Why being Sustainable is Better than being Consistent for Procrastinator

How to deal with Procrastination?

Procrastination means the habit of delaying activities people should actually do, especially when the  activities are important and really need immediate focus or attention.  There are many people dealing with procrastination in their daily activities, and everybody procrastinates at certain time, either when they feel bored, stressed, or tired. People may procrastinate at work, at study or doing homework (college students often procrastinate more at the time of exam week!), or when they should do exercise (instead, they become bench-potato!).  As procrastination become a more common habit (since people easily browse some random articles on the Internet or scrolling through Facebook to avoid things they should do), a lot of people certainly guilty  for this bad habit. Procrastination consume their productivity, and at the end of the day it causes them stress. People event try to maintain it with apps or tight supervision. If they procrastinate, near the deadline, they will feel that it is harder to achieve their primary goal, and it leads to frustration. They wake up all night long near the deadline, have not enough sleep and it is bad for their health.


So, if this is a problem of many people. what do the non-procrastinator say to us? Yes, the most common advice from them is simply "be discipline" and " be consistent". That is what those non-procrastinator do, and that is also the main issue of us, and we can't simply accept that input because that is just "not suitable for me". Being discipline is not our solution, it is our problem!

Through up and down,  I have seen a lot of reasons why I, and others, delay doing everything important in our life and it gives me a simple perspective to deal with this bad habit. This is what I call "BE SUSTAINABLE".

What do I say with sustainable means doing things which is simply you may afford do forever. Can you see what I mean? let me explain a little bit.

Have you ever heard about sustainable energy? It is the energy which may sustain for thousands years. Unlike energy from petroleum coal, it only produces a little amount of energy, which is already there in the nature. It is just being there since the first place, energizing the nature, whether human will maximize the potency or not. It is just there and will always be there. The energy from sun, water flow, waves, or wind will always be in the nature, either human use the energy or not. The petroleum, the nonrenewable energy, although it gives a lot of energy in modern era, it somehow will be depleted. We do everything and maximize the technologies simply to fit the demand for the decreasing petroleum resources. The usage will be more efficient day by day while the resource will be depleted. It is so EFFORT-FULL.

And being sustainable as procrastinator means, don't do things which are the goal in the deadline, but simply do the part you might do effortless and you are sure you could do it everyday in a year/ until deadline. It is almost the same as what in the Blogs  and websites say "make it in a small piece". But even in a small piece, sometime you feel the burden to finish it. You should not make it a small piece. in Being sustainable, you make it a small ritual. the things you may do every single day, just like other ritual you do (praying before eating, bringing umbrella in the cloudy weather, charging hand phone before going to sleep, etc. Even checking Youutube before go to sleep!). It is not even "a work" for you, although you know it somehow will help you later. and that' how a procrastinator might overcome the habit. Do thing about the work which is effortless and do it as the ritual. yes, being a procrastinator is a disadvantage  for our productivity, but we can maintain it!

I will explain to you in this article why being sustainable is helpful to beat common reasons for procrastination. Below are some of the key reasons why people procrastinate, why being sustainable has helped people, and some real life example:

1. The big picture is complex and the project is unpleasant.When working a  complex project,some people simply don't know where to start and they think working earlier and taking a small step worth nothing for the project. And because of that reason, many people will tackle a task with delaying the job until "the right time". They forget that although it is not enjoyable, it still needs to be completed. Why it is really helpful to be sustainable? Yes, it won't change the fact that the job is unpleasant, but it will change the burden you have near the deadline. As a procrastinator, we are really often work as efficiently as possible near the deadline. While being sustainable won't change this habit, it will give us less burden and less anxiety near the deadline.
   
   
2. Because people fear that they do it wrong and they will fail. When people are not sure, they delay th completion because they don't want to do useless thing. Being sustainable is very helpful in this case, because since the very first place, they bear in mind that they only do thing which is effortless and they got nothing to lose for doing that, even if you fail. I mean, you never feel burdened too just because you bring  umbrella while the cloudy weather become hot! you don't lose your umbrella, and you don't lose energy either. Just your daily ritual in the cloudy weather.
   
   
3. Distractions. Sometimes the temptation to have a small talk with your friends, play games or take some coffee breaks will delay your job. being sustainable won't deal too much with this. you just allow the distraction since you have done the effortless things you do. After all, as a procrastinator, you have accepted that whatever you do, you'll end up doing that near the deadline right? moving out from the distraction won't make you want to focus on the burdening job (just like keeping away your phone help you to stay away from facebook. If you are a procrastinator, you know it won't work. You just love it!). So the aim of being sustainable is not to make you loving the job burdening you, but at least it will help you to minimize the burden near the deadline. It feels great! and perhaps, by doing effortless things, you may start loving the job, have a different point of view and start to be energized. But if it won't change you, it is okay because you will have less things to do near the deadline!

Example:

I have ever been in a project to make a field trip for a college organization, and there are many things to do. There are many things to be maintained: participants, bus, company, tools, legals, finances, sponsors, etc. There are so many uncertainties there: Will there be enough participants? Will the company accept the proposal? Will the college give the permission? What if the participant come late? What if we can't get affordable consumption for our minimum budget? Under the stressful condition, The things sustainable I can do is asking my team about the development, and asking my senior and boss about the act to be done on each phase. Why it is effortless? Because all I do is asking the condition of the plan until the day and tell it to the boss to get the right decision. I can do that everyday and it is not even burdening me! That is a small step that can be developed to finish the plan. and it is very helpful since every condition have been handled days before D-day. What if it is fail? what if the field trip is impossible? then I have nothing to lose. I did the least I can do for that, but when it works (it actually works!), I have less stress near the deadline, and I may feel better!

Some people need extra works to maintain their body weight, including me! but I saw a lot of people become not sustainable, they went to gym at the leisure time, then when they came to the exam month (for college students), they focused on the study and forget the program. I instead, keep it sustainable. I simply walk around the running track looking at the flowers (yes, it is really refreshing, and I can do it even in the exam day to release some stress), and maintain my food to the low calories which is I LIKE (I prefer banana, I can eat them as much as possible. Sure, oat meal or whole grain bread may be better, but since they don't taste good for me and many other people, they are not my option). Well, at first, my friends loss weight more than me, a lot! But I think, they are too effort-full, and they can't deny that they don't like the taste of the oat meal or how tired they are after heavy gym session. I may say that my body weight becomes lighter normally (since the day I try to decrease it) while they are heavier than even before (they become lazier to do the effort, or what they say "I am busy now").

"Discipline" gives you burden, "sustainable" gives you ritual. "Discipline" needs motivation, while "sustainable" will create motivation (at some point).

Do you have other opinion? Please kindly write in the comment section. Have a nice day.


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