Have you ever felt like wanting to put off something, or to just wait a little longer, or to just do something else first before you dive into the task? We all are procrastinating from time to time. Sometimes it’s about doing our chores around the house and sometimes it’s about getting things done for work or finishing reading the next book for your class. How do we then best overcome procrastination and does it even have a role to play?

I’ve found that if I look at my procrastination from the lens of first needs and then as a time to prepare, I can get energised and easier get going. First of all, if I’m physically tired or have had an emotional hard day, I might have to postpone something so that I know I’m in my best position to, and rest up first. Neighbouring to this feeling, is discipline. When I make a conscious decision to do something and then follow through with it, it provides me with energy to carry it out, especially if I do it directly. So to find discipline, make a decision.

We can also look at procrastination as a matter of getting time to prepare. For example, to do other things that also needs to get done, so we can focus better, or even begin doing the planned task in our minds. As a writer, I always begin my writing in my thoughts, so while it may seem like I’m not doing anything, I might be writing my next blogpost or even my next book in my mind while I sit in my couch. Then it becomes easy to just sit down and write it out. And to prepare, I might just see to that I have everything I need set up. When the time is right, we feel it in our bodies. This way, we become more in a state of flow, which even makes the task easier.

What are you procrastinating about, and what do you need, in order to overcome that?