How to Stop Procrastinating, Daily Habits To Stop Wasting Time, Self Help Podcast

⏳ The Time We Waste: Procrastination & Its Cost

How many dreams have died at the hands of procrastination?

In this energizing episode of the Self Help Show, Gina-Margaret Tiger unpacks why we delay the very things that would change our lives. From perfectionism to fear of success, she uncovers the deeper triggers and teaches you how to break free from the cycle — one small action at a time.

🧠 What You’ll Learn:

00:00 – Welcome: Why We All Procrastinate (And Don’t Talk About It)

00:50 – Defining Procrastination & What It Actually Costs You

02:00 – Instant Gratification vs. Long-Term Regret

03:30 – The Psychology Behind Procrastination: Fear, Pressure, Perfection

04:40 – How Delays Compound Anxiety, Guilt, and Missed Goals

06:00 – Health, Home, and Hustle: The Ripple Effects of Avoidance

07:15 – Productivity Tips That Actually Work

08:10 – How To Rewire Your Brain To Start Small And Stay Committed

09:00 – Systems That Make Action Inevitable

🔥 Listener Spark Moment:

What’s one thing you’ve been avoiding that would change your life if you did it today?

📩 DM @theselfhelpshow or drop your answer in the Spotify comments — let’s hold each other accountable!

💬 Gina’s Challenge To You:

Try The 3-Task Reset:

Each morning, write down just 3 things that must get done today.

Do them.

That’s it.

Track your momentum for a week and witness the shift in energy, confidence, and clarity.

💡 Episode Highlights:

• Procrastination is a habit, not a personality trait — and it can be broken

• Your brain often confuses comfort with progress

• You don’t need to feel ready — just begin

• Small consistent action creates massive transformation

• You owe your future self discipline, not delay

📩 Ready To Take Action?

✅ Follow the Self Help Show

✅ Share this episode with a fellow procrastinator you love

✅ Leave a 5-star review if this inspired even one action today

🎧 Self Help Show — where your future self comes to life.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, welcome to yet another episode of a thousand voices podcast.

(00:07):
This is your host Gina and I talk about all things self-love, self-help, personal development.
This podcast is made up of chapters and in each chapter I talk about a particular perspective
or particular topic.
So chapter six was about emotional intelligence, chapter seven is about time and the past two

(00:34):
episodes I already spoke about the origin of time and then I spoke about the value of
time.
So time versus money.
So now I'm talking about the time we waste.
I'm talking about procrastination and its cost because believe me, it will cost you.

(00:55):
So we all do it to be quite honest.
Everybody, everybody procrastinates.
We put things off, we reschedule, we pause and sometimes it could be work.
It could be even the goals that we set for ourselves.
You know, it could be something that maybe we're not ready and we procrastinate, but

(01:18):
I need to know why.
Why do we procrastinate?
So let's first define what procrastination is.
It just means putting stuff off.
So deciding not to do it immediately and then you decide to do something else within that
time, right?
So for example, it can be some instant gratification thing such as being on social media or watching

(01:41):
TV.
Then there's a psychological, psychological mechanism around it.
And this is usually either you don't have any motivation or you are afraid or you are
a perfectionist.
This is me sometimes.
Like I rather pause doing a specific thing because I want it to be perfect.

(02:08):
Yeah.
Then for others, it's mostly because of lack of motivation or maybe you're feeling overwhelmed.
So you just decide to delay, you know.
And another thing is short term relief.
So procrastination brings you that temporary relief.
So if it's something that you have to do, like it's like work or like goals, like something

(02:28):
that you have to start, it could be like a wait lost journey.
Not doing it gives you that temporary relief from the stress and anxiety associated with
that particular task that you have to undertake.
So you know, it kind of reduces the pressure of the thing that you're supposed to do.

(02:50):
But what you don't realize is actually doing it will not, you will not suffer from the
guilt of, you know, oh, I could have done it.
I could have done it.
Then sometimes like I mentioned, you're just overwhelmed.
You are afraid.
You don't have motivation.

(03:11):
And it could be distractions or it could be because you have poor time management.
And this happens to a lot of people.
Like sometimes people can't prioritize the things that they want to do and they just
don't do tasks effectively.
And that causes them to procrastinate.

