What a subject! You know I have had this blog post open for three days… Always waiting for me to write about it. I literally procrastinated on this for three days.
Procrastination: the action of delaying or postponing something.
I did not know much about this until it became highly used on social media. – Coincidence?
Since we started quarantine, procrastination has become almost a daily thing. I postpone everything I have TO DO: assignments, blog articles… It has become hard to find motivation.
I did a little research and I found:
- We tend to procrastinate on things that are not important
- We tend to procrastinate on things we have lost interest in
- We tend to procrastinate on things that are too complicated or seem unachievable
Let me break this into three pieces, as this often happens to me:
1. Setting VERY high goals everyday
Setting long TO DO lists. I often do a daily TO DO list that could last for a week. Sometimes I think the day has 30 hours and I forgot; we humans are not machines. This brings procrastination, when we see our list is never ending.
How do I try to overcome this NOW?
I try my very best to have a clean sheet of paper with a maximum of 5 goals per day. My weekly list also helps me to keep track on things. If I did not accomplish any of the 4 weekly goals set, then I just reduce the list and try to get better the following week. It is not obvious, but practice makes perfection (I believe).
2. Being tired and lack of sleep
I have struggle with sleep all my life and it gets worse when I am either too excited or too worried about things. None of the two stages are good because our body needs to rest no matter what is going on in our lives. I understand this because during quarantine getting only four hours sleep per night only makes me feel helpless.
How do I try to overcome this?
I try my very best to switch my phone and laptop off before 11pm (I fail many times, but I try). As I do not have a very restrictive schedule, I try my very best to sleep almost 7 hours per night. I noticed doing yoga and meditation before going to bed has helped me a lot to sleep better during quarantine.
3. Working on uninteresting subjects
As I am about to graduate, I have lost a lot of interest on school. I am tired! The two past years have been quite intense, and my major objective now is to find a job in the US. As my interests and priorities have shifted, my motivation to work has as well.
How do I try to overcome this?
I like writing and sharing what I do with the community. I found telling a story and the outcomes of my projects to people is a highly motivating ‘tool’. It has helped a lot to keep me going even when I do not feel like putting any more effort in.
And you? Do you also procrastinate on things? In what?
Daniela
Photo by Pedro da Silva & Isaac Smith & Vladislav Muslakov & Tonny Tran on Unsplash