If you didn’t procrastinate, you’d be one of the most powerful people in the world. You’d utilize your time effectively and get a lot of things done each day. Over time, that’s an incredibly powerful way to live.
How much do you procrastinate? How much does it impact your life? What could you accomplish if you could greatly reduce your procrastination?
Procrastination can be an incredibly challenging obstacle to overcome. It is important to realize the impact that procrastination has on ourselves and others. To address it, consider the following strategies:
1. Determine why you delay working on a task. Is it a specific task that you’re putting off, or do you procrastinate everything on your plate? What is it about this task that stops you from doing it?
-
- Are you scared of failing?
- Do you fear that you’ll fall short of what’s expected of you?
- Are you resentful of whoever put this obligation upon you?
By evaluating the task, you can better understand what’s holding you back so you can complete the task more efficiently.
2. Delegate. Start giving some of your responsibilities to others instead of hogging them for yourself and creating more stress. Stress leads to procrastination, procrastination leads to tight deadlines, and tight deadlines lead to more stress; it’s a vicious cycle.
3.Do the task immediately. The longer you think about doing something, the more reasons your mind will invent to keep you from doing it. Have you ever noticed how you get a great idea, but then you talk yourself out of doing it?
Before you have a chance to think about it, just do it. The longer you linger, ponder, think, relax, or stall, the less likely you’ll be to do anything. You only have a few seconds to take action before your brain will start getting in your way.
Most procrastinators find themselves prone to delaying the start of the task because it seems too overwhelming. Instead, they stress and worry during the final moments before it’s due.
No matter how large or insurmountable the task may seem, beginning with even a small action will build momentum. Simply beginning also tends to put the task into perspective and makes it seem more possible than ever.
4. Set a time limit. This can be especially helpful when tackling a big task. Rather than trying to do it all at once, tell yourself that you’ll work for an hour, or 30 minutes, or whatever works for you and block that time on your calendar. Knowing that you have a set ending point can ease the challenge of getting started.
Once you get busy, you might find that you just keep on working after the time has expired.
Using a timer is also a great way to focus your attention. It’s interesting how much more you can accomplish when you’re racing against the clock
5.Only do a tiny bit. Getting started is often the most difficult part. Make it so easy to get started that you can’t possibly fail. Need to write a report for work or an article? Tell yourself that you’re just going to do one paragraph. If that’s too hard, make it a single sentence.
After you get started, you might decide to keep on going. It’s amazing what a little momentum can do.
6.Start with the big items. We like to start the day with the easy things, the things that won’t take too much time. Unfortunately, the longer you put off doing the bigger stuff, the harder it is to get started on it.
Avoid this situation by attacking those bigger, less pleasant tasks first thing in the morning. Save the easy stuff for later in the day.
7.Take Breaks. Taking scheduled breaks while working on your task refreshes your body and mind. If you go for a 10-minute walk or do some deep breathing, you’ll feel re-energize and you’ll be in a better frame of mind to forge on.
Breaks, while refreshing, should be taken in moderation; you certainly don’t want to use breaks as an excuse to lapse back into procrastination.
8.Figure out your primary distractions at the moment and do them later. Those distractions can be so appealing. Whether it’s texting your friend about the weekend or watching the social media feeds, distractions are more enjoyable than doing what actually needs to be done.
Use your distractions as rewards. Tell yourself you can do the thing you really want to do after you get a certain amount of work completed. You’ll get your work done and still have fun before the day is over.
There are many ways for dealing with procrastination. The trick is to figure out which one works most effectively for you. Try the ideas above, monitor the results, and decide for yourself how to best manage your procrastination tendencies. You will feel more productive and less stressed.
