Ever wonder why you never do anything until it's last minute? not until its absolutely necessary that you get that paper signed or send out that report, you'd rather be doing something else. it's certainly not because you love to do things under pressure, God! i know how that feels. Procrastination is a habit... and a very bad one at that. It is putting off an important task whilst getting involved with one that is less important, I mean, who does that...right? You have a very important phone call to make but you choose to do just about everything else you can do with your phone except of course, dialing that number!
It's never a very nice feeling to always have to be under so much pressure when you're doing something.

"If someone close to you says that you procrastinate a lot, then it's probably very true."

- Ossyjay

Just in case you're still in doubt however as to whether or not this article relates to you, here are some of the signs that you in fact do procrastinate:

Signs that you may be a Procrastinator

1. You always say the words "later, tomorrow, soon" and never say "now".

2. You find it hard to keep a promise, even one made to yourself.

3. You can predict your life - Every day is the same.

4. Your friends are always complaining about you, you miss out on quality time and you find it difficult to keep appointments.

5. You are always late - you wake up late, go late to work and you hate your alarm clock

6. You find it very difficult to plan.

7. You daydream a lot, always picturing a future and neglecting your present, you get caught up in it.

8. You are never organized since you do not plan properly, times are usually the same for you as well as days of the week.

9. Your case is one of "take your own advice" you're very good at giving it but it's more difficult to actually do it ain't it?

10. There's always more time - You calculate the least time at which doing something will be possible and well, you work with that.

Well in case you haven't noticed, I am speaking from experience so if you're guilty of this (well everyone is, technically but not everyone makes the mistake of cultivating the act into a habit) don't feel like there something awfully wrong with you, there are millions of people just like you out there who ask themselves this same question: Why Do I Always Procrastinate?
Well there's not one answer to that question and if you're thinking laziness, you may be right but that isn't the only reason why people may procrastinate.

You already know some of the signs so by now, you should have figured out whether or not you are a procrastinator. Now let's talk about why people procrastinate:

Reasons For Procrastination

1. Lack of motivation

Excuses never produce results. When you gotta do something, you gotta do it! be it pleasant or not, but for these particular folks, they hold off on everything that is unpleasant to them for one reason or the other and just do other things like watch game of thrones for hours when you've got house chores to do.

2. Underestimating a situation or task

Ever been that kinda guy that just says "nah!...no worries man, I can draw out so many designs in no time without even having to break a sweat, so just leave the draft on the desk...i'll take care of it later." What you do is tell yourself that "you can do it at anytime" without actually evaluating that situation to determine how much time it would take and by the time you actually get up to do it? You find yourself under a shit load of pressure.

3. You want to do things under perfect conditions

Your belly needs to be full, all your activities for the day need to have been completed, you must have taken your shower, prepared your bed, cleaned your house and then, oh wait...you're too tired to grade the exam papers of the high school students that you teach and which by the way has to be turned in to the school the next morning. You've had the scripts for a fortnight now and you had intended to do it within that period but well, "something always came up."

4. A fear of failure

Fear of not properly carrying out a particular task or failing can often make you put it off. You are so caught up in how many ways you can get it wrong, you forget the most important part of doing something; "START"

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

5. You do not know where to begin

Many a time, the task can be so enormous and overwhelming that whenever it comes up in your memory, you realize that you do not even know where to start from, you're still not sure about how to go about it and so you hold off until you can be sure, but when will that ever be?

If you're swimming in the great pool of procrastination, then here is a quote for you by Benjamin Franklin:

You may delay, but time will not, and lost time will never be found again

How to deal with procrastination

In order to counter the habit of procrastination, you must join the NOW club and do away with the LATERs. That way, you do less of putting off important projects. You must learn to prioritize you life and the activities in it, make a list and carry them out, don't just say that "you will."

If you do not feel motivated to do the task at the moment, then you have to mentally acknowledge the fact that that task has to be done by you anyways and just focus on doing it right.
The best way to tackle a big project is to break it down, bit by bit and start from there, then you can work your way up! Do this regularly enough and it will be a part of you. They say the best way to get over a habit is to find another one, so it's pretty simple, just replace the bad habits and mindset with a good one!
And remember, taking care of this issue will require effort so you have to be willing to put in the work.

Thanks for reading!

Proud member of the NRD