In this insightful blog, Gyan Gupta from Decluttered explores the reasons behind procrastination and offers practical tips to overcome it. Reflecting on the wisdom of Kabir’s couplet, Gyan discusses how a lack of clarity, avoidance of uncomfortable decisions, and dependency on others can lead to procrastination. He emphasizes seeking clarity, having difficult conversations, and taking control of decisions to break the procrastination cycle. This piece not only sheds light on common procrastination triggers but also provides actionable advice to foster a bias for action, a principle essential for personal and professional growth. If you find this blog helpful, share your stories and connect with Gyan Gupta, a leading coach in India online, to learn more about overcoming procrastination and achieving your goals.

Check out the blog on the Medium Platform.

“Kaal Kare So Aaj Kar, Aaj Kare So Ub Pal Mein Pralaya Hoyegi, Bahuri Karoge Kub” — Kabir, the great poet

Introduction:

As an Indian child, most of us would have come across the couplet. It translates into “Whatever you want to do tomorrow, do it today. Whatever you want to do today, do it now. In a moment, you or the moment may not be anymore, when will you do it then?”

Growing up, I liked to use this couplet as a guiding light for my actions, and was a kid who always ended up completing assignments and tasks much in advance, and then sitting back, and relax.

As I grew, there came a sense of procrastination on some tasks, daily routine and other aspects; and these tasks now have built up to an extent, that at any given point of time, there is something or the other to do. Is that a good place to be? Maybe, because an empty mind is a devil’s workshop. But that’s not the topic of my blog. Today, I want to write about why I think we procrastinate, and how can we avoid it

Why Do We Procrastinate?

In my opinion, the major reason for us to procrastinate is not having clarity or a way to do something, and when gaining clarity requires us to get out of our comfort zone, we just sit back, and procrastinate more. And this, becomes a habit. But, the major reason is, not having clarity on what has to be done. Think about it, think of a situation, that needed to be completed today. Let’s say, filing of taxes. Are you sure you won’t procrastinate on this activity? Why? Are you an expert in tax filing? But is it something that has to be done? But I bet, most of us will procrastinate, because we don’t have clarity or don’t want to put in the effort to seek clarity.

Other reason we procrastinate is when we are not the final decision maker, and the final decision maker actually procrastinates. This doesn’t give us any reason to do tasks, because we know, how much ever early we do end up doing, eventually, it is going to run late, and by us delaying, we are actually causing a bull whip effect.

Third reason we delay or procrastinate is when we want to avoid getting into uncomfortable discussions or decisions. Making an uncomfortable decision, or having an uncomfortable discussion, is a major reason for procrastination. This also ties back, to some extent, to our first point, where we don’t have clarity. What the discussion will throw at us, we don’t know. We don’t have clarity, and we avoid it. But that’s not worth the stress later.

To break this chain, some tips, that I keep telling myself —

1. Seek clarity and answers, and try to find an answer to atleast one problem a day, that is causing you to procrastinate
2. Have the difficult conversations, prepare for it, and then just trust yourself to have the conversation, and flourish in it
3. Try to take certain decisions under your control, so the external factors of indecisiveness is reduced, or eliminated
4. Don’t be afraid of discomfort or uncertainty or not having complete information. Remember the 80:20 rule. Get 80% information, and make a decision. Remaining 20% will follow
5. Be biased for action, which is a very important leadership principle at Amazon

If you think there was some help through this blog, feel free to like it, share it, and share your stories with me, and the wider audience. Let’s share to care.