Why We Procrastinate & How To Motivate

Posted on Feb 10, 2020 | 0 comments

Have you ever thought “Why do I procrastinate”? If you are anything like me you have this thought kinda regularly…!!

It’s a common question that plagues us all. We know we have to get it done, so why do we find any and every excuse to push it off to later?

The reality is that procrastination just slows down our rate of success – our ability to achieve great things while creating more stress and anxiety in us. To procrastinate is a nasty form of self-sabotage, a subconscious habit we don’t even realize that does actual harm to us and our lives.

So why do we procrastinate? Science with years of research shows us that there are 5 main reasons why we procrastinate. Read these and see if any resonate with your story.

4 Reasons Why We Procrastinate

Fear of Failure. By putting off the dreaded task you are also putting off facing any possible negative results. The stress the preconceived notion of failure gives many of us actually is what is causing us to procrastinate. A thought!! Literally! A thought produced out of fear is what is holding us back. We are talking ourselves out of doing what we know we should out of fear of not being good enough when we finish.
1. How to motivate: You can beat your fears!! You can move away from being fear based and tackle you tasks head on. Simply by choosing too. Read the power of positive and try doing a visualization exercise. Sit quietly in a comfortable space. Close your eyes and think about the task at hand. Imagine yourself doing this task, completing this task and then see and feel the positive results that WILL happen when you finish. That your best effort is perfect and what will be will be. Now open your eyes and go make it happen!!
Being Overwhelmed. This is one of the most common, especially among us parents… When we have a very daunting task, or many tasks to squeeze in to a small time, the brain can lose motivation, check our and avoid doing everything all together, choosing instead to stay in the comfort zone of your couch… Which leads your brain to sort out the easier tasks, leaving the harder things undone, just building up. Causing lovely anxiety and stress.
1. How to Motivate: SLOW DOWN!
  - Prioritize. Make a list first of what is the most important things to least important things.
  - Break the tasks down onto a realistic list, with rewards in between. Like a candy snack once a b and c are checked off. Face the harder tasks head on by breaking them down into smaller tasks and addressing them earlier in the morning when you are fresher. Brainstorm ways you can resolve potential hurdles and be pleased with yourself when you quickly come up with them!
All Dreamy, No Action. So many highly creative people with incredibly brilliant ideas suffer from this. Dreams with no motivation to bring them into reality. This mainly happens because there is no structure or proper goal setting to keep them on track. This aimless approach causes significant delays on many types of projects.
1. How to Motivate: When you have a great idea, write down first an outline with a realistic timeline of what you want to achieve. Make lists and stick to them of what you can accomplish, breaking tasks down to keep focused. This will help keep your mind from wandering to new things, leaving just started things unfinished.
Total Distraction Prone. Research has shown us that our brains are not wired to focus for long periods of time and will always be looking for something else to do. Throw in the internet, social media, chatty neighbors and colleagues all begging for our attention and we have a recipe for procrastination disaster!! But knowledge is power and just knowing we are susceptible to this helps.
1. How to Motivate: be mindful of your time management and your environment. If you know you have a big task to do that you are dreading, try the visualization exercise above and find a quiet place to do it without any access to distracting social media. Set a time limit, starting with like 20-30 minutes so you know this isn’t all day. Stick to your list, be kind to yourself and get it done!

I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m guessing you have identified with at least one of these procrastination pitfalls?!!

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That is totally ok, the majority of us do!! So if you have been wondering about why you procrastinate, you most likely found the answers here. And lucky for us, that means there are specific steps you can start taking today to be more conscious of your procrastination problems and start being more productive straight away!

Cheers!

Malibu Mama Loves Xx