Procrastination is a common problem that many people face at all times. It's easy to fall into the trap of putting off important tasks and instead opting for activities that have less value, such as surfing the internet, watching TV, checking social media, among many other things. However, procrastination can have negative consequences in our daily lives, as it can cause stress, anxiety, and delay important projects or issues that we must attend to. In this article, we'll explore how to be more productive and avoid procrastinating.

What is procrastination?

We can say that procrastination is the action or habit of delaying or postponing important tasks, even when one knows that it is important to do them. Often procrastination occurs due to lack of motivation, lack of time, lack of skills, or lack of interest in the task.

There is a personality difference, according to several studies, between those people who do not usually procrastinate and those who are more habitual to do so. Procrastinators have a strong personal identity and don't care too much about what others think. In comparison, procrastinators have a tendency to suffer from low self-esteem.

What is productivity?

Productivity is the ability to do more work in less time, without compromising quality. It's about achieving more with less effort. Productivity implies being more organized, focused and efficient in the use of time, which translates into higher performance and better results.

What are the causes of procrastination?

There are many causes of procrastination, among the most common are:

• Fear of failure or criticism.
• Lack of motivation or interest.
• Tendency to seek distractions or put off difficult or boring tasks.
• Organization problems or lack of planning.
• Difficulties establishing priorities.
• Uncertainty about how to do a task or where to start.
• Personal problems, such as stress or anxiety.
• Lack of confidence in one's own abilities.
• Difficulty concentrating or sustaining attention.
• Excessive perfectionism or unrealistic expectations.

How does procrastination affect our daily life?

1. Stress and Anxiety: Procrastination can lead to stress and anxiety, as it often feels like a to-do that hasn't been done. Stress and anxiety can negatively affect mental and physical health.
2. Low productivity: When important tasks are put off, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and lose motivation. Lack of motivation can negatively affect productivity and make it take longer to complete important tasks.
3. Project delays: Procrastination can delay important projects and cause opportunities to be missed. If important tasks are put off, you may miss important deadlines and have to work under pressure to get the job done on time.
4. Lower quality of work: When you work under pressure and important tasks are put off, you can produce lower quality work. Lack of time and lack of motivation can cause mistakes to be made and attention to important details to be lost.
5. Feeling of guilt: Procrastination can generate feelings of guilt and remorse. The fact of knowing that there are important tasks that have not been carried out can generate a feeling of guilt and reduce self-esteem.
6. Damages relationships and reputation: By saying that you will do a task but it is not completed on time or it is never done, it becomes frowned upon by others and they will lose trust in us.
7. Low self-esteem: Procrastination can become a vicious circle, since by postponing our goals or tasks we harm our self-perception until we have a bad image of ourselves.

How to stop procrastinating and be more productive?

It is important to take into account that to stop procrastinating requires a lot of willpower and motivation. Procrastination is a bad habit and like all of them you can always go through complications when trying to overcome it.

Here are a few tips to help you start being more productive:

Set goals and priorities

It is important to have clear goals and priorities to focus energy and time on important tasks. By setting goals and priorities, you can identify which tasks are more important and which are less important, and this can help prevent procrastination.

Create an action plan

After setting goals and priorities, it is important to create an action plan. An action plan can include a list of daily, weekly, or monthly tasks, with clear deadlines and deadlines.

Making task lists can help us organize our time more effectively and at the same time motivate us to carry out the activities we have in mind.

This list should be oriented towards a daily goal, in small steps in order to have a better vision of how we are progressing.

Eliminate negative thoughts

Reason those ideas that are influencing you in a negative way in order to stop them and be able to leave procrastination behind.

Eliminate distractions

Distractions can be a huge source of procrastination. Identify common distractions in your daily life and try to eliminate them as much as possible. This may include turning off your phone while working, closing non-work related web browser tabs, among others.

Use the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro technique is a time management technique that can help improve productivity and prevent procrastination. It consists of dividing the work into blocks of time of 25 minutes, followed by a short break of 5 minutes. After four blocks of work time, a longer break of 15-20 minutes is taken.

Do one thing at a time

Often people try to multitask, which can be a big mistake. Try to focus on one task at a time and complete that task before moving on to the next. This can help keep you focused and prevent procrastination.

Don't beat yourself up for procrastinating

The more you blame and punish yourself for mistakes, the more anxiety you will feel about the next task. The important thing is not to confuse that forgiveness with excuses, that is, it is okay to tell yourself that nothing is wrong, but it cannot become a routine.