How to Find Motivation and Stop Procrastinating

Have you ever been in a situation where you’re down to the wire, and almost out of time to meet an important deadline? In the moments leading up to the deadline, and likely soon afterward, you may find yourself thinking some choice words about how you could have done better or about how you could have started working on the project sooner. We all find ourselves at one point or another wishing for more time due to procrastinating.

The issue of procrastination is a common one. We are surrounded by many different sources of distractions, which makes it easier to put things off till later. It’s not uncommon for many of us to wake up, but then put off actually getting out of bed until much later after a session of doom-scrolling that leaves you feeling worse off than when you started.

Being able to handle procrastination will be a huge help for you, not only in terms of your productivity but also your mental and emotional health.

What happens when you procrastinate?

The term “procrastinate” has etymological connections to both Greek and Latin. The word is related to the Greek word akrasia, which refers to going ahead and doing something against your better judgment. The Latin verb procrastinare means “to put off till tomorrow”, and one can see from these connections and meanings how procrastination tends to work – we put off till tomorrow what we know we ought to be doing today.

Procrastination can be defined as that tendency we all have from time to time to put off or delay the things we know we need to attend to, whether that delay takes us right to the edge of the deadline, or even past it. We do this knowing the potential negative consequences, but we decide it’s worth it to kick the can down the road. When we procrastinate, it’s with the full knowledge that what we’re doing isn’t a great idea, but we go for it anyway.

One of the things that happen when we procrastinate is that when we do think of circling back to the task we were avoiding, the negative associations we have with it will likely be compounded, but because time has marched on and the deadline is closer, there may be increased feelings of anxiety and stress added to the mix. Not only that but there may also be feelings of self-blame attached to the task when you eventually start working on it.

Though procrastination typically does get associated with high levels of stress, work done last-minute and so lacking in quality, some positives can be named to its credit. When you procrastinate, it can provide you with space and time to be more thoughtful about what you’re doing. This could benefit a task by giving you room to brainstorm and workshop ideas. It could also delay you from making hasty commitments, leading to more deliberation.

Procrastination can also be helpful in a less obvious way. In a roundabout way, the things you procrastinate over and the reasons why you procrastinate can be helpful pointers for your work. If, for instance, your procrastination is fueled by insecurity about how good a job you’ll do, you can leverage this by knowing to seek help sooner rather than later to assuage those fears.

In other ways, we procrastinate because the tasks we need to perform don’t get us excited. That might suggest that your job description or role isn’t appropriate for you, and a change might be a good thing.

Different ways of procrastinating

From the above, it should have come across that procrastination comes in different shades and is driven by a variety of motivations. There are at least five different ways of procrastinating, and these include the kind marked by perfectionism. This is when a person puts off doing something or putting a line under it because of the desire to make it perfect.

The second kind is procrastination that’s fueled by distraction, like when your attention is drawn from your tasks because of an email or text message that comes in, and you get sucked into something else that isn’t the work you’re supposed to be doing.

The third kind is thrill-seeking procrastination, which is when a person wants to wait until the clock runs out before they start putting work in because of the adrenaline rush that comes with taking things down to the wire.

The fourth kind is the ostrich-like approach of evading a task by pretending it doesn’t exist. You pretend to yourself that the task doesn’t exist because you don’t like it.

The last kind is like the previous one, and it’s avoiding, which is the type of procrastination fueled by fear of making mistakes or putting something off for fear of judgment.

Why motivation is sometimes lacking

The different types of procrastination indicate that there are varied reasons why a person might delay starting or completing a task. When you have things on your plate that you need to attend to, there are various reasons why you might not be chomping at the bit to get started. Sometimes it’s because the task you have to attend to is an unpleasant one, and you simply don’t enjoy doing it.

At other times, faced with complex emotions such as anxiety, insecurity, or self-doubt, you may feel paralyzed looking at the task in front of you and the thought of doing it. At that moment, it’s far less daunting to rearrange your sock drawer than to face that task, and that’s what you do.

Procrastinating is a way of handling negative and challenging moods and emotions that are associated with certain tasks. This means that procrastination isn’t really an issue of time management, it’s about finding better ways of coping with feelings like insecurity, resentment, boredom, self-doubt, frustration, and so on. If you find yourself in a bad mood, that makes it likely you’ll put it off to do something more enjoyable.

Motivation to get work done is also sometimes lacking because issues like depression might also be at the root of one’s listlessness and lack of energy. Due to depression, tasks that we once found exciting might feel tedious and enervating, leading to delays in starting or completing tasks.

Lastly, procrastination can occur due to having long deadlines. When a person has longer to perform a task, there is a greater likelihood of putting it off. This means having shorter deadlines can be advantageous in avoiding procrastination.

Learning to stop procrastinating

One of the things that is part of life is having to do things we don’t necessarily enjoy or want to do. That could be something in your personal life like a difficult conversation with your spouse, or it could be an unpleasant chore or a work project that needs your attention. Procrastination shows up in our lives in various ways, but the end result is often the same – we don’t meet our deadlines properly, and we don’t do our best work.

When considering how to stop procrastinating, it’s important to understand why you procrastinate; there are feelings associated with the task that you’re trying to avoid. Dealing with procrastinating is, at its heart, about managing your emotions around tasks you don’t feel comfortable with for one reason or another. Procrastinating isn’t about time management or self-control, but about handling your emotions in different, more effective ways.

After figuring out why you might be procrastinating over a particular task, it might be helpful to consider the purpose behind the task, and the end goal you’re shooting for. When you can see what the end goal is, you might feel more motivated to pursue it. You can also work with what you have by setting up your to-do list in such a way that you handle the complicated tasks when you have the energy to concentrate and push through.

You can also find ways to deal with the various distractions that keep you from your work. That might mean taking a break to reward yourself with those distractions for a few minutes, for instance, your phone and social media. Then once the break is over, you can turn your attention back to your work.

Procrastination can get in the way of your best work and make it hard to face the task you’ve delayed at a later stage. It is possible to overcome it and to find motivation. If you’re wrestling with procrastination and aren’t getting things done like you ought to, you can reach out to a life coach or counselor who can help you make sense of why you procrastinate and develop effective strategies to overcome that procrastination.

Call us at California Christian Counseling today to make an appointment.