With the New Year’s fast approaching, many of us have already set new goals for ourselves by reviewing what we have done in the previous year. Places to visit, movies to watch, activities to do and more have already filled the New Year’s to-do list.
In general, we look forward to a new week, a new month, or even a new year when setting a start date for our decisions and goals. We make many promises to ourselves in order to implement these decisions and achieve our goals. But to what extent can we fulfill all this?
When we do not set realistic goals for ourselves, not being able to fulfill these promises to ourselves often disappoints us and causes us to lose our motivation. This situation, which causes us to feel negative emotions, brings about postponing change and new beginnings.
So, why do we keep procrastinating? What causes procrastination behavior?
Psychology of Procrastination: Why do people procrastinate?
The main psychological reasons behind the habit of procrastination are directly related to willpower and motivation. If the demotivating factors come together and negatively affect our will and motivation, this situation reveals the behavior of procrastination.
Some of the most common reasons for procrastination are:
- Anxiety
- Perfectionism
- Fear of failure
- Lack of control
- Lack of motivation
- Far-time and abstract goals
- Depression
- Feeling overwhelmed
While procrastination, which can become a habit at every point of your life, prevents you from achieving your goals, it can also cause you to have difficulties in important areas of your daily life such as work and school. Also, high stress level is one of the factors that promote procrastination.
How to Stop Procrastinating?
So, what can you do to deal with the procrastination cycle?
Identifying Causes
Motivation and intention are important driving forces to get a job done. When you have a reason for what you want to do, it can be easier for you to stay motivated and thus change your procrastination behavior. Also, reminding yourself what your intention and motivation are when starting something can help you discover the reasons behind procrastinating.
Setting Realistic Goals
It is one of the situations that cause delay when we set ourselves new goals and targets or go beyond realistic planning. If you have more workload than you can handle, this may reduce your motivation and cause you to postpone the actions you can take. Setting realistic goals for yourself can eliminate procrastination by keeping your motivation and willpower in balance when starting a job.
Meditation
According to one research meditation is associated with a decrease in procrastination behavior. This study shows that meditation reduces procrastination behavior through the behaviors of focusing thoughts, focusing attention, and self-regulation.
Another recent study, on the other hand, shows that mindfulness is associated with better sustained attention skills and lower procrastination behavior.
Therefore, meditation, which improves the ability to manage time and focus, can be seen as one of the most effective methods to prevent procrastination. With meditation, which is an action that contains intention, you can set your goals with awareness and prevent procrastination by increasing your focus.
If you haven’t set your goals for the new year yet, don’t forget to check out Innerjoy and try meditation practices!
