Breaking the Procrastination Habit with Positive Self-Talk

Are you a reluctant procrastinator? Do you always wait until the last moment to get things done? Do you find you are always putting things off until you can’t put them off any longer? Are your friends, family members, and co-workers frustrated with the way you tackle projects of any size? If so, you aren’t alone. Procrastination is something many people deal with. Although it can be hard to change overnight, positive self-talk is a great way to stop procrastinating and change your life. Positive self-talk can help turn you from a procrastinator into a doer.

Using Positive Self-Talk to Stop Procrastinating

Positive self-talk is a great way to stop procrastinating because you can talk yourself out of procrastinating the minute you start! The problem for most of us who procrastinate is that it is just the way we do things. We don’t even necessarily think about why we procrastinate. It’s our normal approach to life, and it’s hard to stop something we have been doing for so long. Positive self-talk is a great approach to stopping procrastination as it starts because the self-talk occurs in the moment!

Positive self-talk is the practice of responding to your mind’s thoughts as they happen. If you know you have a big project you need to start working on today and you think it can wait until tomorrow, for example, you can stop and remind yourself that it needs to be started today. During those moments when you want to wait until tomorrow, you can use positive self-talk to make sure you don’t put off until tomorrow what needs to be done today. Positive self-talk can stop the negative internal dialogue before it gets to the point of being overwhelming.

Many people use affirmations to help with positive self-talk. Affirmations are positive statements you can use to help you steer clear of procrastination. You should repeat these affirmations when you feel the urge to procrastinate.

An example of an affirmation that may help you with procrastination may be: “I feel no need to create obstacles for myself. I move forward, stronger than ever,” or, “By keeping organized and using my time wisely, procrastination melts away.” These are concise statements that can be memorized so no matter where you are when you begin to procrastinate, you can repeat these positive statements to yourself. Doing this helps you to talk yourself out of procrastination mode.

As you can see, positive self-talk is a great way to combat procrastination. You can reprogram the way you think when you use your affirmations. If you stop procrastination in its tracks each and every time, soon the habit of doing things when they need to be done will replace the habit of procrastination.

Once you repeat the process of positive self-talk many times, you’ll be able to combat procrastination, lead a much less hectic life, and the people in your life will thank you for the change in the way you deal with things! When used effectively, positive self-talk can change your life for the better. So stop procrastinating and start talking to yourself!