I mentioned in the article about my vision and goals – which is available here that I had a dream to have a blog a few years ago. But something stopped me at that time and didn’t allow me to make the first step. This ‘something’ was my own procrastination. Today I would like to write more about it and how I find my personal way to deal with procrastination.

It was 4 years ago, in 2016. After many years of blogging only for myself and my closest friends, I came to the conclusion that this is the time to go to a wider audience. I thought that I was good at it. My knowledge of English well so my first idea was to have a blog in polish. I wrote my first article, my friend corrected it. Then I bought space on the server, domain main, etc. And then for some reason, I did nothing for a long time

The problem was that somehow I realized that I cannot do this. Here is the list of problems that I listed at that time:

• I don’t have enough knowledge to share it with someone else.
• Who will be reading something that before was sharing only with my friends?
• How will I deal with all technical things around the website?
• How will I attract readers?
• What kind of topic would I like to have as a main on my blog?
• Serious blogging is only for people with huge knowledge and experience and costs a lot.

and many more. It was a fantastic environment for my procrastination and that was a reason why I gave up. An environment where I also postponed things that I can do very fast and without huge effort. Through the next 4 years, I had several attempts to start my blog. But again, my procrastination was holding me back, and actually, I did nothing to start my own website

During that time also I had night dreams that I am a very famous blogger with many readers and great content. I thought success would come by itself, without my actions and inputs. I lived in the conviction that somewhere in the future I will have a very popular blog but I did any steps to realize it! It was wishful thinking.

Then 2020 came and one thing triggered me – that I don’t have a blog about which I dreamed over last years. I hardly decided that this is time for a change.

In January I created my goals for the upcoming 12 months. There weren’t many points but the blog was one of them. I promised myself that I will look for these goals regularly. And this is how my real work has started. As you can see it took me around a year to realize this plan – pandemic was also helpful because it gave me more time.

Let’s talk about the main problems that cause the delay in creating this blog and how I overcame them.

1. I don’t know how to start.

I was thinking that to start a website I have to know everything about HTML, CSS, WordPress, web hosting, SEO, and so on. When I read about all things which have to be done I feel scared. It created the main delay and why I didn’t start many years ago.

However, I changed my mind this year – I just simply ‘took the first step’. To begin with, something small, divide the plan into smaller tasks. I have started reading as many articles as I can about creating a blog. I have found that I can also ask people who already did it.

It was very frustrating at the beginning because there was a lot to learn. Nonetheless, with time I gained more knowledge and a wider view of how it works. I also realized that at the beginning it’s all about doing the things which are necessary to start because then I can do everything else.

2. It costs a lot

I had understood that a blog costs a lot of money and requires a huge amount of time and effort. I thought in that way because I have checked many websites that were created for big companies or for individuals who have them for a long time and I saw a lot of functionalities there.

The truth was that I don’t need to complicate the blog’s structure and huge space on the server. I can start with something simple, readable, and easy to access for everyone. I did research. Again and I have found that I was wrong about costs because there are many offers so everyone can find available for their budget.

About time and effort – instead of doing big things every day I set small and achievable goals for every day. I was focused on a way to the goal instead of the goal itself.

3. I’m not a web designer.

From the time perspective, it was the funniest one. As I mentioned in the second point I realized that I need something simple. But what does it mean? It was a nightmare to find the right vision how my blog should look like. However, following one of the blogging gurus I just … made research again.

I went through the Internet to find out which layout I would like to have on my own blog. The research took time but finally, I have found a few websites and I would say that my layout of mine is kind of a mix of them.

The problem was also how to do it but thankfully I have found fantastic web builders and support groups which helped me a lot. Of course, it required to know–how about this tool but again I took the first step and went deeper and deeper. The conclusion is that everyone can be a web designer as everyone can be a politician and football expert.

The price of procrastination

If we tend to be a procrastinator it is natural that we faced consequences of it. I listed them below with examples from my experience:

• Missed opportunities – because I didn’t start my blog earlier I lost a lot of possibilities for my future career.
• Money lost – when I forgot, due to my delay, to negotiate a contract with my Internet vendor or return books to the library on time. In many cases, it wasn’t a lot of money but if I will sum them up it will be a large amount which I lost because of my procrastination
• Health problems – when I didn’t go for a medical check on time because I thought that I could do this later.
• Broken relationships – in a situation where I promised my friend to do something. I thought that I always had enough time for this but finally, I missed the deadline.

The ways to deal with it

Finally, it is a time to talk a little bit more about techniques and approaches to deal with your inner voice which try to convince you to procrastinate. There are many more solutions than listed below but these help me the most.

• 2 minutes tasks – very simple and useful. It’s all about doing, immediately and without excuses, everything that takes under 2 minutes of your time.
• Doing hard things first – if you have to do something hard, which requires more effort, it’s better to do it in the morning. If we wait till the afternoon there is a possibility that we will find something else to do and we don’t find time for the hardest task.
• Break a big project down into smaller segments – again, if something big has to be done it is better to break down this into a series of steps. They should be available for accomplishment in, for example, one day.
• Stop waiting for the right moment – there can be always excuses like “I will wait until something happens” or “I don’t have enough time/capacity/power”. Stop with them. There is always a right moment to do something. It’s all depends on your approach.
• Improve your environment – if you cannot work because something disturbs you all the time or you feel unwell in place when you try to work, change it. Optimize your place to work, get away from your phone, turn off notifications on your laptop. In addition, you can tell your family that for the next 1-2 hours they shouldn’t interrupt you.
• Forget about perfection – don’t judge yourself critically if you didn’t finish something because it decreases your self – esteem. Don’t be a perfectionist because we are just humans.
• Rewards yourself – set a gift after your accomplishments. For example, if your goal is to write 500 words every day say to yourself that after that you can watch television for 30 minutes.

Do you have your own stories about procrastination? How did you deal with it? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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