It is impossible to find a person who does not postpone things. The irony is that we do so with full realization that we are hurting ourselves in the process. Isn’t that how masochism is defined and should we therefore postulate that all human beings get some vicarious pleasure in hurting themselves (or their own interests)?

A person wrongly assumes that by postponing a possibly unpleasant task (which is probably why it gets postponed in the first place) it will vanish from his (or her) mind. The human brain is very powerful and does not forget that we have postponed a task. It just keeps it at the “back of the stack”, to be brought forward as soon as you get a free moment. The person therefore keeps sub-consciously thinking of the postponed tasks and ends up substantially reducing the efficiency with which he otherwise would have carried out his normal tasks. It is like when a computer processes jobs at a reduced speed because its RAM is full with some other software. In a PC you can at least increase the RAM capacity; how does one increase the RAM of our brain? Let us find out dear readers, why human beings behave the way they do and also get some positive ideas on how procrastination could to be avoided.

Are you afraid of failure?
Many of us delay taking action because of our mortal fear of failing to achieve whatever we wanted to. Now it is like arguing that India should not play Australia in another test series because if we lose, then it would spoil our previous record. Or imagine a salesman postponing his visit to a client because he fears that the sale is not going to come through. Ask yourself if you are delaying action because of such a fear. The very act of questioning yourself may banish the illogical thought and put you on the road to “recovery”.

Some of us are afraid of success.
Though it sounds bizarre, many are afraid of “SUCCESS”. They are worried that if they achieve their objective, then there will be nothing more to do; so why not linger on with the process of achieving it. Older, retired people who were once busy and who cannot get used to the idle hours that are now available, usually exhibit this tendency. I know of a senior citizen who would not read letters received by him until two days later, just to prolong the pleasure of knowing that he had a letter to read.

Do you tend to magnify the complexity of the problem?
The harder a problem appears the more one tends to postpone attacking it. One of the major reasons to delay taking a decision in any given situation is the perceived “toughness” of the problem. Pessimists amongst us will therefore tend to be bigger procrastinators, as they see “difficulties” even where none exist.

Misplaced priorities.
The most common reason for procrastinating is trying to solve the less important (or easy) things first thereby postponing the important ones, leading to of course disastrous results. By setting your priorities right, you may totally get out of this habit.

Are you trying to be a perfectionist?
Many amongst us keep postponing things because we would not like to do something unless we achieve perfection. There is nothing perfect in this world so such persons may end up doing nothing. Accepting our own fallibilities is a good way to improve ones efficiency. Set high targets, if you have to, but don’t use the impossibility of achieving them as an excuse to delay taking decisions about them. There are guys who would not buy a car for better part of their lives because a Mercedes is the only one they want to buy but can’t afford.

If you are motivated, you would never delay things!
Motivation is a wonderful medicine for habitual procrastinators who are constantly looking for excuses to delay things. Isn’t it true that guys who love their jobs rarely need to be pushed into doing things? They are self-starters. Conversely guys who have only a peripheral interest in the job at hand would constantly look for avenues to escape and hence “put off for tomorrow what they can do today”.

Dear readers, while you analyze which of the above causes is making you postpone things, let me share with you a simple practice to get out of this habit. At any moment, (yes, even now, immediately after you finish reading this) just sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil. Think hard for five minutes about all the jobs that you have postponed up to that moment of time and write them down. Now resolve to “attack” them, TODAY. Don’t postpone action to some “auspicious” day in the future because that itself would be an inauspicious beginning of your war against procrastination. Repeat this procedure twice a week.

Just ponder over what an anonymous author once said – When the time to die comes, we must ensure that, that is the only thing left to do”. Difficult though it is to implement, doesn’t it really hit the nail on the head!

"Mr. Prakash Shesh, the author, has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad after his Masters in Physics from I.I.T. New Delhi. You may send your feedback to him by choosing an option at the top right corner of this page."