Meaning: The act of postponing, delaying or putting off, especially habitually or intentionally.
In broad view, it is the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished by a certain deadline. It can be further stated as a habitual or intentional delay of starting or finishing a task despite knowing it might have negative consequences.
Using myself as a Case Study, I procrastinate sometimes especially when I feel I am not ready for a task or need to equip myself first to get more insight to carry out the task accurately. Not ready to carry out a task can be as a result of fatigue, anxiety, low self-esteem; can simply mean being lazy, indecisive, not in the right frame of mind, no knowledge about it...as much reasons you can have but the fact still remains that it deprives you of achieving so many goals at a short period of time.
The first step to overcoming procrastination is to recognize that you're doing it. Then, identify the reasons behind your behavior and use appropriate strategies to manage and overcome it.
It is possible to great desires to do something spectacular and related to a particular goal you have set for yourself but realize there are some factors hindering you from those set tasks. This would be termed as Lack of abilities or resources NOT Procrastination. Let's say for example a person wishes to start a business but needs capital; no matter how little he could get. This is basically a factor called Finance. Of course there are real challenges that can disrupt your goals or defined time to get things done.
Procrastination can restrict your potential, make your skills redundant and undermine your career. It is quite demoralizing for a teamwork resulting in poor performance and job loss at the long run. It is better to be proactive than being reluctant. Get ideas from people that may know better, carryout a research and cultivate the habit of sharpening your knowledge periodically.
Strategies that could help you achieve a goal;
Write it down first
Fix a deadline
Share with someone to get ideas or ask questions
Carryout a research on your own
Source for funds if required or start small
BEGIN
Take a step back to fine-tune your work
FINISH
Keep updating if you can
Get feedback to improve yourself
Take ACTION now before it is too late to achieve at all. Procrastination is a thief of time.
Thanks for reading
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