About procrastination popular, or Hollywood vs. laziness

Someone calls procrastination "the plague of the 21st century", but surely it is not. This psychological state is characteristic not only of us, the people of the "new time", many of our ancestors probably suffered from it. I propose to get acquainted with its types and ways of dealing with it with vivid and recognizable examples.


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In short, procrastination is a phenomenon due to which we cannot achieve what we are striving for. Instead of doing important things, a person focuses on trifles, and, therefore, the result is obvious: guilt, low self-esteem, and other people's discontent. The consequences of the procrastination demonstrated by us can provoke further procrastination ... As you can see, it turns out a vicious circle, from which it is not so easy to get out.
What is the reason for such unproductive behavior? We can not appreciate the importance of the case? No, we are well aware of this. We do not have the strength and desire for the necessary action? On the contrary, everything is in abundance.
In my opinion, there are two main obstacles to the successful implementation of the plan.

The first is the underestimation of time as a resource.

Now, if such a thing happened to us that for each extra hour in our life we ​​would have to pay (as in the movie “Time,” for example), then this article would certainly not have been written. It simply was not necessary. But, since we do not live in a dystopian future, we have to press key after the key, and at the same time struggle with our procrastination.
Time is the only irreplaceable resource. It seems that there is an incredible amount of it, but day after day passes, we grow old, but we still do nothing. Why?
Let's start with the fact that there are four categories of time use (it was not I, of course, who brought them, but Dwight Eisenhower):

• Important and non-urgent;
• Important and urgent;
• Unimportant and urgent;
• Unimportant and non-urgent.

I will not analyze them in detail, as everyone can distribute cases by their degree of importance and urgency. I must, however, note that if we were heroes of the film “Time,” then such a criterion as “urgency” would have disappeared by itself. In time-trouble mode, each business becomes important and necessary, and if you don’t do it now, you will never do it again.
To avoid this, you can follow one of the rules of positive psychology. It says that the ladder to success is made up of “steps” of completed cases. Each completed case is the stone on which we can put our foot to move on. This allows us, assessing our past achievements, supported by the confidence that we will cope with the subsequent tasks.
Returning to the categories of time use, I will say that the most important of them is the first (important and non-urgent). This is the global goal that can support us in a period of stagnation. Without it, all the rest of our goals, achieved at the same time, will not give us the support that it will give. Representing what we ultimately want to achieve in 30, 40, 50, and the n-th number of years, we will not stop there. In addition, we will understand that time will end sometime.
So, after reading this paragraph, we began to appreciate our time and realized that this is the only irreplaceable resource. But that is not all. Now we need to figure out what “slows down” us on the way to the goal.

Second (most important): perfectionism

In the movie "Anger", the hero Denzel Washington becomes the bodyguard of a very capable girl. She swims faster than anyone, but she never comes first in competitions. What is the reason? It turned out she was afraid of the sound of a shot from a starting pistol.
In fact, of course, she was not afraid of the shot itself, but of the fact that it is a point of reference. In the minds of many people, there are also patterns of behavior that impede the achievement of results. When they mentally hear the sound of the “cocked cock”, they immediately represent what efforts need to be expended, how to jump, how to sail to come first, and ... do not float anywhere. They are so intimidated by the fact that they can not cope, that they are slow at the start and are trying to come up with reasons for which they should postpone their plans.

The hero of Denzel in the film helps his ward to overcome fear, imitating a shot from a pistol as many times as necessary so that the ear of the girl got used to it. Therefore, only daily training will help us in the fight against perfectionism. Labor should not be perceived as labor. It should become a way of life.
As it is known from many sources, 3 things prevent us from achieving the result:

• Fear;
• Diffidence;
• Unwillingness to obey.

Fear

Characteristic

Fear, as a result of perfectionism, is manifested in the fact that a person is afraid to fail. Oddly enough, this is due to the appreciation of their abilities. A person is so confident that he can achieve perfection (you just have to try!), That he forgets about time and focuses on details. As a result, there are so many “details” that he gets stuck in them, like in a swamp, and thinks that he cannot get out. It is these people who love to do work under pressure from “above” - on the last night before the exam, under the shouts of the authorities or under the pressure of partners. As an example: the hero Bradley Cooper in the film “Areas of Darkness” had great plans and even a signed contract for his book, but the work didn’t go at all (“a few weeks, and maybe months” (c)), until “a miracle means "... Well, but how it ended everyone already knows.

Overcoming

Accordingly, in order to cross out this subparagraph from its list, it is necessary to objectively evaluate our capabilities and fulfill the necessary things that are required of us; details will be polished AFTER and not DURING the work. Well, or just need to find the same wonderful tool (joke).

Diffidence

Characteristic

And here, on the contrary, the culprit is low self-esteem. A person is shy and unsure of himself, although this subparagraph does not at all indicate the absence of the first subparagraph (the human personality is such that at different moments of time it can have both exaggerated and underestimated self-esteem). Because of this, there is a fear of standing out from the crowd (this implies a lot of work for the subsequent maintenance of the image), and the person limits himself, subconsciously believing that he would be better off this way.

Overcoming

Accordingly, in order to cross out this subparagraph from your list, you need to understand that being a loser is no better than being a successful person, and you need to get out of the “comfort zone” in order to understand that this is indeed the case.
Here, an example (this time successful) can serve as the picture "Fighter" . An aged loser-boxer after a long lull pulls himself together (not without the help of his older brother and numerous other relatives) and still becomes the champion.

Unwillingness to obey

Characteristic

And here is a completely neglected case. This type of people can be called Revolutionaries, Intellectuals or simply Insurgents. But, whatever you call it, they will always resist, as it seems to them, the imposition of another's opinion and pressure from outside. These people believe that only their ideas are valuable, and the intervention of the authorities or partners in their affairs is untimely and stupid. They lose time because they stand for their position, and they never achieve anything. Rejection of any ideas from outside does not at all mean generation of one’s own. Here I recall the masterpiece of the end of the 80s - “Lethal Weapon” . One of the main characters has a crazy, explosive nature, which brings him a lot of "inconvenience."

Overcoming

These people need to understand that they will not achieve anything, directing their energy to opposing the world. The suffering hero undoubtedly looks very, very attractive, but only in film and literature. In life, such a position does not usually bring benefits.

CONCLUSION

So, if we analyze these examples, it turns out that no one stands in our way to achieving the goal, except for our procrastination and disregard for the expenditure of time. As soon as you feel that you are immersed again in the "swamp":
- read some good article on procrastination;
- watch the film "Time" (or any suitable);
- remember past achievements;
- outline a plan for what is to be done;
- Do it!

Usually, each person has one, or even several techniques, aimed at combating “delaying cases”.
Read the article? Fine. Then go ahead! I am sure that everyone has a lot of urgent matters. Grasp them right now!
Only one resource is irreplaceable.

Time has gone.