By: Isha Yamilca Aquino Santos
Philadelphia, PA- Lying on the couch in the living room watching your favorite show, scrolling your screen on Instagram while having fun with reels or TikTok’s, is perhaps not a good idea if you have left important tasks behind, completely ignoring a long list of priorities, Although you are not doing it intentionally, you should know that the negative effects could be irreversible, it is very likely that at the end of the day you will ask yourself why I could not finish? Was I productive enough today?
Surely we have heard at some point in our lives the phrase “do not leave for tomorrow what you can do today” this can be somewhat difficult for those who have developed the habit of procrastination, the long list of pending tasks extends alarmingly as it progresses the week and time dies, go shopping, take the dog for a walk, send or do pending work, among other daily activities, finally you find yourself
overwhelmed and feeling unproductive, the feeling of dissatisfaction is present but still thus you will repeat the cycle over and over again.
We found that the word procrastination comes from the Latin procrastinare: pro, forward, and crastinus, tomorrow, which we would literally translate to postpone for tomorrow.
But why do we procrastinate?
Perhaps your first impression or immediate response is summed up in that we procrastinate due to laziness, laziness or lack of motivation, but this is not the case, some authors emphasize that procrastination is directly linked to the emotional and not to poor time management.
“It’s about our feelings,” says Pychyl. “Procrastination is the poor regulation of emotion. We believe that by postponing things, we are going to feel better.”
The tasks that are overwhelming for us are regulatory to which we have negative fixations, or they are not pleasant for us, or they simply seem boring to us, however, it can also be linked to self-esteem and the perception we have about the things for which we believe we are incapable We constantly think of failure before the goal.
How can we beat procrastination without dying trying?
- Recognize the negative effects of this habit. It is important that you take into account that self-complicity and inadequate management of our emotions limits our progress in the fight against the constant postponement of activities. There is no magic technique or take to stop procrastinating, it all depends on the way you can internalize to know and manage your emotions.
- Set clear goals for each day.
- Make a commitment to yourself to finish every task you start.
- Plan your day in advance without postponing activities unless it is due to an emergency or situation that gets out of hand.
- Divide your time to perform the tasks that seem more difficult to the easier ones.
“You may be late, but time will not” (Benjamin Franklin)
Author: Amaury Abreu
