Some simple strategies to avoid procrastination.
Procrastination is something at some point in time, plagues us all – some more than others, but everyone at some point or another.
You can avoid procrastination.
There is that famous quote that we all have heard, “Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?” Many use this quote to get motivated; however, there are so many others that continue to struggle, put things off for weeks, months, or even years.
Procrastination doesn’t have to be a way of life for you; you can overcome it. With a little focus and the right attitude, coupled with some practical tips and techniques, procrastination can be a thing of the past.
These top strategies will help you fight procrastination:
Prioritize Your Daily Tasks
- Determine which tasks are the most important that day and get rid of that dreaded to-do with the never-ending list of things you are continually trying to catch up with or maybe putting off.
- Use your daily priorities to guide the use of your time so you can have better focus and stay on track.
Set Small Goals
When you set small, easily achievable goals, this will help you avoid procrastination and get rid of any feelings of being overwhelmed you currently experience.
A few tips for setting small goals are:
- Break big projects up into small, easy to complete steps. These steps can be completed systematically one at a time. Also, having a due for each of these smaller steps or tasks is a great motivator to keep the momentum going towards completing your project.
- When you set small goals, it will provide you with a wonderful feeling of accomplishment once completed. With each individual success, you will feel better about yourself, and it will motivate you to continue.
- Remember to take breaks through the time you are working on your tasks. Doing so allows you to focus on the task at hand and take the overwhelming feeling out of the process. Using a Pomodoro timer is a great tool to help you get up, so you can move around, and get refreshed as you move to the next step of the project.
Avoid Distractions
- Identifying the distractions that are keeping you from your daily priorities is the first step. Limit distractions by not on too many tasks at once. Disconnect from all methods of communication to minimize interruptions. Create flexibility in your schedule to take care of any distractions that you can’t avoid.
- If you check social media, then email, and then voicemail, and then social media again to make sure you haven’t missed anything. Start timing yourself to see just how much time it takes to do those things. How long did that take?
- Try checking your email twice a day instead of every 30 minutes or hour. You need to create time to focus!
- Turn off your notifications, whether it be text, email, or social media.
- Exercise self-control and give yourself rules you can stick to on an ongoing basis.
Delegate
- No, you don’t have to do everything yourself! So with that said. It’s time to start delegating or outsourcing (if you don’t have a team) some of your daily tasks that can be done by someone else. Doing so will eliminate some of the stress you created, thinking you need to do everything yourself.
Stress is what leads to procrastination. When you procrastinate that leads to missed deadlines, and missed deadlines lead to more stress; it’s a vicious cycle.
To your limitless success!
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