Toastmaster - CC manual - project 3: Procrastination

Delivery Date: January 23, 2008

CC Manual Project 3: Get to the Point.

• General Purpose: to inform; to persuade; to entertain; to inspire
• Specific Purpose: one-sentence statement; precise and concise; attainable.
• Show confidence.

Procrastination

Introduction

Do you go to bed very late even though you need to get up early the next morning?
Are you late frequently attending meetings or workshops?
Do you have some problem with your home you leave it untaken care of for a long time?
Do you dislike your career?
Do you think something is wrong between you and your spouse or partner, but you never talk about it with him or her?
Do you want to figure out what your teenage kids are thinking about, but you cant find the opportunity?
Do you regret about things that you should have done but didnt.
Chances are you are a procrastinator, a person who has procrastination.

What's procrastination?

According to the definition from Wikipedia, procrastination is a type of avoidance behaviours, which is characterised by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Simply speaking, procrastination is putting off doing things for no good reason.

So if you are a procrastinator, or you procrastinate occasionally, you are not alone.

Prof Steels research also shows an interesting phenomenon that men are worse than women, and the young are more likely to procrastinate than the old.

I am a procrastinator myself. When I was young, I was either late going to school or entered the classroom when the bell rang. I often did my summer break homework in the last week before school starts. In university, I dreamed about going on a sightseeing trip during summer break, but I never went. I thought about immigrating to Canada for over 5 years, but didnt put it into action until I was married. I kept putting off doing things.

Effect of procrastination.

The most obvious effect of procrastination is that you can not get the rewards that would come from taking actions or taking actions earlier. If you go to bed early enough, you will have more energy the next day. If you fixed the blogged drain in your bathtub, you will be able to have shower.

By putting off doing things, you can make the situation worse, and finally out of control. A crack in the basement will become larger and larger if it is not fixed in time. A small problem between you and a friend can finally result in rivalry if its not resolved.

Procrastination may cause the failure to spot and act on opportunities. A lot of people with much talent fail to live up to their true potential because of procrastination.

Procrastination affects peoples self-esteem too. It causes sense of guilty, feeling of being defeated, and lack of self-confidence.

Procrastinator may also be branded as lazy or lack of interest in things.

However, like everything has bright sides, procrastinator can be very efficient sometimes, because they have to fulfil some task within a very short period of time.

But in general, non-procrastinator lives a happier and more abundant life than a procrastinator.

Reason of procrastination.

Whats the cause of procrastination? There are different explanations available. Whatever it is, it is usually not laziness as a lot of people would think. One of the major reasons of procrastination is fear.

Fear to make mistakes, to fail, to be laughed at.
Fear to go beyond ones comfort zone, to lose fun, or to be bored.
Fear of refusal, conflict, or confrontation with difficulties. Etc.

A student will put off finishing his homework for fear of losing fun. An employer will put off finishing his work for fear of pressure. A hu*****and will put off talking with his wife for fear of quarrel. A patient will put off seeing doctor for fear of bad news or wasting time.

Generally speaking, people tend to procrastinate when they are only able to see the negative side of something. They realize the negative side too quick and they doesnt want to think about the positive side. Or they think the dark side way much more out-weights the bright side.

If people dont think they will enjoy benefit from something, how, do you think, they will be able to have the passion or energy for it.

How to deal with it?

Still frequent procrastination can become a habit, and difficult to deal with. As I mentioned earlier, procrastination can cause a lot of bad effects to ones life. It maybe hard to get rid of it, but I have a 5-step method to deal with procrastination. This method is mainly based on my own experience.

The first step is acknowledgement, which means to realize the problem. If you know yourself well enough, when something comes into you plate, you know whether you will procrastinate. Or if there is something which should have been done long time ago but still not done yet, you should realize you are procrastinating.

Its very important for you to realize the procrastination problem, otherwise you will feel self-defeated, depressed, but don't know the exact reason. It's nothing like you are useless, you are lazy, or you are a loser. It's just that you are a procrastinator. Realizing the problem helps you to set up a target to deal with.

The next step is to analysis
You want to decide the effects of procrastination in the current situation. You draw a form with three columns, titled "do it now", "do it later", and "never do it". You can imagine the table in your mind if its a very simple situation. Each column is then separate into two sub-columns titling "pros" and "cons". Fill out the form basing on your experience, or any resources available to you. Because procrastinator tends to think cons more than pros, this step helps them to think situation more completely. Based on the pros and cons from the form, a decision should be made regarding taking the action now, or later, or never. This step may be very simple for some actions, but very complicated for others. For example, decide whether you want to go to bed now or later. It may take you only a few seconds to think out the pros and cons. To decide, whether you should change your career now or later, you need to take some time to think it over.

The third step is to plan.
Draw a form with 3 columns, titled "step to take", "when to complete", and "check mark". The action should be divided into steps as detailed as possible. Write down the deadline for the last step. Then work from bottom to top, to figure out the deadline of each step. The more details you have in the plan, the more likely you can accomplish it. Remember you need when in your plan. The purpose of this step is to put your thought into a plan.

Now come the fourth step.
To implement your plan. Simply action according to your plan. Remember dont think too much. You think a lot in your third step. Now its the time to action. The purpose of this step is to put your plan into action. The more you think, the more likely, you fail. Because the fear which occupied you at the very beginning will occupy you again. Just follow your plan, trust yourself for making a good plan, and trust yourself for making a good decision.

Now comes the fifth step, evaluation and rewards.
Your accomplished your plan. You evaluate what you did, find out where your did well, where you didnt. Most important congratulate yourself on successfully dealing with procrastination. You are making a further step towards living a more successful life.