Procrastination is a problem that many people face. Not only does it affect work efficiency, it can also lead to anxiety and self-blame. So, how can we really reduce procrastination and improve motivation? This article will share two core methods to help you take the first step more easily.
1. Increase motivation: make goals more attractive
Procrastination usually occurs because we find it difficult to get immediate positive feedback, and sometimes even encounter negative feedback. For example, you plan to write an article at the weekend, but once you start, you find that you have no ideas and what you write is not satisfactory. This sense of failure makes you lose interest in the task, which ultimately leads to procrastination.
How can you increase motivation?
When faced with a task, you may as well ask yourself two key questions:
- What benefits will I get from completing this task?
For example, whenever I write an article, I tell myself that it is not only a process of organising knowledge, but also a way to help others obtain valuable information. - What will I lose if I don’t do it?
People are often afraid of losing. For example, if you are hesitating whether to buy a certain product and suddenly find out that it is about to increase in price, you may place the order immediately. Similarly, if I don’t write an article for a few days, I will feel that my brain is lacking exercise. To avoid this kind of loss, I will force myself to take action.
Once you have identified these two issues, your motivation will become clearer. Next, further amplify your motivation.
Make the goal “concrete”
Imagining a beautiful scene after the goal is achieved can effectively stimulate motivation.
For example, students preparing for postgraduate entrance exams will print out photos of the target university and look at them every day; athletes will imagine themselves winning the competition before the competition. This kind of mental suggestion can strengthen one’s beliefs and motivate action.
Psychologist Li Songwei once proposed the theory of “tomorrow’s confusion”: when you are full of uncertainty about the future, it is easy to procrastinate. But if you can clearly picture success in your mind, you can reduce procrastination.
For example:
- If you want to lose weight, you can imagine yourself looking better and feeling that confidence and ease.
- If you want to improve your writing skills, you can imagine yourself being read and liked by more people.
The more specific you can be about your goals, the more motivated you will be.
2. Reduce resistance: make action easier
In addition to a lack of motivation, another major cause of procrastination is too much resistance. The following three methods can help you reduce the resistance to action.
1. Accept procrastination and don’t blame yourself
Many people will fall into self-blame after procrastinating, thinking that they are too lazy and lack perseverance. However, labelling yourself negatively will only exacerbate procrastination.
The right approach is:
- Accept procrastination and don’t see it as a character flaw.
- Recognize that sometimes procrastination is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, sometimes it is precisely because you have procrastinated that you have figured out what to do.
- Focus on solving the problem instead of constantly blaming yourself.
Changing procrastination is not about “willpower” overcoming yourself, but about optimizing strategies to make it easier to take action.
2. Identify and eliminate negative preconceptions
We often procrastinate because we are afraid of failure, for example:
- “What if I start writing an article but no one reads it?”
- ‘What if I start exercising but can’t keep it up?”
These negative assumptions can lead us to believe that ’as long as we don’t do it, we can’t fail”, which in turn leads to further procrastination.
Solution:
- Be aware of your negative assumptions and talk to them.
For example, if you are worried that no one will read your article, you can ask yourself: “Am I writing the article just to get attention? Or because I want to express my thoughts?” - Once you see your negative assumptions, you often find that they are not as scary as you thought.
Action itself is not painful, what really hurts is constant hesitation and speculation.
3. Use the ‘micro-start’ strategy
“Everything is difficult at the beginning.” Often, the reason we procrastinate is because the threshold is too high at the beginning. If you lower the threshold, it will be easier to take action.
Micro-start strategy:
- Set an ultra-small goal, for example:
- Do you want to read? Don’t think about reading 50 pages a day. First, tell yourself, ”Open the book and read one page.”
- You want to get up early? Don’t try to get up at 6 o’clock all at once, try getting up 10 minutes earlier than usual.
- You want to exercise? Don’t try to run 5 kilometers in one go, start by stretching at home for 5 minutes.
Why is micro-starting effective?
- It bypasses the brain’s instinct to avoid difficulties.
- Once you take the first step, subsequent actions often happen naturally.
- The accumulation of small goals will ultimately lead to big changes.
For example:
- Don’t feel like getting out of bed in the morning? Sit up and have a drink of water.
- Don’t feel like writing an article? Open the document and write a headline.
- Don’t feel like exercising? Change into your sports clothes.
These small “starting actions” get the brain going, and the subsequent actions will go more smoothly.
Conclusion: Make peace with procrastination and make things easier
Procrastination often stems from emotional problems such as anxiety, fear of failure, and fear of uncertainty about the future. Therefore, instead of forcing yourself to “overcome” procrastination, you should learn to make peace with it.
How?
- Allow yourself to procrastinate moderately, but make sure you are always in a state of “active action”.
- For example, if you can’t write an article, then read and accumulate inspiration to keep yourself in a state of learning.
- Procrastination can also become fuel for future action, as long as you are willing to adjust your strategy.
The most important thing is:
Act when you should, rest when you should, and don’t exhaust yourself through procrastination.