Procrastination is the action or choice to delay or postpone something. It can not only affect you physically but mentally as well. Did you know that studies show that people who procrastinate have more negative experiences in school, work, finances, relationships and personal well-being? Often times, we procrastinate if we overestimate how much time a task will take. When we feel tasks coming from all directions, we can put off important responsibilities. Can you relate? Today we will talk about how procrastination affects you, how to recognize if you procrastinate and also some suggestions to help improve time management. Are you ready to take back control of some things you have been putting off and overcome procrastination? Today’s post can help.
What Does Procrastination Look Like?
Putting tasks or responsibilities off, as a habit, can affect more than the due date. It can affect your body. Studies have shown those who suffer with poor time management skills have increased medical conditions as well as elevated cardio issues. Procrastination is also known to decrease our mental well-being leading to other symptoms that can be seen below. Can you recognize any of these in yourself?
- Increased Anxiety
- Feelings of Guilt
- Experiencing Fear of Failure
- Having Issues Concentrating
- Becoming Easily Board
- Low Self Esteem
- Increased Medical Conditions
- Increased Addictions
If you find that you can relate to these symptoms of procrastination, you are not alone. Between 50-80 percent of college age people procrastinate. Over twenty percent of those will carry over to adulthood. The good news is there are tools to help you improve time management. Deciding to seek help can benefit not only you, but relationships you have.
How Do I Know?
Recognizing if you have issues with procrastination could be tough. Not everyone who misses a deadline, has been irresponsible with time. A key factor that could help you know the difference is how often you find yourself with the below feelings or choices.
- Blowing Off Important Events
- Not Doing Personal Chores
- Missing Deadlines
- Making Excuses
- Setting Unrealistic Goals
Do these actions seem too familiar to you? Take a deep breath. Read the remaining portion of the blog with patience for yourself. Know that there are steps you can take to help improve your time management. You don’t have to change everything at once. You can choose a step, commit to it, then move to another step. Change is possible, when you commit to changing your actions.
How Do I Overcome Procrastination?
There are steps that you can take to help overcome the old ways and grow you toward a new, accountable time management system. If you are feeling overwhelmed by reading so far, choose one step to try today and come back to this post when you are ready for another step. Just choose to step forward instead of staying where you are. Sometimes the hard step is to choose just one small change. Working on one small change will give you the confidence to take the next step of change.
Improving time management can take time but can be accomplished. Below are suggestions to help decrease procrastination and help grow time management skills.
- Realize that progress is better than perfection
- Think positive thoughts
- Identify your fear
- Create a to do list for the task
- Step into the goal in short time intervals
- Take breaks to reflect and regroup for the next hour
- Eliminate distractions
- Block small blocks of time on your calendar for each task
- Encourage yourself with positive celebrations of each small task
- Celebrate at task end by looking over your accomplishment
- Practice Self Love
You can choose to take a step for yourself to help you balance your abilities and accomplishments. If you are ready to take steps of moving forward, but just don’t know where to start, you are not alone. Upstate Restorative Counseling is here for you. We can help you discover where your stuck and establish a next step forward.
