“Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow….”. Why is it that so many of us put things off until tomorrow? Is it because we fear that we will not have anything to do tomorrow, so we postpone something that we could have done today so that we will have something to do tomorrow? Probably not, because no matter who you are, there is always plenty to do on any given day.
Procrastination is a potential pitfall for anyone, and those of us that work at home are especially susceptible because we do not have nosy office mates or bosses looking over our shoulder to see what we are doing. We are the source of discipline and get-it-done-ness in our at-home workplaces, or we are the person responsible for the lack thereof. It is useful, then, to try to understand why people procrastinate and what we can do about it.
Some of the reasons that people procrastinate is that they do not want to do the things that they put off. Other times, people procrastinate because they have too much on their plate and the same things always fall to the bottom of their to-do list. Sometimes, fear of failure or of other things is behind our tendency to put things off until the last minute. Regardless of the particular reason why a person procrastinates, it is important to understand that procrastination is a habit, and habits can be changed.
Unfortunately, there is no quick fix for ending procrastination. As with any habit that a person seeks to abandon, it will take time and effort. You may have to try a few different approaches before you find one that will work for you. One possible remedy is to reduce the amount of distractions that can interrupt your work by turning off telephones and the internet to the degree that this is possible. The internet is a procrastinator’s playground, with an endless array of mindless distractions always available to anyone that wants to access them. It may be helpful to designate specific times of day to check email and phone messages for a specific amount of time so that you will be able to receive and respond to urgent matters.
If one of your reasons for procrastinating is that you feel overwhelmed, you may want to try breaking the things that you are putting off into mini-projects. This makes the work more approachable, and upon completing each mini-project, the sense of accomplishment that you will feel will boost your motivation and help you to maintain forward momentum. There are many other methods for tackling procrastination. Each method will work well for some people and not for others. It is important to keep trying until you find what works for you. Do not wait until tomorrow, or next week, or “later”. The best time to tackle procrastination is right now.