Its Time To Deal With Procrastination

Marla Gottschalk Empowered Work Requires a Strong Foundation It’s Time to Deal with Procrastination Have you discovered your self at struggle with an entry on your “to-do” listing. Are you staring down a task, project or cellphone name that has been literally chasing you all week (all month for that matter)? Somehow we never totally escape that impending doom. With time it seems the duty solely looms larger. Procrastination is an issue that we create for ourselves â€" and it’s high time we took again the reins. But, first things first. Why will we continue to procrastinate? We notice that laying aside the duty isn’t doing us any favors (and we know this). In most circumstances, it only delays the inevitable, while rising anxiety. Yet without fail, we nonetheless seem hell-bent on placing things off. It makes no sense, yet good sense â€" all in the identical breath. There is a pay-off lurking there and we've to cease the dysfunctional cycle. Procrastination is certainly a typical workplace problem, and most of us wrestle with it from time to time. But don’t fret, researche rs estimate that solely 20% of us are actually continual procrastinators (this determine holds world-wide). The remainder of us simply have moments once we struggle to take action. With steerage and some measure of awareness, we will usually transfer via the problem effectively. So let’s dig in. Procrastination typically develops when we have conflicting feelings regarding a task. causing us to really feel torn. An examination of method â€" avoidance battle may lend us a number of helpful clues. Early theories of motivation, together with the work of Lewin, identified the notion that tasks/objectives can possess each appealing components (that will influence us to move toward them) â€" and unappealing parts, (which influence us to maneuver away from them). It is that this dichotomy that usually befuddles us. Overall, when a task lies in the future, we feel extra optimistic about shifting towards it. However, as we move closer to the task or event, the unfavorable features turn int o much more salient. These forces influence the dynamic which follows. It has additionally been instructed that targets can be characterised as both “strategy goals” or “avoidance goals”. An approach goal would mirror a desired or constructive end result, similar to learning to earn an “A” â€" and an avoidance objective would focus on staying clear of an outcome that's unfavorable, corresponding to studying to avoid failing. (Think of all of those failed New Year’s resolutions â€" were they framed positively or negatively in your mind?) Research has shown that “avoidance goals” have a higher tendency to fall prey to procrastination. So, it seems that how we “body” our view of a goal is crucial. Approach and avoidance targets can differ in regard to different relevant dimensions as properly â€" and these components additionally influence our conduct. For instance, those that give attention to method goals usually tend to report feeling glad when they truly obtai n such a aim. Moreover, personal which means can also positively have an effect on objective attainment. Exploring why we really feel negatively about a goal, could assist us transfer toward it and probably perceive our tendency to procrastinate. So, let’s peel back the layers and examine the explanations behind our penchant to procrastinate and discuss methods to neutralize them. First, a number of the reason why we might feel negatively a couple of task: Potential solutions: What methods do you utilize to tame procrastination? Share them here. Dr. Marla Gottschalk is a Workplace Psychologist. You can even discover her on Twitter and Linkedin. Post navigation Fill in your particulars below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting using your Google account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting using your Twitter account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Facebook account. (Log Out/ Change) Connecting to %s Notify me of latest feedback by way of e mail. Notify me of recent posts through e mail. Subscribe through Email Enter your e mail handle to obtain notifications of recent posts by e mail. Subscribe Here Today’s Top Reads Instagram Blog Accolades