6 Ways to Stop Procrastinating, and Express Your Excellence

Are you moving forward in your career? Or, do you hesitate when it comes to achieving your goals? If you often struggle to complete projects, or feel as if you’re not progressing in your career, this could be a sign of procrastination.

Unsurprisingly, researchers have found that procrastination is becoming more prevalent in our society. Although this self-defeating habit didn't originate with the Internet, the use of technology has definitely provided us with more ways to distract ourselves from getting started and completing important tasks related to our personal goals and professional work.    

At some point in our lives, it’s common to experience some form of procrastination. There are many reasons beyond simply being distracted that can cause us to avoid taking action when we want to achieve something. For instance, you may lack the necessary information, skills, or resources needed to complete the task. You may also feel that the project is unpleasant or boring, which can make you reluctant to get started. 

But if you find that you constantly postpone doing things that you genuinely desire to accomplish in your personal life or career, then this could be a sure sign of procrastination. If you continue down this road, your professional growth, financial success, and overall livelihood, happiness and well-being is at risk.

What is procrastination? 

Procrastination is when you set a goal for yourself that you avoid accomplishing. This act of avoidance is often something that we do consciously, but for reasons that we may be unconsciously aware of. Ultimately, it’s a case in which your actions contradict your own values and goals, but not your expectations.

In the research study, The Nature of Procrastination, Piers Steel, psychology professor at the University of Calgary explains that, “to procrastinate, is to voluntarily delay beginning or completing an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay.” In other words, procrastination is a serious issue. It can be described as intentional self-sabotage with severely life-damaging consequences that are linked to your own expectations for disappointment.

Procrastination can manifest in the form of uncompleted projects, broken promises made to yourself and others, financial struggles, missed opportunities, and feelings of guilt, shame, and failure.

In the book, The Procrastination Cure: 7 Steps to Stop Putting Life Off, Jeffery Combs explains how feelings of shame, guilt, failure and disappointment are common negative emotions that we experience linked to procrastination. He also describes procrastination as an emotional addiction to disappointment that can hinder your success unless you work to overcome it.

Why do we procrastinate?

Procrastination is a form of self-defeating behavior that’s primarily rooted in fear. The cause of procrastination is related to negative thoughts or a lack of emotional control and self-discipline that lead to bad habits formed from past experiences. If you procrastinate, then you may also be a chronic worrier, or have some hidden fears about failure or even success that leads to the inability to take risks. You could also have a fear of being rejected, or you may feel unsure about your ability to do the work.

According to Steel, people may also procrastinate when they believe they will not receive immediate rewards for completing the task. For example, if the project deadline is months away, they may wait until the last minute to complete the task, delaying action until the deadline becomes closer. People may also avoid performing a task if they simply don’t like the work. In this case, they may avoid doing the task because they consider it boring and tedious. But regardless of whether your inactions are due to negative thoughts, negative emotions, or directly related to the task, it can definitely be overcome with practice combined with strategies for changing your mindset and behavior.

If you are among the many millions of people that tend to procrastinate, and want to overcome it, here are six ways to stop delaying your success and start creating new habits, starting today.

6 Ways to Excel and Overcome Procrastination

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1/ Be Passionate About Your Goals. Learn to channel your emotional energy and feelings into action. Begin by asking yourself whether what you’re doing is in agreement with what you value. Do you care about the project? Do you care about the outcome? How beneficial is it, and for whom? Are you doing it for the greater good of society? How will it impact you, and those you love most? If you care deeply about the project, then become devoted to your mission and take action.

2/ Stop Being Critical of Yourself. If your inner dialogue is negative and unsupportive, then you must change your self-talk. Being self-critical can lead to hesitation. Remember that constantly comparing yourself with others is also a form of self-criticism that can be a useless way of measuring your accomplishments, abilities, potential outcomes, and success.

3/ Grow Your Abilities. Appreciate the opportunity before you, and be honest about your ability to do the work. Take stock of what you can and can't do. If you find that you lack any skills or resources needed, then get others involved who may also want to contribute. You don’t have to do it alone. This will also allow you to be seen as a leader. As you do things that are in harmony with the goal, you might also find a more creative way to complete the task. You may also develop new skills. You can also shift the focus from yourself by thinking about how completing the project will serve a beneficial purpose in the end.

4/ Be Decisive and Take Action. Indecisiveness can be related to perfectionism. And perfectionism can also be related to comparing yourself or your situation to someone else’s. Again, overcome the need for things to be perfect by not comparing yourself with others, then make a commitment and have the courage to follow through. Trust that whatever action you take is what’s best for your situation, and that it will lead to positive rewards. More importantly, your self-confidence will also increase as you learn to trust yourself even more.

5/ Be Flexible. This can actually be accomplished by developing a plan with a structure or system in place that helps to prioritize your ultimate goal. For example, if your goal is to start a business, take the time to create a business plan. It will provide you with invaluable direction and insight as you work towards your goal. When planning, give yourself enough time to complete each task. This will leave room for more flexibility and allow you to re-prioritize your activities, when necessary.

6/ Release the Need to Control. Working on a new project or goal can lead to procrastination because you genuinely want it to be a success. You may avoid taking action because you fear the potential for negative outcomes. So, avoidance becomes a way of protecting yourself from something that you don’t want to experience. But don’t lose sight of all the positive possibilities. Change your expectations. Focus on the positive things you expect to experience after doing what you can realistically do, which is the actual point.

Overall, do your best, believe in yourself, expect to succeed, and trust that everything good will come from that. After you’ve done everything that you can possibly do, have faith. Release the need to control the rest.

Photograph by Maria Korneeva iStock/Getty Images

This article was originally written by the editor-in-chief and published in the Natural Beauty Issue of VERGE Lifestyle & Urban Culture magazine.