How to stop postpone the case until later

Habit of putting off things until the last minute can be a big problem in business and in everyday life. Missed opportunities, overwork, stress, overload, resentment, guilt - symptoms similar habits. This article will help to identify the main causes of habit to postpone the case until later, and show how it can be overcome.

1. Replace "should" to "I want»

Firstly, the concept of the "necessity" to commit certain actions - is the main reason why we put them on later. When you tell yourself that you "should" do something, then you realize the coercive nature of this action, and automatically feel a sense of inner resistance.

Delaying the case until later acts as a defense mechanism to keep you from performing undesirable actions.

If you set aside by the problem has deadlines, when approaching these terms, the discomfort of the problem itself overlap a stronger sense of the consequences that would come if you do not begin to address immediately.

The resolution of this lock is concluded that in order to understand and accept the fact that you do not have to do any of the things that you do not want to. Even if you face serious consequences, you are always free to choose. No one is forcing you to do so anyway.

Decisions taken by you on the path of life led you to this situation. If you do not like the current situation, you are free to make other decisions that will lead you to different results.

And mind that you do not procrastinate all his affairs. There are things that you do in time. Maybe you do not miss your favorite TV show, or you will always find time to read your interesting forum on the Internet. In each situation - a choice only for you.

So, if you wait to begin work on a new project and you feel an inner compulsion, I realized that doing it of their own free will. Tasks that you decide on their own, much less set aside.

2. Replace the "Finish" on the "Start»

Second, the analysis of the problem as more and indivisible, definitely lead to the fact that you postpone it aside. When you focus on the completion of the task, and at the same time do not have a clear understanding of the steps that you should take, you are creating for themselves a feeling of overload. And in this case, you're linking this unpleasant sensation with the task and lay it for as long as possible.

If you say to yourself - "I have to prepare a paper today" or "I have to finish the creation of this report" - most likely you have plunged themselves into a state of stress and lays the problem for later.

The solution is to think about the beginning of work on a small area of ​​the problem, rather than to represent that you have to complete the entire task.

Change your approach. Instead of asking "How can I finish all this?" - Asked question is "What is a small part of the work I can do right now?". If you simply will start to solve the problem many times, you eventually come to its completion.

If one of your problems to be solved is the examination of junk in the garage, the idea that you have to remove the pile of garbage at once plunges you into a sad mood and you delay it for later.

Ask a question, how do you start to solve at least a small part of this problem.

For example, come garage and jotted down on a piece of paper a few ideas for small ten-minute activities on cleaning the garage. While going to do this you can take the trash and take something out of this big pile of garbage.

Do not think about how to do something significant. Just focus on the forces that you can do right now. Applying this approach on a regular basis, you eventually proceed to the last small section of work and culminated in the decision of the whole problem.

3. Leave perfectionism and let yourself be imperfect

The third type of erroneous thinking that leads to procrastination - is perfectionism. The idea that you have to do the work once and flawlessly - leads you into a state of stress. And you identify stress with the task to be solved, and thus you create all the conditions to postpone it for later.

Come to postpone it until the last minute to finally find a way out of this trap.

Say to yourself - now there is not enough time to do the job perfectly.

But if your problems do not end deadlines, perfectionism can lead you to the fact that you will be endlessly postpone this task. If you have never even set about the task that you've always wanted to do very well, maybe perfectionism and keeps you from it.

Struggle with perfectionism can be giving itself the right to be imperfect man.

Used if you ever computer program that can be called perfect from all points of view? Unlikely.

Realize that an imperfect job completed today is always better than a perfect work-delayed indefinitely.

Perfectionism is also associated with an awareness of the problem as more and indivisible.

Replace one big job done completely in his brain on a small and imperfect first step.

This first step can be very, very imperfect. But you can always come back to it again and again.

For example, if you want to write an article in five tyasyach words, allow yourself to begin to write only a hundred words.

4. Replace the sense of loss for a guaranteed pleasure

The fourth mental blockage is that the problem is associated with a sense of loss. This means that you believe that the project will displace from your life a significant part of the fun and joy.

In order to complete the project unless you want all your remaining life? Do you tell yourself that you have to retire, work late, never to see his family, and never entertained? It's not like that motivates, but nevertheless many, many people say to themselves is to force yourself to do something.

Imagining pictures of long hard work alone, without time for fun - it's a guaranteed way to the postponement of their cases for later.

To deal with such a mindset can be doing the opposite. Define the first guaranteed portions of joy in your life and plan their work "around" these areas.

