Meet The Biggest Enemy Of Effective Time Management: Procrastination
The basic meaning of ‘effective’ time management is to get rid of all those habits that take away time. The most commonly found time-killer is procrastination. It is the most readily accepted self-inflicted time thief. Some people experience procrastination as a rare bother, while others experience procrastination like a never ending headache that just seems to follow them day in and day out.
There are basically two types of procrastination:
Conscious Procrastination: Conscious procrastination is certainly the easiest to identify in people as well as the simplest form to cure. This is procrastinating while we are “awake” and completely aware of what we are doing.
Unconscious Procrastination: Unconscious procrastination is when we are almost totally unconscious of our actions and behavior. This form is slightly more difficult because we must catch ourselves doing it as opposed to knowing what we are doing.
Either way, the terrible habit of procrastination takes with it a huge expanse of your opportunity in every area of your life. “Putting things off” has caused more failure, heartache, and misery, than all of the other sloppy time management problems put together. Everybody wants more time per day but still waste away what they do have. It is said that opportunity knocks just as often at the door of the procrastinator as it does at anyone else's door. The difference is that the procrastinator does not answer it immediately and misses out.
Why do people procrastinate? Why do we waste time on hand and put things off? Perhaps the most common cause is that the tasks that lay ahead of these items are unpleasant or inconvenient. Life is full of small little monotonous tasks which we put off as much as possible. For example, most people hate to balance their checkbooks, file taxes, meet new people, or exercise. Simply by doing these things it is good to move out of our comfort zone. And moving out of our comfort zone all the time is the signature of high-achieving men and women.
The natural response to the unpleasant tasks of life is to block them out and remain within what is most convenient. But by putting those things off, we are allowing the events to control us. And what next? Our productivity drops and as a consequence so does our confidence and self esteem. The only way to run away from this time-wasting habit is to put energy into controlling our lives, even when it means being inconvenienced or feeling unpleasant while doing the task at hand. Gradually, you can train your mind to perceive getting things done as positive tasks.