Stop POSTPONING and DELAY! How??

Why should it be done tomorrow if you can do it now? Why do you wait if there is nothing to be waited for? Ow….don‘t let yourself sinking in unimportant problems…

But let us ask each other whether there is someone who never postpone, hold over, or delay something, it is just rhetoric question which I’m sure the answer will be no one.

Sometimes our prior tasks become the victims of our postponing. This symptom can not be considered as normal if it affects many kinds of disadvantages and loss. This problem is called procrastination in psychology literatures.

Procrastination is a term to describe our habit on postponing something. From Oxford English Reference Dictionary second edition (rev.2003), procrastination is postponing without reason. While Charles E. Schaefer in How to Help Children with Common Problems it means avoidance or prevention towards someone or something.

It isn’t a problem about time management or laziness, but it shows the inefficient usage of time. There are a lot of causal factor:

• Can not overcome frustration and uncomfortable feelings, while frustration is one of the consequences to go through this life. The procrastinator can not accept this. 
  
• Perfectionism. Someone who has driven himself into too excessive amount of perfect demand of his task to get other’s gratification. 
  
• Wrong conviction, about he or she can do better task if he or she work under pressure or close to the deadline. 
  
• Hampering job orientation. Divided into two first is oriented to action, who can easily move one to another task, and static oriented, who have negative perception of the task, bored with no reason, being frustrated, and feeling guilty.
  
• Afraid to fail. This shows that a procrastinator more has less efforts than has less ability.
  
• Self control. Procrastinator against impulsive behavior, but both of them are based on self control. 
  
• Care Pattern. Authoritative parents often make their children become procrastinators.
  

How to avoid and control this???

• Stop thinking negatively. Control your mind. If you find it difficult, stop the monologue conversation in your mind, find another easier thing that you can do first.
  
• Make a realistic aim. Postponing can happen if you goal is too ‘tremendous’ and the way to get that is difficult to be through. It is better to make specific plan to determine where and when, and make it step by step.
  
• Be selective. If you are a perfectionist, do the most important thing, be selective. 
  
• Arrange time to get rest. 
  
• Get additional time. It is better to give additional time for yourself to do something rather than do it fast under pressure.
  
• Let yourself away from the wrong conviction. Work under pressure and close to the deadline is not good indeed. You can do better if you have arranged anything well.
  
• Make yourself happy. Make yourself like what you do is better solution so that you don’t have to postpone any task, this is natural.
  
• Make a daily journal. Make notes of what you postpone everyday and think whether you feel guilty or not. Write what is the cause in making you postpone it. Then ask yourself related to your notes.
  
• Last effort: Ask any help from a professional. 
  

Hope this can help you….