoming aware of it and accepting it first and foremost. Self-awareness and acceptance are two very important building blocks in personal development, in order to make lasting changes in yourself.
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