(03:35):
So as much as we now understand what procrastination means and like some of the signs to know if
you're procrastinating or not, it actually costs you on a greater deal.
Because for example, you're working on a project that is due in two weeks, right?
And you keep postponing it, you keep delaying it.

(03:56):
Then the night before, that's when you now want to start working on this project.
And what will happen is you're going to work late.
You're going to sacrifice your sleep and you're going to make it rush rush.
Why?
Because you're running out of time.
So that's going to cost you, right?
Then another thing is because you have been distracted by social media, you really don't

(04:20):
have enough time to now research on the project that you're doing.
You kind of lose, like you lose a lot of time that you could have used to being productive.
So the fact that you didn't achieve the goal or you didn't do the task or you didn't complete
in time actually increases more anxiety because you failed.

(04:44):
Yeah, you failed.
Then another thing is procrastinating applies even to just your normal household activities.
So this could be doing your laundry.
It could be, you know, cleaning up the house and procrastinating will have your laundry
piling up.

(05:06):
And the moment you push all those smaller, smaller tasks at the end of the day, they
become so big that like it's more overwhelming now to do and to actually get them done.
It takes more time.
Then another important thing is procrastinating when it comes to your health.

(05:27):
You can literally affect your physical health if you don't go to the gym or you don't work
out or you don't do any exercise.
I know we have the gym culture.
We have, you know, the working out communities, et cetera, et cetera.
And I know there's people that think, oh, they are okay with just not exercising.

(05:51):
But what people don't realize is physical health and not taking care of it affects your
body in general.
It affects your mental well-being and it affects your energy.
And it also affects how you're motivated in other areas of life.
So neglecting exercise because you're procrastinating or maybe you're too busy.

(06:15):
Not a good idea.
You need to work around that.
Now, as I was saying, the triggers that affect you to be procrastinating, again, fear, wanting
to be perfect.
And another thing is, which is very weird, the fear of success.

(06:36):
Like so many people actually fear being successful or succeeding in something.
So because they're so used to just failing, they've just accepted it as it is like, okay,
you know, you're failing, you're failing, you're failing.
So you really kind of take it upon as a habit and then you avoid tasks or you avoid doing
things that would lead you to actually achieving stuff.

(07:01):
And as I was saying, like your brain actually rewards you sometimes if you procrastinate
because you are in a safe space.
You're in a safe zone.
However, what you need to realize is you need to overcome procrastination.
So how does one do this?

(07:24):
Let's break the cycle of procrastination together with taking small actions.
You don't have to start big, start tiny, at least commit to yourself.
Because if you commit to yourself and say, I'm going to do this, you have to do it.
So how do you do that?
Set clear goals, write down the things that you need to do.

(07:47):
You can write it according to small tasks or bigger tasks, but make sure it's something
that you can do on a daily basis or on a weekly basis.
Then after you have your goals, have a to do list and prioritize on what's important.
So it could be finishing your project or preparing for your project or doing research.

(08:07):
Then after that you set up, okay, after that I need to do my laundry, I need to clean my
space.
Then after that I need to go for a walk and exercise.
Then after that I need to do my meal preps.
Then after that I need to spend time with my family, like that, like that.
As you do that, you will see it will help you and also follow it.

(08:29):
Then create some time blocks within your calendar.
I use a calendar a lot and my whole life revolves around that calendar.
Even when I have to eat and go and pee.
I'm joking, but I kind of put everything in my calendar.
So I kind of ordered my time on a daily basis.
So you should do that.
Then another thing is eliminate distractions.

(08:51):
This means turning off notifications, creating some quiet workspace for yourself where you
can lock in.
My sister taught me this term from like, she's like, sister, are you locking in?
Isn't like she's, she sees me like with my earphones on, I'm on my laptop for like three,
four hours nonstop.
Then she's like, yeah, you locked in, you locked in.

(09:12):
So make sure you put some time where you just focus on what you have to do.
Switch off those notifications.
Then set your deadlines.
Start small, okay?
And also understand yourself.
Be kind to yourself.
And visualize success.
You have to see through everything that you want to do and then reward yourself like after

(09:35):
doing it and repeat, rinse and repeat.
So that's the episode today on how you can literally transform your life and stop wasting
time and get a lot of things done because procrastination will cost you.
So use your time efficiently guys.
I'll see you on the next one.