Why Do People Procrastinate Before Their Moving Day?

Why Do People Procrastinate Before Their Moving Day?

Changing places, moving interstate, local or to another country can be overwhelming and stressing. When moving houses for a job opportunity most of the time we have deadlines that push us to organize and pack everything faster. Also there are many planned moves that happen for different reasons: lifestyle change, no longer needing to live in large houses because their kids left, looking for better weather conditions, or being close to their family. So, there is always a need to move, but we keep overthinking what exactly goes into moving or changing..

In both cases, procrastination can happen very easily, more frequently than what we think. Thinking about moving triggers many feelings and many actions that must be taken. Emotions, feelings and attachment can make us overthink and delay our moving plan.

How does procrastination limit ourselves from taking actions?

Procrastination can be misunderstood as laziness. Being lazy means to not do anything and feel just fine, while procrastination means to have the desire of doing something, but can’t force ourselves to start.

There are many reasons why we procrastinate:

• Having a big list of things to do and not prioritizing our main tasks.

• Getting confused with what is priority, what is essential and what is not.

• Some obstacles or eventualities that life could bring like getting sick, losing someone.

• We are not aware of the value of time and think we’ll always have time.

• Addictions that give us pleasure in the moment. For example, excess of social media, movies, bad habits like drinking alcohol, sugar or smoking.

• Lack of will-power or self discipline or setting goals that will never work.

How do you overcome procrastination before packing and moving to another place?

Usually, there are two or three months of notice or time before we start planning the moving day. We recommend creating a moving plan or an agenda to have good time management. Take into account the tasks you usually have on your daily basis routine.

Have a short term or long term vision. Think about your career objectives, if you are moving because of a new job, an intrinsic motivation or purpose for the new change. Visualizing your new life, searching and learning about the new place, neighborhood will keep you motivated to do things on time.

Make a list of the moving companies in Maryland that resonate the most with you, or in the state where you are. Study their website and reviews, look at their different moving services, storage and packing services and evaluate if they can help you with what you need. According to Moving Waldo, Canada’s #1 Free Moving Concierge Service, the moving company in Maryland, Allen and Son Moving and Storage, was ranked between the top five best Baltimore movers.

To begin, think about the least used rooms in your place, separate things you no longer use, from things you can donate, and from the things that are valuable and you want to keep. Start decluttering and organizing every room or space from where you live.

Think about the different moving boxes and packing materials you may need. Don’t forget to place the heavy items in small boxes and the large items that weigh less in big boxes. Also ensure if you need any crating services or piano movers.

Divide tasks into small ones. We procrastinate the most when we have unfinished “To Do’s Lists of Tasks”. Procrastinating instead of being lazy is worse. We think that we work better under pressure, so we leave things until the last minute, but procrastination will bring stress and negative emotions, reducing the quality of the outputs.

Give yourself time to rest. It is better to accomplish at least one or two moving tasks per day, and then having a rest, than keep feeding the loop of procrastination: “I don’t do anything, I feel guilty, I doubt myself, I feel helpless.” Think about friends or family that could give you moving help before and during the day.

Inform the service providers the change of address or let them know you will no longer use them. If necessarily send them a letter informing them you will no longer live in that address. If you have a family and you are moving with your kids, let the schools know your kids will no longer be attending.

If you are planning to sell your house, think about separating the necessary dates in your agenda to exhibit your home to future clients. Speak with your sales agent and arrange your selling dates.

Professional movers are always there to help you, but to increase the quality and peace of mind of your move it is necessary to build a moving plan. Being organized will help you create positive habits and strengthen your willpower to have a successful relocation.