I have been planning to start writing this article over the last few days but I kept delaying it. Now don’t think that I didn’t want to write it or I was not in the mood to write it or I was being lazy at times to write it! I just thought I would do it later on, after completing some other important jobs!
That’s what we call Procrastination – where we keep delaying something that needs to be done.
It does not mean that one is not giving more importance to specific jobs over other jobs. There could be number of possible reasons; like other jobs could be more important, other jobs could be more enjoyable, you are more comfortable with the other job or you are just being lazy!
Because of procrastination, people often delay the tasks that are scheduled to be done earlier. Where this can prevent individual from reaching his goals. One can miss his/her deadlines. It just unnecessarily wastes crucial time of an individual.
If you are also a procrastinator, you should be well aware of the pain and stress that comes with delaying things. So is it possible to overcome the procrastination? Well, the answer is “Yes”!
Here are few tips to overcome your procrastination.
Create To-Do list:
Create a check list with all jobs, if possible write time frame also for each job. Specifically, do not miss out on adding jobs you keep delaying every time. You can also set them in order of priority i.e. high priority items on top and so on. If you get anything in between then just don’t start doing it but add that to the list based on priority as well. For example,
- Check emails by 10:30am.
- Create costing report by 12:00pm.
- Create project plan for XYZ project by 4:00pm.
Place your to-do list somewhere you can see on regular basis. Do not forget to mark off those items that are completed.
Divide big job in chunks:
Most often it is not possible to complete big jobs in one sitting. Divide your job into several small tasks and list down those that you can complete today and add to your to-do list. This way you will be able to finish your big jobs and you will feel more productive!
Remove distractions:
There are times where it happens that we are busy with some important job and we hear sound of message in our mobile. And then we just get lost into the mobile world for next few minutes! This does not only distracts us from our job but also weaken our concentration and focus and reduce our productivity. You may need to start your job from the beginning again due to this.
To overcome this, try to remove such distractions while workings on important jobs i.e. keep away your mobile, if not so urgent then close your email box for a while etc.
Motivation:
Keep motivating yourself instead of working under pressure to complete work in deadlines. Don’t just keep thinking that you have very tight deadlines, what will happen if you will not be able to complete it etc. Instead, motivate yourself by saying yourself “Yes! I can do it!” You can also stick some motivational posters on the wall that you can see frequently.
Take short break and relax:
Sometimes we just try to complete some complicated jobs in one sitting. We may achieve that as well but after that we need to take short break and relax so that we can start with another job with more energy. If we just try to complete all jobs one by one then we may lose our energy and not able to concentrate on job at all. Put a 10 minutes timer and take break. You can use that break to take a small nap, call your friend or just watch some jokes!
Remember: To conquer the procrastination, you need to recognize first that you’re doing it. Then, you need to identify why you’re doing it and take appropriate steps to overcome the block.
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