Procrastinating can be about perfectionism, impulsiveness, or mood. Procrastinating typically backfires and people end up producing a less good product (term paper, project etc). Previously, help focused on behavioral strategies. Psychologists are now focusing on helping procrastinators focus on their mood and learn to regulate their emotions in more productive ways.
About 20% of adults claim to be chronic procrastinators and the rate among college students may be 70%. The habit predicts lower salaries and a higher likelihood of unemployment, according to a recent study of 22,053 people co-authored by Dr. Ferrari.
Here are three excellent ways to fight the urge to procrastinate:
1-Time Travel:
If you are avoiding your task, try projecting yourself into the future. Imagine the good feelings you will have if you stop procrastinating and finish a project (or the bad feelings you will have if you don’t finish). This idea is suggested by Fuschia Sirois, a psychology professor at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and author of a forthcoming 4,000-person study on the topic.
2-‘Just Get Started’:
If you are frightened of possible failure, just get started. Tell yourself you don’t have to do the whole project. Just do the first one or two steps on it.just get started, and set the bar for getting started quite low.
3-Forgive Yourself:
If you are feeling guilty about procrastinating, stop beating yourself up. Replace the negative thoughts with something more positive. Most procrastinators beat themselves up even as they put things off, thinking “I should be more responsible.” Self-forgiveness, is aimed at reducing the guilt and self-blame. University freshmen who forgave themselves for procrastinating on studying for the first exam in a course procrastinated less on the next exam, according to a 2010 study led by Michael Wohl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton.