Procrastination (Featuring @victoriart as new author)

@victoriart is a new feature on my list. As she mentioned in her introduction post she love art, decor, design and handmade and if you look at a few of her last posts, she is a keen photographer as well.

Please have a look at her older posts, and if you like upvote and follow her!

Her introduction post : A Girl with Passion for Decoupage and Figure Skating – My Intro Post:)
and some others:
Real Red: The Sky Is Going to Rain Fire!
Sunflowers Lifted Their Yellow Heads up – a Walk in the Fields
Let's hear what she has to say!

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Laziness vs. Procrastination: How can we cure a procrastination illness?

We all know what laziness is and I’m sure that more of us met lazy people at least once in a lifetime. As for me, I always thought that I’m a great lazy bones! The prove was that I always tried to put off for later some urgent businesses or some duties. I could put off for tomorrow even things I liked and wanted to do, but I watched TV or did some other unnecessary and unimportant things! And one day I saw that it was a real problem. So I visited a psychologist and guess what he told me? You are not lazy bones! 

You are a procrastinator! – A what? 

Procrastination:

Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task which needs to be accomplished. It is the practice of doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, or carrying out less urgent tasks instead of more urgent ones, thus putting off impending tasks to a later time. Sometimes, procrastination takes place until the "last minute" before a deadline. Procrastination can take hold on any aspect of life — putting off cleaning the stove, repairing a leaky roof, seeing a doctor or dentist, submitting a job report or academic assignment or broaching a stressful issue with a partner. Procrastination can lead to feelings of guilt, inadequacy, depression and self-doubt. (This definition is taken from Wikipedia.com)   

Oh, my God! – It opened my eyes! I saw that almost all my life was procrastination! At home and even at work! 

Example 1: An office manager Barry has to write a month report for his boss. This is very urgent, but Barry hates writing reports..and it seems that his boss is so busy, he doesn’t have time to call Barry and to hurry him. Barry prepares everything for this task, takes his seat and…oh, he hasn’t drunk coffee yet! What a pity! Well, ok, Barry goes to drink coffee because he still has a plenty of time to write a report. So Barry drinks coffee, hurries back to his room, but he founds some unreplied emails…oh and unissued bills…oh and it’s lunch time…and there are some other duties after lunch. What is about the report? Well, Barry puts it off till tomorrow. And tomorrow is the same picture…  

Example 2: Mary, a housewife, wants to mop the floor. She likes when the house is neat and clean. She has to mop the floor today. But, wait, it is her favourite movie on TV now, she watches movie, then she drinks tea, then she reads a new issue of women’s magazine, then she thinks of her hobby and goes to her room to knit socks. She can mop the floor tomorrow…   

A person can procrastinate even when he or she wants to do something or likes to do it.    

Laziness:

Laziness is not the same as procrastination. Laziness is connected with our instincts. It is attempts of our brains to save energy. The less energy is spent on some outer this, the more is left for life sustaining activities of organism.  But procrastinator is not lazy! He is busy; he works hard to substitute urgent businesses for less urgent or pleasant ones. Procrastination is illness and it can be cured!   

How can we cure procrastination?   

I give you some tips to cope with procrastination. They are so simple at first sight, but be careful! If you are a procrastinator, it would be extremely hard to follow these advices.    

Tip # 1: Make a list of the most urgent businesses/ activities.  This list will help you to concentrate on what you have to do. Sometimes procrastinator is afraid of that enormous bunch of businesses he has put off for later, he is upset about that, but still does nothing.  May be the list will show you that you that your problem is not so big as you painted it in your mind.   

Tip # 2: Make the list right now!!! This is the most important tip, I think. If you are a procrastinator, you will possibly put it off until tomorrowJ Don’t do that! Do you want to get rid of procrastination? So, please, make the list as soon as possible.   

Tip # 3: Sort the businesses in your list according to their necessity and deadlines. If you have some matters that missed deadlines, strike them off the list.   

Tip # 4: Begin with easy ones or with those you like and want to do. And I say again, do the matters from your list as soon as possible. Don’t let some other thing distract you.   

Tip # 5: Think of true reasons, which hold you back from your duties or urgent matters. Be frank with yourself. Sometimes it is easier to pull out the weed, if you see its root.  

Tip # 6: Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Remember this quote by Benjamin Franklin. It will be difficult to follow this quote for the first time, but later you will see the positive changes. Just don’t stop.

"Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today"

Link to the Internet source used in my article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination

Hope you enjoyed reading this article. 

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