Are You a Time-Oriented Person or Are You a Goal-Oriented Person? Self-Reflection, the Best Way to Fight Procrastination
During our Psychology class, our professors give us a task to express our classmates' strengths. Since we have all been classmates for four years, she is assuming that we already know each other. My relationship with my colleagues is all civil so I didn't expect much. But to my surprise, most of their responses are 'goal-oriented.' I just shrugged it off until one closer colleague told me her reason. "You always complete your tasks ON TIME and you are very good in task distribution on group tasks as well as time management." I was stunned. Because I don't think she is right. Well, yes I have a FOMO(fear
of missing out) when it comes to academics. I am a working student since freshman year so I NEEDED to manage my time properly. After more or less two years, I can only recognize which of my daily tasks matter the most. I have tried a lot of strategies for managing time. I have tried different lifestyles to fit my schedule. I am always and still looking and learning how to basically 'manage my life in general. Yes, at the end of the day, my goal is to accomplish all given tasks. But they are not my main priority. My eyes are not on the goal. So I don't think I am goal oriented. Rather, I am focused on how well I spent each hour of the day. My eyes are on the progress. The baby steps. What matters to me is the whole process.
Now, instead of saying 'eyes on the prize', why not say 'eyes on the progress? And to do this, we should prioritize the process. Create a system, a plan on how to reach your goals. No matter how big or small they are, goals are at the end of the - goals. And I for so believe that it was given to you, because you needed it and could do it! Now, you might wonder, can a goal-oriented person also be a time-oriented person? The answer is no. A goal-oriented person's ideology is to accomplish something as soon as possible. A time-oriented person's ideology is to manage time properly so all tasks are progressing. A goal-oriented person doesn't like multitasking. Their mindset is focused on finishing that one important task before doing anything else. A time-oriented person prefers multitasking BUT not in the same period of course!
Confuse? Let's have an example. Lisa is tasked to finish the whole month's narrative report. Her goal is to finish it as soon as possible since she has also daily tasks. But since her priorities lie on this new paperwork which she thinks matters the most, some of her daily tasks may not be fulfilled properly daily. But the good thing is within a week, the whole report is done plus the presentation! She finished it way early than the deadline. On the other hand, Lisa in another universe decided to just add the report task to her daily routine.
She decided to place the task under her paperwork time but since she has other paperwork to do so, she could not finish the task as soon as possible. But despite this, Lisa never missed any of her daily tasks, she didn't take overtime to finish untouched tasks, and she is also not bombarded by new extra coming tasks.
She finished the report on the deadline week. She is not early nor late but she is on time. You see, being a goal-oriented and time-oriented person has both its advantages and disadvantages. The only question is, which way works better for you? The thing is, you can be goal-oriented today, but time-oriented the other day. You didn't even notice you have these traits already, but let me tell you this, everyone has their orientation! But the good thing is knowing which you are more productive at is a strength. Since both orientations share the same goal, and that is to fight procrastination, if you master one of the two traits, you will notice that you have a lot of extra time!
Here comes procrastination, a student's and an employee's nightmare. This is a situation where you later become rarely. You crammed. You get stressed. But you achieve almost nothing. Good try though, because you still do the task, the question is, 'Have you done it properly?' You crammed so much that you didn't have time to check your output anymore. No more editing or proofreading. And your end goal will not what you expected.
Living in this hustling world, we are either left or caught with time. At moments that it seems slow, we just don't have anything to do yet. At moments that time seems so fast, we just haven't started anything yet. Time remains time. It never changes unless you left Earth. Time is everyone's precious treasure. Waste it and it's your loss. You can gamble it but expect to face the risks. Or you can use it properly and enjoy the rest of it.