Published: The Hindu
On: December 1, 2010
At: Hyderabad
To read The Hindu's online version, click here.
Amit is asked by his boss to prepare a report on an important project that will be discussed in three days. The deadline is weighing on his mind, but so far he has not done anything about it. Instead, he is playing Bricks on his BlackBerry Bold, posting tweets on Twitter, and generally doing everything except the work. Amit is procrastinating. Sounds familiar?
Procrastinating over tasks means putting off tasks for a later date until you are cornered to do them, or sometimes never doing them at all. Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday and avoiding today, says Dr. Wayne Dyer, a well-known author. If you continually fail to deliver your work on time, you will end up with a label of an employee with behavioral problem. Such behaviour could be detrimental in finding career success.
Most individuals suffer through this problem without realizing it. Well, everyone gives in to the urge to put off doing things once in a while. But if the tendency gets chronic, it is time to do some serious thinking. So, what do you do if you find yourself falling into patterns of procrastination? The first step is to be aware of it, and then look for ways to eliminate this behaviour.
Why it happens:
There are several reasons why people procrastinate. Once you understand the reasons for the delay, it is easy to overcome it. When there is a particular task you feel that you do not have the required knowledge or skills, you tend to put it under the back burner. This could be because you have a low self -esteem.
A time consuming project could invite procrastination. You may feel overwhelmed by the project itself, and even avoid starting it.
Poor time management, often associated with a distorted sense of the time available can be one of the reasons to delude work. You may be under the assumption that you have enough time to get around to doing it.
Concentrating on the negative outcome can make you defer. A lurking sense of fear can make you stick to your ‘comfortable’ routine.
Perhaps your difficulty is that you doubt your judgement. You lack experience, and cannot decide which action is best in a given situation.
The bad effects are:
• It is bad for your morale. A job left undone pulls you down completely leaving you with a sense of guilt.
• You have lost an opportunity to prove your capabilities.
• Procrastination breeds clutter. Unfinished jobs tend to leave clutter in your workspace thus decreasing your efficiency.
• Inevitably procrastination leads to accumulation of the tasks.
• If your procrastination habits come in the limelight, your superiors may brand you as a lazy employee, and will not recommend you for promotion.
• The more you procrastinate working on a presentation, or sending off an important report, the more will the task look unpleasant.
• You could lose your colleagues’ respect and support.
Tackling it:
When procrastination raises its villainous head often, it is time to motivate yourself. Seek out opportunities to interact with your colleagues who are successful. Gain insight on how they handle projects, even when it requires skills that they have not used before. Observe how they handle issues and assignments. If you require further training, speak up to your manager. Let him know you need additional skills.
Turn things around and prioritize by doing the difficult things first. You will find that the rest of the tasks will be downhill once you manage the difficult one first. Quite often, a task without a deadline can be put off indefinitely. Set a deadline, and stick to it.
Break the tasks into small manageable sub-tasks. Plan and complete these smaller tasks. Every time you complete a project on time, reward yourself with a treat.
Once you have taken these steps to end procrastination, you may find yourself easily accomplishing tasks that once seemed unattainable. Always keep in mind that if you go back to your old habits, it delays projects and affects others in your organization, and most of all it can damage your career.
On: December 1, 2010
At: Hyderabad
To read The Hindu's online version, click here.
Amit is asked by his boss to prepare a report on an important project that will be discussed in three days. The deadline is weighing on his mind, but so far he has not done anything about it. Instead, he is playing Bricks on his BlackBerry Bold, posting tweets on Twitter, and generally doing everything except the work. Amit is procrastinating. Sounds familiar?
Procrastinating over tasks means putting off tasks for a later date until you are cornered to do them, or sometimes never doing them at all. Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday and avoiding today, says Dr. Wayne Dyer, a well-known author. If you continually fail to deliver your work on time, you will end up with a label of an employee with behavioral problem. Such behaviour could be detrimental in finding career success.
Most individuals suffer through this problem without realizing it. Well, everyone gives in to the urge to put off doing things once in a while. But if the tendency gets chronic, it is time to do some serious thinking. So, what do you do if you find yourself falling into patterns of procrastination? The first step is to be aware of it, and then look for ways to eliminate this behaviour.
Why it happens:
There are several reasons why people procrastinate. Once you understand the reasons for the delay, it is easy to overcome it. When there is a particular task you feel that you do not have the required knowledge or skills, you tend to put it under the back burner. This could be because you have a low self -esteem.
A time consuming project could invite procrastination. You may feel overwhelmed by the project itself, and even avoid starting it.
Poor time management, often associated with a distorted sense of the time available can be one of the reasons to delude work. You may be under the assumption that you have enough time to get around to doing it.
Concentrating on the negative outcome can make you defer. A lurking sense of fear can make you stick to your ‘comfortable’ routine.
Perhaps your difficulty is that you doubt your judgement. You lack experience, and cannot decide which action is best in a given situation.
The bad effects are:
• It is bad for your morale. A job left undone pulls you down completely leaving you with a sense of guilt.
• You have lost an opportunity to prove your capabilities.
• Procrastination breeds clutter. Unfinished jobs tend to leave clutter in your workspace thus decreasing your efficiency.
• Inevitably procrastination leads to accumulation of the tasks.
• If your procrastination habits come in the limelight, your superiors may brand you as a lazy employee, and will not recommend you for promotion.
• The more you procrastinate working on a presentation, or sending off an important report, the more will the task look unpleasant.
• You could lose your colleagues’ respect and support.
Tackling it:
When procrastination raises its villainous head often, it is time to motivate yourself. Seek out opportunities to interact with your colleagues who are successful. Gain insight on how they handle projects, even when it requires skills that they have not used before. Observe how they handle issues and assignments. If you require further training, speak up to your manager. Let him know you need additional skills.
Turn things around and prioritize by doing the difficult things first. You will find that the rest of the tasks will be downhill once you manage the difficult one first. Quite often, a task without a deadline can be put off indefinitely. Set a deadline, and stick to it.
Break the tasks into small manageable sub-tasks. Plan and complete these smaller tasks. Every time you complete a project on time, reward yourself with a treat.
Once you have taken these steps to end procrastination, you may find yourself easily accomplishing tasks that once seemed unattainable. Always keep in mind that if you go back to your old habits, it delays projects and affects others in your organization, and most of all it can damage your career.
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