Procrastination is the one thing that has the power to connect people, either in a fun way or in misery. It also has the potential of being an ice breaker in a conversation.

There is a quote that says, “We all are not in the same boat. We all are in the same storm. Some have yachts, some have canoes, and some are drowning. Just be kind and help whoever you can.”

Ergo, here are some pointers to make our way around procrastination:

1.Identify your Problem

Majority of times, procrastination does not stem from laziness. We think we are being lazy but the core issue is entirely something else. So if you can sort out your core problem, you can sort out your procrastination.

Overthinking or Anxiety could be one of the factors among a multitude of others. Some people struggle with social anxiety. When they have to meet someone new, that is the only thing they could think about.

When our minds are busy fretting over an issue, we cannot focus on other things. To get back to the daily tasks we push our minds to ignore the issue (anxiety, etc.), which leads to procrastination. Because we have not sorted out the issue, we have just put a rug over it.

2.Make a Plan of Action

It is really important to create a to-do list, especially if you struggle with procrastination. Often when think of an upcoming day, we look at it from a bird’s eye perspective, and we get bombarded with an intense amount of pending work. Our mind goes into overdrive and we start thinking about the massive work that we have to do the next day. To-do lists or a plan of action helps in simplifying things.

To-do lists make bigger tasks look smaller. It helps in deceiving our minds by urging us to complete the to-do list; if we do one thing and check it off of our list then we would be more inclined to do the other things as well. Think of it as a domino effect, when one piece falls, others fall too.

3.Identify your Productivity Cycle

As a society, we believe that successful people wake up early in the morning, so a person who wants to succeed should wake up early in the morning too. Productivity cycle – when and how much productive we are in a day, differs from person to person. Someone might be productive in the morning and someone might be productive at night. You might be a morning person or a Night Owl.

We all function differently and there are a lot of factors – genetics, hormones, etc. that make us who we are. Identifying when we are productive will help us save time and effort as we would be more efficient, awake and aware of what we are doing.

4.Create a Routine

Combine something that you do as a routine with something that you don’t like. James Clear in his book ‘Atomic Habits’ has talked about ‘Habit stacking’. The idea is to add things into our routine by combining them with something that we are already doing. The same thing could work for combating procrastination.

If you have an impending big task, combine it with something from your daily routine. Routines come to us like second nature. Combining tasks with a routine will guarantee its doability.

5.Don’t Feel Guilty About Procrastination Accept the fact that we all go through periods of procrastination. The more you feel guilty about it, the more you are going to overthink and you would put it under the rug. Whenever you feel like that, find your problem. If there is no problem, then accept the fact that it is just your body’s signal of wanting rest.