How to Avoid Procrastination Once And For All

It’s 11:55 p.m. Shoot, I only have 4 minutes left until this assignment is due. Ugh, I should’ve started earlier. Why do I always do this to myself?!

Ah, procrastination at its finest. This was my life ever since I was a kid – always procrastinating to the last minute and rushing through assignments just to get it done.

I struggled with procrastination for so long that it became my way of living. Whether it was school assignments, application deadlines, doing chores, or even blogging, I procrastinated.

If you’re reading this, you’re not alone. I remember always searching up “how to avoid procrastination” or “tips to stop procrastinating” because I was so fed up with what seemed like an impossible habit to break. I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for me to stop this cycle.

After years of this cycle, I decided to really dig deep and understand why I was procrastinating. Over time, I was able to procrastinate less and ultimately gain more control over my time and life.

In this post, I’ll be sharing my most helpful tips that have helped me tremendously and I hope these tips can help you, too.

This post is all about how to avoid procrastination.

So before we jump right into the “good stuff,” we need to understand why we procrastinate. The more we can understand about ourselves, the easier it becomes to help ourselves. There is almost always a psychological reason that contributes to procrastination.

Why do we procrastinate?

Fear of failure. This is probably the most common reason that causes many people to procrastinate. A subconscious thought might be: This is too hard. There’s too much that I have to do, and it has to be “perfect.” I don’t want to do it. These thoughts ultimately stem from the desire for perfection and the fear of failure if things aren’t perfect for us.

A disconnect from our future selves. Some people also procrastinate if they have difficulty connecting their present self with their future self. For example, let’s say you want to save up for a vacation trip that you plan to go on next summer. However, you rashly spend your money daily on insignificant things that you don’t really need. The core issue is that your present self struggles to think about their future self. Instead, they think that their future self can deal with this certain issue later on.

Feelings of overwhelm and anxiety. When we start to feel really overwhelmed by the tasks we have to do or anxious about the future, we avoid trying to think about the things that cause us to feel negatively. This leads to procrastination since we avoid getting started on things that may seem too much to cope with.

Perfectionism. This is also a very common cause for procrastination. People who struggle with perfectionism may have trouble getting started with a project or goal because they’re afraid to make a mistake. Perfectionism causes people to have unrealistic expectations and standards for themselves that perpetuate a cycle of procrastination to avoid making any flaws or mistakes.

5 Helpful Tips To Avoid Procrastination

Below are 5 tips that will help you change your mindset and start taking action to overcome the cycle of procrastination:

1. Be Mindful of Your Thoughts

I bet this first tip caught you off guard because it certainly wouldn’t have been my first piece of advice a year ago!

But learning mindfulness was probably the most valuable tip I learned when I got fed up with procrastinating.

When we become mindful of the emotions and thoughts around our procrastination, we can start to work from a place of compassion rather than fear.

Fear is what drives procrastination. We fear the things that we think seem too mentally, physically, or emotionally tough, so we avoid. But let’s focus on the key word, think.

We think that things are too hard, but are all of our thoughts and emotions 100% fact? NO!

And that’s the craziest part because that means if we’re afraid to do something because our perfectionism or fear of failure kicks in…we can start to realize that our fears and emotions do not have to dictate our actions!

When we become mindful of the emotions and thoughts around our procrastination, we can start to work from a place of compassion rather than fear.
She Be Thriving

2. Practice self-acceptance when you do procrastinate

What?! You want me to accept the fact that I procrastinate and be okay with it?! You’re crazy!

If you immediately had this thought when you read this tip, I 100% would have agreed with you.

Ironically, even though I knew I habitually procrastinated, I couldn’t accept the fact that I did. It was like a tug-of-war in my head. I knew what I was doing, but I couldn’t accept what I was doing. Does that make sense?

When we procrastinate, we tend to have feelings of disappointment, frustration, and shame. These feelings continue to perpetuate the ongoing cycle of “I’ll never stop procrastinating.”

However, what would it look like to accept that we do procrastinate rather than fight the fact?

Self-acceptance acknowledges that you’re human, and humans procrastinate, make mistakes, and aren’t perfect. The essence of self-acceptance is accepting that it’s okay to not be okay.

