1. Not having enough information
One reason I procrastinate is I don't have enough information to move forwards and sometimes I don't even realize that I need information for clear understanding; I just got confused and stopped working.
How I do: I recommend myself to look for more information and recommendations to get a good judgement on the situation and the issue. Here, mind mapping by writing down the issue and related parameters can be helpful I think. When I wrote down what I need to do and what was required, I can get a good overview on the situation and know what to emphasize to work on.
2. Having too many choices
Sometimes, I was overloaded with too many options and was afraid that I would make a bad choice. Having too many options can be overwhelming and makes me procrastinate. It often happened when I went shopping. I remember myself choosing a banana comb at a street market that took me a few minutes of my time. I know this wouldn't happen to everyone. It happened to me because I am indecisive by nature. And I think indecisive people tend to procrastinate because they are afraid of making a bad choice.
How I do: If there are many options, I can ask recommendations from those who have experiences about it. Or if it does not make much of a difference between choices, I should not hesitate to pick one. If I could be optimistic, picking a bad one can be an added experience than wasting some time choosing one.
3. Seeking approval from others
Another reason why I notice I procrastinate is I seek approval from others. It happened when I had a plan and talked about it to some other persons and if they didn't give positive feedbacks about it. And later time, I realized that I don't necessarily need approval from others to work on something I believe in. By seeking approval from others, I could lose momentum on something I am doing and going to do and that could procrastination the work.
How I do: In some cases, I need to trust myself because I am the one who know what I am doing and what I want to achieve. And if I need consultation, I should seek it from those with the necessary expertise I think.
4. Dwelling on an emotion
Sometimes, emotions like grudge, depression, guilt, etc. can wear away my time and focus on my work. Feelings such as guilt, grudge and indignation can be smoldering in our mind wearing away our energy and time.
How I solve: I think I need to forgive and forgot those who give such feeling. When I feel guilty about someone, I should apologize to him in mind or in person. And I forgive those who gave bad feelings by saying "I forgive you" repeatedly in mind. In Buddhist mediation practices, the practitioner has to do some prior work which includes asking and granting forgiveness and diffusing love to other creatures so that the feelings such as guilt and grudge do not interfere with the meditation process.
5. Having many things to do
Sometimes, I have many things to do, especially at work, and I have to decide which I should give priority to and finish first. Having a lot work can be deenergizing and give me a feeling like "Oh, I am not going to finish them all". Worse than that is I just stop working instead of picking one to finish.
How I solve: I had to start picking one from those many work and start working bearing in mind those tasks won't take me forever. And when I finished work bit by bit, I started to have feeling of accomplishment and that is really rewarding to me. So, tip to myself in such situation is to pick one task and finish it even I feel reluctant at first; because I will feel rewarded later when I accomplished it.
6. Seeking Perfection and afraid to be criticized
Sometimes seeking perfection can steal some of my time. Because I am shy by nature, I tend to avoid other people's criticism. And if I was asked to do something to go public, it took me a long time.
How I solve: Although I am doing my best, it should not get me a point that pleases everyone. And some work needs feedback from users for further improvement and I should not be wasting time making assumptions on all that needed to be patched on the first hand I think. Later days, I focus on getting a working outcome rather than getting perfect and that saves me some time. And other times, shifting from negative to positive outcomes can help me - sometimes I was thinking negatively on my work like "Oh it will not help many people" and forgetting about the positive effects that will have on a few people. In that case, I have to bear in mind that my work cannot help everyone and if it helps a few people I should do it promptly I think. Like when I was preparing my previous post writing some tips on using Hive platform for Myanmar community in "My notes about Hive" post; almost all the old members in Myanmar community know about the contents I was writing and I feel that it wouldn't add any value to the community and hesitated to post it. However, from the point of view for the new members to Hive platform, it is very useful. So with that in mind, I decided to launch the post and it really was helpful to new members. Sometimes, flipping my mind-focus from negative to positive outcomes can help me overcome procrastination and make me productive.
7. Focusing on the wrong point
How our mind focuses is important I think. Everyday, we need physical and mental energy to do our work. We all know that there are positive and negative feelings and emotions. I think I should cultivate positive emotions because it can give me motivation and mental energy. Emotions and feelings grow on where I focus - if I focus on the lack, I feel sad and deprived, instead if I focus on things that I have, I feel grateful. In Buddhism, we are thought not to focus on and cultivate feelings like envy, greed, etc.. Instead of feeling envious on other people's success, we are thought to be happy about their success. We can be happy not only from our success but also from others'. By focusing on positive emotions, we can avoid procrastination caused by negative ones, and we can be more energetic and motivated thus more productive.
Everyone would have their own reasons for procrastination. No one would want their time stolen by procrastination; we all want our work done and have a feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment I think. The above are what I found out procrastination about myself - it took me more than a week to write these. And if you have some better tips, please leave some comments below. Thank you. Have a nice day!
30th Nov 2021
Myanmar