It may sound counterproductive, but this psychological technique works very well.

Determine in advance the time that you spend with your family, time to relax, time to exercise, time to community service and personal hobbies. Guaranteed some time on your favorite activities. Then limit the working hours on what's left.

The most productive workers in any field tend to work less and relax more than workaholics.

If you consider your working time as a valuable resource, not as an uncontrolled monster that can destroy the other side of your life, you will feel balanced, and you will be more focused on the task and effective use of their time working.

It can be seen that the optimal duration of the working week for most people is 40-45 hours. Work a longer has the opposite effect in terms of productivity and motivation. And in the long term is less than the actual work.

What if I would come to you and said, "This week, you can work only ten hours." Your sense of loss will be reversed, not so right?

Instead of feeling the withdrawal time for fun, you have been feeling the withdrawal time for work.

You have changed the attitude.

"I want to have fun" would have changed, "I want to work," your motivation for work would be greatly increased, and all traces of procrastination would vanish.

I also highly recommend to devote at least one day a week classes had nothing to do with your work. This will give you the necessary energy and desire as quickly as possible to start a new work week.

Owning a guaranteed output will increase your motivation to work and reduce the desire to postpone the case.

If you know that the day off tomorrow, you'll be less inclined to postpone the case, because you do not want to afford the "luxury" off-day, busy with pending cases.

And if you every day - working, and in spite of this work seems endless, you always say to yourself "I have to work." And your brain uses procrastination as a way to ensure that you at least some positive emotions in your life.
Divide time

For applications that you delay, I recommend using the method of separation of time to start it. Here's how it works. First, select a small part of the problem, on which you'll be able to work at least half an hour. And came up with a reward that you give yourself once at the end of thirty minutes.

Reward is guaranteed after the set time (thirty minutes).

It does not depend on the significance of the results. For example, watching your favorite TV shows, going to the movies, great food, meet friends, walk, or anything that you find enjoyable for yourself.

Since the time you spent on the job is small, your attention will be drawn to the expected pleasure, not the complexity of the problem to be solved. And no matter how unpleasant tasks. There is nothing that can not be allowed to stand for half an hour, if you expect a nice reward.

If you share time in this way, you will find that there are interesting things. You will notice that it continues to work on a task more planned thirty minutes.

You'll often so involved task, even complex that will be willing to continue to work on it. And before you notice it will take one or more hours. Your reward will not go away. And you realize that you will get it as soon as you're ready to stop.

Starting to work, your attention shifts to worry about the complexity of the problem at the end of this area of ​​work.

Once you decide to stop, get your reward, and enjoy it. And schedule another thirty-minute work area with an appropriate reward.

This will help you to associate positive emotions with the problem, because you get a reward for their efforts.

Long work on obscure and long-term goals are not motivating as immediate reward.

Rewarding yourself for what you have spent time on the task and not for any specific results you will look forward to coming back to the problem and in the end you have completed it.

Writing this article is a good example of the application of the above techniques.

I might say to yourself - I have to finish this article in 2000 words and it should be perfect.

Firstly I remember that I did not have to write anything. I am free to make a choice to write articles.

Then I realize that I have a lot of time to do a good job. And I do not have to be perfect, because if I start in advance, I have plenty of time to edit it later.

I also told myself that if I just start to the problem, I definitely complete it.

I have not come up with a topic for this article. And I used the division of time to accomplish this task.

Dinner was my "reward." I knew that at the end of a thirty work site I can eat.

Since I was hungry then it was a good motivation.

It took me a few minutes to come up with a topic for this article, and I spent the remaining time writing and sketching a rough idea of ​​the scheme a future article. Once the time is up, I stopped working and had dinner. I felt that I was "earned" this food.

The next morning I used the same method, making breakfast his "reward." And I was so fascinated by the task that continued to write even a half hour. I knew that I was free to stop at any time and get a well-deserved reward, but overcome inertia and start, I felt a natural desire to continue to work on the task. In fact, I drew procrastination problem that remained to work on a task, postponing the moment of receiving the award. As a result, I finished writing an article and enjoy breakfast.

I hope this article has helped to better understand the causes of procrastination and how to overcome this.

Understand that mental retardation is generated by the connection between the problem and your negative emotions regarding her. Way to overcome is to reduce the amount of negative emotions and increase the flow of positive emotions on the task. Thus, stimulating himself to overcome inertia and gain positive momentum.

After all, if you begin any task many times, you're sure to finish it.