How to predict & manage procrastination.

It is important to understand that procrastination is not a flaw. The best of individuals and even the most productive people also procrastinate.

More often than not, the main reason why people procrastinate is that they attribute it to their self-worth. Your self-worth is the need to appear competent & capable (ability) to other people and yourself. Yet, the way we perceive ourselves is not the issue. The real issue lies in the fact that we depend on external feedback and praise - from bosses, friends, co-workers, or parents - in order to feel capable and competent (self-worth).

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This leads us right to the equation: Ability X Performance = Self-worth

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In the equation above, performance is the only variable we can control. Therefore when we procrastinate by putting in less effort in our performance we protect ourselves from negative impact by having a ready-made excuse that we were too busy or distracted. At that moment, people are stuck with two contending forces - the need to achieve results, and the fear of failure. This results in people putting in their best work under great duress and tight deadlines because the need to achieve results overrides the fear of failure.

There are 3 ways to handle and approach procrastination:

1. Understand the concept of your self-worth and realize that the reason you procrastinate is to protect yourself and make you feel better. Start to identify moments when you begin to feel like procrastinating (which may be subtle or obvious). The earlier you recognize those activities that occur when you begin procrastinating, the easier it is to quickly nip it in the bud and begin to do the required work to prevent the activities from taking time, space, and solidifying their roots.

2. When people need to complete any task, they have to contend with two forces - Why they need to do it, and Why they don't need to do it. People procrastinate because their reasons or fears for "why they don't need to do it" overwhelms their reasons for "why they need to do it". One way to overcome this is to focus on the reasons why it is important to do that task, and see how it fits into your overall life goals. Try to break down the task into smaller chunks if it appears daunting, so it is manageable and you make good progress.

3. Challenge your belief that your level of performance is equivalent to your self-worth. Your worth as a human being is made up of your unique and individual qualities, characteristics, and weaknesses. It has nothing to do with your performance. We are not perfect, and even the most productive individuals have weaknesses. Embrace yourself as you are, be unapologetic, and strive for perfection in a way that makes sense to you.

The content of the blog is my opinion and reflects curated information across several reputable sources such as HBR.