If you procrastinate, you likely have a difficult time staying on task and getting things done. Maybe you postpone, delay, and even put things off so long you cannot possibly finish it in time. This may be affecting your work, home, family, friendships, and other areas of your life causing more stress and anxiety than necessary. You may not even be aware of how badly procrastination is impacting your life at the moment. If you want to stop getting in your own way, try these tips to fight back against the challenge of time wasting.

Self-Defeating Behavior

Procrastination becomes a habit when you cannot stop doing it and you are frustrated by its existence. You may be in a negative mood when you realize you are not getting what you want done and are repeating these self-defeating behaviors over and over again, only to find it is not serving you any longer. Recovery is the time to let go of habits negatively impacting your journey of healing. Time management is a key part of that process. You don’t have to pay someone lots of money to coach you on how to stop procrastinating. The challenge is figuring out why you procrastinate and how to change the behavior for good.

Addressing Those Feelings

One of the hardest parts of facing yourself in recovery is acknowledging those difficult feelings. Procrastination typically has more to do with addressing unpleasant feelings associated with what is going on than anything else. Preliminary steps include taking the steps necessary to change habits and seek to change things for the better. Both procrastination and substance abuse involves following a path of least resistance. This means you don’t like conflict and are likely avoiding negative feelings by numbing or ignoring them. Now that you are sober, you are not using drink or drugs to cover those issues. You have to simply face what is happening in the moment. If you want to combat dual substance abuse and procrastination habits for good, choose a path that will help you follow positive thinking and beliefs about yourself. Learn, experiment, and seek ways that build character in recovery. There is no quick fix for this, only hard, tried-and-true approaches to tackling it head on and taking it one day at a time.

Relapse Prevention

If you want to prevent relapse into old habits, with drugs, or procrastination, you need to look into all the places in your life you avoid facing reality. It is possible you haven’t delved far enough into what is going on to eliminate a key area that will set you free from procrastinating. Some things to consider:

Set time limits on social media by using apps to track usage (or block them after a certain time has passed)
Divert attention to only a few things at once rather than juggling too much
Focus on essentials in recovery even if you’ve been in recovery for awhile
Speak with support system of people who can help you face what you need to face

Never underestimate the power of moving forward and healing in recovery. You can do it, and it is possible, but you may need some extra help along the way to get rid of bad habits holding you back from being successful. There is nothing wrong in asking for help where needed. This only makes you stronger in the end.

Procrastination can kill recovery quickly. Don’t let it take you down. Call us if you are having a hard time getting focused in recovery from addiction. Our program will support your healing journey where you are today. Call us to find out how we can help you navigate addiction recovery: 877-279-1777