Search for procrastination on YouTube, and the number of results will leave you surprised. There are thousands of videos on this particular topic. But, to your and my surprise, they all have one thing in common. Any guess about what it may be? Let me tell you, that is why do we procrastinate.
The reason is that we either hate that task or we believe in instant gratification. As we are aware that, one size does not fit all. Similarly, the reason why we procrastinate differs from people to people. Mental health also dictates this.
Depression and procrastination are all related. How is it related? Let me explain it thoroughly first from the depression perspective. The ones going through depression face symptoms like fatigue, overwhelming feeling, etc. These feelings make it harder for a person to concentrate or check off their to-do lists. So now, how is it related to anxiety? Whereas anxiety, on the other hand, leaves you feeling restless and tired. Thus, making it harder for you to finish off things.
As I have said before, not one size fits all. Thus it's completely normal that your symptoms differ. These are the symptoms I went through and still go through some days.
Now, this is the problem but, what's the solution. The solutions are some a bunch of things that I follow:-
1. Don't Believe Whatever You See-
We all use YouTube, Instagram so much that the videos in there influence us. The job of baker is to bake, similarly a influencer's job is to influence us in some way or other. Now they influence us in a good way. But, that no where means that they are that productive all day and all year round. Even they have rough days, even they procrastinate. So please don't compare yourself. Even there are days when they pull an all nighter to finish off tasks.
I'm not saying its a good thing to do, but no one is productive so stop punishing yourself.
2. Enjoy Without Guilt-
As humans we need rest. So when you are procrastinating make sure you are not regretting that. Now most of us tend to regret the fact that we are procrastinating instead of studying. Let me tell you one thing when you do something with regret you don't even enjoy it to the fullest. Instead take a day off and enjoy yourself . Give yourself refreshment and then next day you will be able to study.
3. Take Baby Steps-
Have you ever seen a baby. He doesn't start running from the starting but he slowly by slowly walks. He/ She takes one step at a time. Does that make him a loser? No, similarly when you fall off the schedule don't rush up. But, instead take baby steps to do that. If you are procrastinating to study. Take a day off and from the next day, start with 2hrs per day and then increase it. It's all right if you aren't able to finish it.
4. Maybe Music is Your Go to Focus Tool
Last year when I fell off track and was not even able to focus. I decided to listen to songs while studying and trust me I finished off tasks. Now I know not everything can be done with music. But, start with tasks that can be done with music (in case music helps you focus too). Some people prefer listening to song with lyrics and some without it, So it differs from people to people. Personally I need songs with lyrics to focus on studies.
5. Your Happiness Matters
Sometimes we are so tensed that we can't even focus. Therefore it is important for us to know how we are feeling. We all should know ourselves, how you are feeling. Keeping a daily check about how are you feeling can help you feel good.
With this I'm attaching a mood checker. The questions may not resonate with you, so remember you can always make one for yourself. Please be honest with yourself. Thinking how will this help, at the end of each week you can note down how many days were you content with yourself or maybe how many days were you happy. It's all ok if some of these tally's come out to be zero. Remember nothing and no one is perfect.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_1Zq8JEEnoawjp77mSfpk4IH9eOElNw52PcKW-416Qw/edit?usp=sharing (here it is, as I promised you last time)
Before I end this I want to make it crystal clear that even I'm not perfect. As I write this, I have almost all of my school notebooks pending. You may think I'm just saying it to be humble. But no, you are wrong I actually have a lot of pending tasks. I have not been able to study anything much in these past two days or maybe weeks. But still I try to take baby steps.
With my readers even I'm trying to reach the goal and that is to not procrastinate.
There will be days when you will not be able to do anything, its alright. Even I fell off my schedule when I pulled an all nighter without any planning. I slept at 3. So its all okay,
Hopefully I was able to provide you what you came looking for. In case you want to talk to me about this thing or anything else feel free to reach out to me on- threadoffeelings@gmail.com. Also if you feel any of this point doesn't make sense please feel free to reach out to me on my email, I'm open for suggestions.
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