It’s okay to procrastinate when you do. It’s okay to experience feelings of shame when you procrastinate as well. It’s okay to feel bad.

I know this sounds crazy, but the more you start to accept where you’re at in the moment in life, the easier it becomes to work through your procrastination. But it comes with accepting where you are first.

Remember this: fear drives procrastination.

But when you accept yourself as is, you start to build compassion and kindness towards yourself. It may take some time to practice this, but I can tell you motivating yourself from compassion rather than fear is a game changer.

3. Do something nice for yourself before and after a hard task

If I haven’t already told you, I’m a sucker for rewards. Whether it’d be a cup of coffee, a dance break, or scrolling through Tiktok (just kidding, if I did that, I would be on the app for hours), I need a reward system that can be encouraging and motivating.

Rewards are much more effective than criticizing or punishing yourself if you didn’t complete the task you wanted to do. It’s so easy to get mad at ourselves for not doing what we originally intended to do, which can lead us to procrastinate even more.

So how does this reward system work?

First, set a goal for a task you want to do, that maybe you’ve been procrastinating on and know you probably should get started. Second, think of something nice that you can do for yourself before your hard task.

Here are some reward ideas: going to a coffee shop (sorry, coffee addict right here), making a smoothie, giving yourself a positive pep talk, or meditating for five minutes.

After you decide, choose another reward you can do after the hard task. This could be going on a short walk outside, stretching, giving yourself a pat on the back, or jamming out to a song.

4. Use self-compassion when you criticize yourself

This kind of aligns with self-acceptance because I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to be mindful of what you say to yourself!

Sometimes our thoughts are so automatic that we can’t catch that negative self-critical talk in our minds. Maybe before you procrastinate, some thoughts that could pop up are:

I can’t do this. This is too difficult. I’m going to fail. I’d rather not start because I’m scared. Why can’t I just get started. Why is this so hard for me. I’m so incompetent. I’ll never succeed because of this. I hate myself.

These were all thoughts I had when I would spiral into constant procrastination. I hated the way I lived my life. What I didn’t realize at the time was what I was actually saying to myself. I would call myself mean names and I had this core belief that I was not good enough.

This core belief made me subconsciously create rules in my life such as avoid situations that could make me fail or have mistakes, don’t take action or make decisions, don’t do anything that’s risky.

Do you see how these rules can dictate how I live my life? For example, I’ve tried to start a blog 7 times in the past with big hopes and dreams, but my fears and rules made me doubt myself and I would always procrastinate.

This is where self-compassion comes in because when you become mindful of what you say to yourself, you can respond with compassion.

Self-compassion is a skill that will take time, so don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t know how to practice it in the beginning.

One thing you can start saying to yourself every time you procrastinate or spiral into negative talk is:

This is hard. It’s okay to feel this way. It’s okay to be imperfect.

5. Write a love letter to yourself

I know this probably sounds silly, but believe it or not, this has been so effective for me when I procrastinate. One day, I decided to sit down and just write a love letter to myself.

I wrote about how difficult it was for me to practice self-compassion while procrastinating. Let’s just say, I was very honest in my letter, but also compassionate and kind towards myself.

Here’s one thing I wrote that always sticks with me: I know this is hard for you. Still, I am here for you and I will support you no matter what. Because I truly deeply care about you, I want to help you make a change.

These words have helped heal the wounds and shame that I’ve felt with procrastination. Maybe you needed to hear this, too. And I’m here to tell you that it is possible to stop procrastinating when you’ve learned to first accept yourself.

You are capable. You are worth it. You are enough.

Frequently Asked Questions

It’s hard to break the habit of procrastination, especially if you’ve been doing it for a while. If procrastinating has been your way of relieving anxiety and stress, then breaking this cycle is difficult since it’s basically what you’ve become used to doing.

If you’re procrastinating right now, then this is me telling you to STOP RIGHT NOW. No seriously. Stop scrolling through social media. Stop binging on Netflix. Go do the thing you’re avoiding. You can break this habit by taking action NOW.

Actually, procrastinating is very common and everyone does it (even successful entrepreneurs). It’s a very human thing to do. It, however, is more common in college students which I can definitely relate to (lol).