By Dr. Matsen/Irene Hayton

Are you a procrastinator, constantly putting off those things that you want or need to do? You know that you should be exercising on a regular basis, eating a healthy diet, getting to bed at a decent hour, and taking time for yourself because these are all good for your health. You know that you should be working on that task that needs to be done, whether it’s doing your taxes, starting a project at work, doing the laundry, or paying your bills. You may want to find a better job, go back to school to get a degree to further your career, or try a new sport or hobby that you’ve always wished to do. But it just seems easier to put it off for “later” (which often never arrives).

Sometimes things work out better when we hold off on doing something; however, in most situations, putting it off is actually harder than just “doing it” because of the negative impact on your life when you don’t fulfill your goals and dreams. Procrastination can eat away at your self-esteem because you feel bad about yourself for not working towards your goals. Procrastination causes stress that you may not even be aware of; the felling of needing/wanting to do something, but not doing it may be constantly niggling at you, perhaps only on a subconscious level, but it’s still there, causing unnecessary stress. And then there’s the stress that results from putting it off for so long that it has negative consequences—for example: health problems from a poor diet and/or lack of exercise; late charges for not paying your bills on time, even though you had enough money to do so;  trouble with the boss for not finishing that work project on time (or having to stay up late and/or work weekends to get it done); or having nothing to wear because you didn’t do your laundry.

There are many reasons that we put things off including: fear of failure; believing that whatever it is we should be doing will be too difficult; telling ourselves that we don’t have enough time; lack of motivation; etc. All of these reasons are the result of the thought processes or self-talk that we have going on in our minds. So how do we avoid these excuses and put an end to procrastination? We do this by changing our thoughts.

Fear of Failure

Sometimes we’re afraid that we can’t do it or won’t do it right. Tell yourself that whatever you’re avoiding doesn’t have to be done perfectly; you just need to get it started. The bigger failure is if you don’t even try. If you make a mistake, view it as a positive learning opportunity. Making mistakes is how we learn.

It’s Too Difficult

Take baby steps—break a large task down into smaller, manageable goals. Put things into perspective: the magnitude of the job at hand will seem miniscule if you compare it to the problems that other; less-fortunate people must face. For example, starting that project or diet or exercise program is easy compared to living in a war-torn country on the other side of the world.

No Time

We all have the same number of hours in a day; it’s what we choose to do with them that counts. If something is important enough, we’ll find the time to do it, so the trick is to make it a priority. Many things that we avoid doing often end up taking less time (and effort) than we thought they would. Keep track of what you spend your time on and how long it actually takes you to do a specific task. Cut back or cut out those things you waste your time on, such as watching TV. Use this “found” time to accomplish one or more of those things that you’ve been putting off, to take time for yourself, or to go to bed earlier and get that much-needed sleep. If you really don’t want to miss that TV program, set up your VCR to tape the show and view it at a later date when you have some free time. The bonus is that by fast-forwarding through the commercials, you’ll save even more time—at least 12 minutes per hour-long show.

Lack of Motivation

To help motivate yourself, focus on the end result, not on the process. Instead of thinking about how difficult the task may be, focus on how great you’ll feel and the sense of accomplishment you’ll have once you get it done. For example, if your goal is to exercise when you wake up in  the morning, don’t lay in bed thinking about how you’d love to hit the snooze button and stay in your warm, comfy bed a little longer rather than getting up and getting moving (especially on those early winter mornings when it’s cold and dark outside). Instead, change your thought pattern by focusing on the benefits of exercise such as having more energy for the rest of the day; decreased body fat and/or weight loss; better fitting clothes; more muscle tone; healthier heart and lungs; increased metabolism; etc. Another thing that you can do to help motivate yourself is to tell yourself that you only have to do it for a little while—10 minutes of exercise for example. Once you get started, you’ll probably want to continue past the 10 minutes. Getting started is often the biggest hurdle to overcome. Remember that consistency leads to the creation of new habits, so once you’ve been working towards your goal on a regular basis and achieving success, it’s usually easier to stay motivated to continue.

Other things that you can do to overcome procrastination are to use affirmations and a goal setting program. It also helps to plan ahead to ensure success in reaching your goals. For example: plan your meals and snacks ahead of time to help you stick to a healthy diet; set out your workout clothes or pack your gym bag the night before so you’re less likely to put off exercising; schedule time in your day to accomplish one of those baby steps of a large project.

Remember that your thoughts create your attitude, so when you change your negative thoughts to positive ones, you’ll create new attitudes to help you overcome your tendency to procrastinate. As the saying goes, change your attitude and you’ll change your life!