Ok, so you procrastinate. You find hundreds of things to do that suddenly became so important now that you wanted to write. Before you know it, it’s time to go to bed…but you didn’t get any writing done!
Dr. Linda Sapadin, a clinical psychologist and author of, “It’s About Time! The Six Styles of Procrastination and How to Overcome Them,” said in a recent article on MSN that there are six types of procrastinators:
- Perfectionists–“They want every project to be perfect, and this often causes them to be frozen in fear that they cannot meet such an unrealistic goal, even though they set the goal themselves.”
- Dreamers–“These people suffer from magical thinking. ‘It’ll all work out,’ they say, while they do nothing to advance their goals.”
- Crisis Makers–“They often say they do their best work under pressure, but more accurately, they prefer uproar and crisis to do any work at all.”
- Worriers–“Their fears consume their thought processes and prevent any real work being done, as they imagine and dwell upon every possible scenario for disaster and failure.”
- Defiers–“These people may resent the assignments in the first place, and retake control over their lives by refusing to do the work in a timely and cooperative manner, or at all.”
- Overdoers–“Also known as ‘the pleasers,’ these people can’t say no, and so take on more and more responsibility without any reasonable expectation of being able to deliver on their obligations.”
So…what kind of procrastinator are you? (I’m mainly a perfectionist, but I dabble in overdoing it as well.)
The good news is, Dr. Sapadin said procrastinators can overcome their need to put things off, it’s just going to take some reprogramming.
Whenever you feel your procrastination arising, kill it with kindness. For example, if you’re a perfectionist, and that’s what keeps you from writing, you need to tell yourself things like, “Nothing can be perfect” or “Hitting my deadline is more important than turning in a perfect article.” If you’re an overdoer, take a step back anytime a project comes up and ask yourself, “Can I handle another project?” or “Am I taking on too much?”
By doing this, you will program your mind to accept these thoughts, which will help you procrastinate less.
I’ve had personal experience with daily affirmations, and I have to say, they really work. If you tell yourself something for long enough, you start to believe it.
And if it can work with self-confidence, it can definitely work with overcoming procrastination.
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What tips and tricks do you use to stop procrastinating?
