Procrastination is real. It’s not about “being lazy and playing computer games all day” but due to “psychological disorders”.
Procrastination has a lot in common with the psychological concept of “gratification”.
You see, most people experience two kinds of gratification—“instant” when the results of a completed task are instant, and “delayed” when you have to wait for the results to manifest.
Procrastinators possess a weakened and delayed gratification mechanism.
The good news is there’s still a way out, especially regarding house chores. You don’t need to beat procrastination – only to make it work for your gains.
Let’s find out how.
Plan ahead
Plans help you subjugate procrastination and make it work for you. It’s easy to tell yourself, “I will do it tomorrow”. But when you write it down, you will find it much easier to follow. You don’t need to create a tight schedule, either.
Begin with simple things, such as:
- “I will organise my drawers tomorrow.”
- “I will clean under the bed nex week.”
- “I will do the shopping on Monday.”
It might seem like an oversimplification, but it is not. On the one hand, all those tasks are simple enough to provide instant gratification. When you write it down, you stimulate the delayed gratification mechanism and help it develop.
Hint: It’s a good idea to write “I will” at the beginning of each entry. If there is no subject to your plan, you may not feel obliged to follow it.
Create habits
Household chores are recurring tasks that require regular attention.
It is essential to create habits to make it easier to complete them. They aren’t a one-off task.
Did you do the dishes yesterday? Great, but you will have to do them today as well!
Did you change the sheets? You will have to change them again this week.
To make it easier to complete all these, it’s essential to create habits. Of course, this should be gradual. If you overfill your daily schedule, you will only overwhelm and exhaust yourself and abandon the habit altogether.
However, once you are happy with your progress, proceed to add reoccurring tasks to your list:
- “I will change the sheets every Saturday.”
- “I will throw out the bin every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.”
- “I will clean the bathroom fortnightly.”
This will help you minimise unpleasant work in the future.
If you leave everything for the last moment possible, you will be under a lot of pressure and will likely give up due to the stress.
For example, it’s much easier to vacate a flat at the end of the lease when the premises are in good condition than to spend your last days tediously cleaning every corner of every room.
Provide rewards
Adding little pleasures and joys to your plan is a great way to make completing tasks more enjoyable. As procrastinators, we tend to lack hobbies or passions, so finding things we enjoy doing is crucial.
So it is a good idea to write down things such as:
- “I will go to the cinema with Ann on Thursday.”
- “I will go clubbing Friday night.”
- “I will buy myself “Happy Rotter and the Chamber of Procrastinators” on Saturday.”
These rewards should be things you genuinely enjoy, not tasks you feel obligated to complete.
Hire professionals
If you can hire specialised services for tasks you do not enjoy, then it’s almost always a good idea to pay professionals to do those things instead of you.
For instance, consider hiring a laundry service if you hate doing laundry. If you are moving and need to get your deposit back, hire end of lease cleaning services to help you.
As a procrastinator, it can be challenging to handle the high volume of tasks that come with moving, so hiring professionals can help to minimise the hassle and allow you to focus on other tasks.
Use timers to your advantage
Procrastination often stems from feeling overwhelmed by a task or simply not wanting to do it.
One way to combat this is to set a short timer, say 10 or 15 minutes, and commit to working on the task during that time. Once the timer goes off, you can take a break or continue working if you feel motivated.
This helps to break tasks into more manageable chunks and can help to increase your motivation over time.
Find an accountability partner
When you have someone who helps hold you accountable, it can be a great motivator.
Find a friend, family member, or colleague who is also trying to work on procrastination, and commit to checking in with each other regularly to discuss your progress.
Knowing that someone else is counting on you to follow through on your commitments can help you stay motivated and on track.
Prioritise self-care
Taking care of your physical and mental health is crucial for managing stress and improving your overall well-being.
Make sure to get enough sleep, exercise regularly, eat nutritious foods, and engage in activities that bring joy and relaxation.
Additionally, practice self-compassion and be kind to yourself when you’re going through a tough time.
Congratulations! You are a successful procrastinator!
If you plan for long enough, you’ll eventually become a successful procrastinator. And “long enough” can be three months or over a year.
It’s not easy to predict how long you need to write down everything, but eventually, you will fail to do it. Not because you’ve forgotten but because you no longer need to plan every task.
You just do it, and that’s that.
Sit back, relax, and slack off
The most important of all is to slack off within reason.
If you feel like being a lazy slob, be one. After all, nothing relieves stress better than watching TV with a bag of nachos, especially if you have minor house chores waiting around.
It’s okay–even the best of us tend to procrastinate occasionally.
Just don’t make it your full-time activity.