Do you find yourself not completing or setting aside a set task that should be done on time, favorably something productive rather than something enjoyable? Then that’s procrastination in a nutshell.

Psychology talks about procrastination on the grounds of it being “a temporal gap between intended behavior and enacted behavior.” Simply meaning that procrastination is nothing but a thin, fine line that distinguishes what is expected from you at that moment to what you’re actually doing with a noticeable time difference or a deadline fencing the fine line.

This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed and rectified as procrastinating directly hampers your professional and to some extent your personal life as well. Procrastination is a clingy habit. It’s impossible to get over it in one go. Just like all the other evils, quitting procrastinating is also a gradual process. A starting point for this can be to just accept it straight away. The more you deny, the more it will latch on. Once that is done, you need to ask yourself why do you procrastinate and then follow simple exercises to overcome it. And this is not just us; there are famous people who were procrastinators as well. For example, the Dalai Lama was a procrastinator when he was a student – unmotivated and finishing his work in the last minute. Another example is Leonardo Da Vinci. Did you know, Mona Lisa took over 16 years to finish and after his death numerous unfinished projects were found.

Simple ways to combat procrastination.

• Start by finishing small tasks. There’s a handy 2 minute rule for this. If a task needs just 2 minutes to complete, do it immediately. Do not leave it for later.
• Maintain a to-do list. This will not only help you to organize your tasks, but also to reward yourself once the task is checked off.
• Maintain a time stamp or use a timer. This will help you optimize the time taken to finish the task.
• Divide a big task into small tasks and follow the 2 minute rule.
• Get rid of obvious distractions. Out of sight is out of mind. Keep all the distractive things away from your reach and de-clutter your workspace.

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