One of the biggest challenge people face when it comes to being successful is that they tend to procrastinate. You might be someone who has picked up this habit recently or someone who has worked on it diligently over the years and become good at it not realizing that it has begun to affect your professional & personal life.
In my personal interaction with people who have had this challenge to overcome there is no one reason where I can put my finger on the pulse, however one thing which I am pretty convinced is that the causes of procrastination run much deeper than sheer laziness or disorganization.
More often than not I do realize that most of my clients have developed the habit of procrastinating due to deeper challenges at the Sub conscious level.
Maybe they are reacting to overbearing parents, or maybe concerned that other people will think they are stupid if they mess up.Whatever the problem, the first step to conquering the behavior is always figuring out exactly what’s causing it.
I’ve laid out seven surprising reasons behind the tendency to put things off. Don’t delay – read on and find out which one might help explain your procrastination and try to overcome it.
You grew up in an authoritarian environment:
Most of our habits are ingrained when we are growing up and this is one area I always double check with my clients to see if there was a good enough reason for them to be procrastinating.
More often than not I have come across people who procrastinate in the present probably had an authoritarian influence while growing up.
Somewhere over the years they did find this as a passive aggressive way to rebel against external agents of control – something they weren’t able to do when they were young.
You might be afraid to succeed:
Yes this may sound stupid. But believe me I have come across enough people in my last two decades of studying people’s behavior closely that this reason does not surprise me anymore.
Some People procrastinate because they are actually worried that they will do a good job. This in their mind, might saddle them with more responsibilities and subject them to higher expectations from others.
You are incapacitated by fear of failure:
The fear of failure can be so debilitating that you can’t accomplish anything. When people make this a bigger image in their head I will guarantee you that, they will come up with all excuses some real and some imagined to procrastinate.
Fear of failure is the number one reason, according to me which does stop most people from living their vision.
There is no other way to overcome this than counting on yourself by showing yourself some love. People who are kind to themselves are better at controlling their impulses.
Create a powerful vision of you succeeding against all odds and picking yourself up against the tide.
You do not want to acknowledge your shortcomings:
Each one of us do have some kind of shortcomings. It is in the best of your own interest that you take a step back and acknowledge them first to get a grip on the same.
When I am working with someone as their personal coach I always gently nudge my clients to accept their shortcomings and quickly create an effective roadmap in overcoming the same.
Once you acknowledge the shortcomings “believe you me” that it will be much lesser mountain to climb through.
You need to do a reset on perception of time:
Each one of us perceive time in different ways and for some of us the urgency is lacking when it comes to longer duration of time. More often than not I have come across people procrastinate on goals which are in longer duration of time say 6 to 12 months duration.
Somewhere inside their head, they see it as a farfetched target and console themselves, that they can get their act together once the deadline is closer. There is no one way to do this other than changing the perception from the inside out.
You bite more than you can chew:
If you are someone who tends to take on the complete task at one go then you are prone to procrastinate. Somewhere in the head we see the task as a huge gigantic task and we tend to measure ourselves smaller to the task in hand.
Let me give you an example: if you are looking at knocking out 20 Kg from your overall weight and get to doing it in one go, you are sure to falter sooner than later.
Smarter way would be to take it slowly and have incremental goals which will help you build your confidence as you move up.
You feed self-defeating thoughts:
One of the most obvious trait I do come across with someone who procrastinate is that they are more stressed than the rest of us. More often than not they are hearing disempowering voices in their own head, which will stop them from taking the necessary action on a day to day basis.
I always remind people during my coaching sessions or live seminars to always be more kind to themselves. When you do not beat your selves down, you are better at self-regulating which in my opinion increases your own capacity to control your impulses.
If you are someone who has been procrastinating on your biggest goals and stopping yourselves in living your vision, then go here right now:
Yes I Want To Stop Procrastinating Right Now
Working with a professional coach who can listen to your frustrations non-judgmentally and support you will help you get results faster.
Besides working with clients 1 on 1, I also engage with corporate teams through my Group Coaching Sessions.
Through these sessions, your team will learn to make powerful changes to their current engagement and improve performance. In my personal Intervention, I will teach them how to…
- Develop a die-hard attitude for their personal and professional lives
- Create an effective road-map to achieve their goals
- Double, triple or even quintuple their productivity
Are you an executive who’s looking to increase your team’s overall productivity? The mail me on enquiry@satishrao.in to bring in the much needed change within your team.
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