We are all guilty of procrastination – the tendency to postpone chores, usually of the routine or dreaded kind. Assignments, reports, even fixing the slightly leaking tap at home, all are found to be tedious, boring, and definitely not enjoyable chores.
But it is these boring chores of life that keep the clock of routine ticking. Work does have to be done and the sooner it is done, the faster we can move on to other, more enjoyable moments of life. Plus, these moments can be enjoyed more, knowing that the dreaded work has now been done.
This is, of course, easier said than done. Humans tend to procrastinate, mainly because the required job is itself daunting or repetitive. We know procrastinating is not a good habit, and yet, we are all guilty of it.
The New York Times quotes professor of psychology Dr Fuschia Sirois who says that “people engage in this irrational cycle of chronic procrastination because of an inability to manage negative moods around a task”. Effectively, it’s all about attitude: change how you approach a task and it will not be as daunting as it seemed.
Approaching procrastination like any other chore is the key: it is a situation which needs to be tackled, a problem to be solved. The solution is in our hands.
The magic word surrounding procrastination is focus. We tend to ignore the main task at hand and go on to almost everything. Of course, this is so much easier now with any number of distractions available at the end of our palm, on our phones.
Focusing on one task, one chore that is either of utmost urgency or has been neglected the most is the central way to getting tasks done. Forbes suggests the ‘5-minute miracle’: ask yourself what is the one thing that you have been postponing but can be done is 5 minutes – the answer usually has many options. Repeating this a few times works wonders – there are any number of 5-minute chores which can done within a half hour span: replying to emails, sorting out a drawer at work or at home, finally putting away all the books lying around.
Once the minutes pass, this can be translated into an hour – a so called ‘power hour’ where all distractions are taken away and there is focus on the chore at hand. Think about it – one hour in 24 hours of the day is utterly doable, and we still think it is too much time to dedicate to tasks at hand.
Reflecting on why we are procrastinating can go a long way in actually curing the habit. Perhaps it is because the tasks are boring, maybe they are too daunting or maybe it is too much of a routine.
Whatever the reason, the ultimate strategy is to have fun in every situation – making every chore as enjoyable as possible (there is always a positive side to work) will ensure that a task becomes a finished chore rather than a dreaded one awaiting each day.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
