Op-Ed: A Brief Guide on Procrastination

By: Mohammed Hassan Mohammed

When trying to do something important there is a bad habit most people indulge without knowing it. And it’s called “Procrastination”  Today I saw this as an advantageous piece to everyone, so let me shed light on it. Procrastination refers to the habit of putting off and delaying an important task, usually by focusing on less urgent, more enjoyable, and easier activities instead, and it’s different from laziness, which is the unwillingness to act.

I often experienced this action doing it myself at many times, I would say to myself when I am about to write down something, like this article or piece of important writing “I will write it when there is enough time” but I realized there is never enough time that will come, and this reminded me of the English adage or  Saying “There is no time like the present” it is said that this adage was first recorded in 1562 one compiler of proverbs by John Trusler, this saying can be referred to someone that it is better they should do something now, not later or a thousand unforeseen circumstances may interrupt you at a future time.  I tried to put this wise proverb in the back of my head, and I would remember it whenever I am about to put off doing work, which may actually take an hour or less than that.

Every bad habit has really a remedy, and its treatment depends on how decisive a person is. A pledge and commitment are all that it will take us to terminate this habit. Another English saying is “Action speaks louder than words” this is to say that our actions express our actual attitudes, rather than what we say. if only we, sincerely, decide from the bottom of our heart to exterminate our Procrastination which we always habituated, we are capable of doing that. In addition, we ensure to take effective action, then that can make sense because at least  we did something tangible by putting our plans into action. And if not doing and following the above-mentioned steps, we end up experiencing the example of the two birds on a tree of which one decides to fly away, and that does not mean, it, actually,  flew, it only took the decision but did not do the action yet, which is the most important part the task.  Moreover, there is no other way around, but to fulfil the promise which we took for ourselves by the time we make an endeavour of executing our actual intensions, and doing that would make us feel better, for we did what we had in mind. We find ourselves a heavy burden is lifted from our shoulders.

Imagine, when we have a lot to do in our everyday life, we prioritize things, as usual, because we have something which is essential to do for our life, like working and earning for our livelihood, other less important things can be: playing or watching football tournament, and loafing around the downtown with friends. Improving but developing a skill which we are sure good at it, can be worthwhile too. No one is to tell us how necessary and unnecessary things should be in our lives, we are smart enough to manage them. If there are certain elements that distract and disturb us, we can completely eliminate them easily, if we are serious and have the willingness to reach and obtain a target or a goal which we dreamed it may come true one day. I recall quotes of foresighted people saying: “Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today”.  Knowing all these, we may be easily influenced by powerful forces and make us occupied in trivial and valueless things that would doubtlessly divert and off-lead us from our dream and achievement. Especially, in this era of technology we live in, there are countless amusing elements, which digress and deviate us.

Procrastination is related to all that we mentioned above. So, what kind of hints are there, in order to mitigate and lessen this dilemma. First of all,

• Commitment of our
• The degree of our (Necessity is the mother of invention)
• The degree of our
• Weightiness of our
• The quality of our Experience in a lifetime.
• The extent and strength of our
• How optimistic are our
• The Beauty of our
• How motivated we
• The level of our

We might pass the taste of exterminating our procrastination if only these hints match up to our habitual everyday conduct. Otherwise, we will be manipulated by the negative effect of procrastination.

About the Author

Mohammed Hassan Mohammed. BBA first degree holder (Bachelor of Business Administration. BBA)., studied in Khartoum, Sudan. The University of Garden City and also second-degree holder in MBA, or Economics and Management Science from Admas University, Hargeisa Somaliland.  A small business owner, and university lecturer.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Horndiplomat editorial policy.

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