Procrastination

Procrastination Definition:  it is a habit of delaying an important task usually by focusing on less urgent, easier and more enjoyable activities.

The habit of delaying an important task,delaying can be done in multiple ways

be it

1. focusing on less urgent task
2. more enjoyable task
3. or doing something you find more enjoyable and easy to do

What are the main causes of procrastination?

it could be 

anxiety, ADHD, low self-esteem, and sometimes even poor work and study habits, and low level of self-control.

how do I find if I am procrastinating?

the answer to this question is not very simple

as most of us tend to use the strategy of avoidance!! meaning that most of us would rather ignore and avoid the answer even if it's in front of us.

now to find out if You are Procrastinating and

How to overcome procrastination. there are many ways to do it.

first, what are the apparent signs of procrastination?

Signs of procrastination are

Uncertain goals it is simple, having uncertain goals does not mean you don't have any goals. that I believe would be absurd. everyone has goals in life even the lazy person. but the problem here is that the goals that you have are most of the time too big and too far ahead in the future.

How game developers don't let players procrastinate?

let's take a game for example now most of us know that playing games is fun and most people don't procrastinate while playing games.

 if you ask anyone they will probably tell you that games are fun and a thousand different reasons, but in my opinion, this is due to the Goal setting tendencies and dividing the end goal 

But why is that?

games like real life also have some big overwhelming end goals, and just like in real life if you are told that go kill that Boss at level 1, and have no instructions, a person with a tendency to procrastinate will end up quitting the game and the game developers know this and what do they do? they give you smaller goals to achieve. and after you achieve those goals you get a reward, which in turn gives you a dopamine boost. and you keep playing for one more hour or you tend to come back to the game,

but when you just logged in and completed that first quest! if you look at the progression bar for the end goal most of the time its not even 1%, but that if never shown in most of the games, as it will discourage players. so they give you small goals and you complete them and so on and so forth bam you are 14 hours in and beating the crap of the last boss.

Now those who know how to control their urge to procrastinate, know this and know that a big goal will just lead them to a big procrastination session, so what do they do?

they divide the end goal into small goals. and try and reward themselves with something after completing those goals even if they are not rewarding themselves, that's not a huge problem if they want to really achieve their end goal because after completing their task they know they are one step closer to their goal and that is enough of a dopamine rush for them

now with these big goals comes the second part 
feeling overwhelmed

now, how does a person come to this?

well, it's fairly simple, you sit down and think well I have a goal now TO DO SOME PROJECT with 400 pages in it.

now, what does that mean? uncertain goals? -

so you sit at your table and start after doing one page you look at the time and its been 15 min and now you start calculating that if one page takes me 15 min then the whole project will take me so much time, and now the start of difficulty in concentration starts which lead to

the procrastination cycle and the feeling overwhelmed symptom

you feel like It's too much and I can't do it now, i will do it later i have so much time.

and you leave the project and go watch videos on youtube all night.

and you end up repeating this vicious cycle until the deadline of the project. one night before the deadline

you stay awake for the whole night and end up completing the project somehow, but there are some problems

1. you sacrificed your sleep and will be tired the whole day
2. your project was a rush and its not as good as it could have been if you had just done it on time

see procrastination most of the time is harmless but just think, if this project was the single biggest and most important exam or interview of your life and you just did subpar, did you not ruin your chances,

you and I both know that you could have done way better but you are now stuck with a result that will haunt you for your life

some people are afraid of failure and hence they don't even start.

some people with short attention spans are also procrastination masters

What are procrastination types

They say that there are four main types of avoidance archetypes, or procrastinators: the performer, the self-deprecator, the overbooker, and the novelty seeker. Figuring out which group you're in can help you break out of your procrastination patterns — and maybe even turn in something early

Are procrastination and laziness the same?

No, procrastination and laziness are not the same,

a lazy person does not like to act, they don't like to move and doesn't prefer to expand their energy the way most people do laziness is a mechanism of our body which we evolved now that is a topic to be discussed in another blog, but a lazy person does what is necessary for his survival and what they are passionate about very well,

now I don't mean to say that lazy people can't procrastinate. they can be

but laziness and procrastination are not synonyms!

a person who is not lazy but doesn't have clear goals will start to procrastinate but a lazy person with clear goals and the right attitude can get the work done in time!

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