3 Simple Ways to Overcome Procrastination

You stop procrastinating by understanding your inner power. Your brilliance has no good reason to wait. 

“I’ll finish that soon,” and, “I can make some more time for that later,” all sound like benign and even proactive intentions. But they’re really our anxieties showing up and making our decisions for us. Procrastination makes smart, capable people become complacent, anxious, and unreliable. What’s more, figuring out how to stop procrastinating isn’t always easy. 

When you don’t take on the responsibilities and tasks of your day head-on, you’re shrinking away from your power. What most people don’t realize is that procrastination is not a matter of laziness. It’s a matter of self-belief. 

When you understand your inner power and believe in yourself, you’re able to see procrastination for the unnecessary, silly roadblock that it really is. 

Here’s how to stop procrastinating and holding yourself back.

1. Take the emotion out of your to-do list. 

Procrastination is the act of saving high-priority items for later due to anxiety, self-doubt, and feeling overwhelmed. You’re struck by the inability to act now, so you act later, or worse— never. 

But here’s the thing. Procrastination is emotional. Research done by Dr. Tim Pychyl and Dr. Fuschia Sirois has shown that when we procrastinate, we’re allowing our emotions to rule our lives. 

Talking ourselves out of tasks because the thought of doing them overwhelms us is a display of toxic emotion. Removing emotion out of the equation allows us to breathe and think clearly. When we approach our to-do list objectively and without intense feeling, we give our brain the clarity it requires to be able to process what needs to be done to complete each task. 

2. Don’t think too much. Act.

Overthinkers are some of the best procrastinators out there. Why? Because they let their thoughts eat up their momentum. While brainstorming and preparing yourself mentally for work is a good idea, overthinking takes what could be a proactive thought and turns it into a worried, impenetrable wall of inaction. 

See your overthinking for what it is. Allow yourself to get lost in your work instead of your anxious thoughts. If starting a large project makes your brain panic, break each objective into smaller, less scary, achievable tasks. How do you build an entire house? Brick by brick. 

3. Forgive yourself.

Because procrastination typically deals with negative and intense emotion, an accustomed procrastinator is more likely to be unforgiving and hard on themselves. The solution, while dependent on action and self-belief, is anchored in forgiveness. 

Forgive yourself for the times you’ve procrastinated in the past, forgive yourself for the times you’ll procrastinate in the future, and forgive yourself for every hiccup and misstep in between. Tomorrow is a new day with abundant chances to start again. Approach yourself with gentle understanding always. 

You stop procrastinating by understanding your procrastination objectively. Strive to fully realize your inner power and true capabilities. Your brilliance has no reason to wait.