We all procrastinate. Sometimes it’s not a bad thing, but it can turn into something evil and nasty if we aren’t careful. It can affect our relationship with others, our career life, and our social life. Try these procrastination beating techniques to destroy this deadly foe once and for all. Pick the best one for your current situation and then get back to work.
1. Set Deadlines.
Deadlines, whether self-imposed or set by your customers or partners, force us to get things done. An end in sight always makes work easier to accomplish. Tasks tend not to be concrete in our minds without a clearly defined deadline. That lack of clarity causes procrastination.
2. Practice Effective Time Management.
Create estimates for completing assignments and compare accuracy of completion among tasks. This will help you as it simplifies working patterns with effective planning. Your quality of work will also improve.
3. Get Up And Move.
One of the best ways to change the channel of procrastination is to change your scenery. Rather than sit in front of your computer or TV all day, get up, do some stretches, jog in place, do pushups, and move until your frame of mind has changed.
4. Get A Motivation Buddy.
There is nothing like having someone on your side when it comes to making your goals a reality. If you start to slip into procrastination, your motivation buddy will get you back in the game. Even if this seems like they are nagging you, it will do you good.
5. Wake Up Early.
The nicest part about waking up early is that it is quiet and still. You can concentrate on a few big tasks as soon as you get up and get a bunch of work done that would have taken many more hours during the bustle of the day.
6. Clean And Clear As You Go.
Sometimes we see how big a mess is in our lives and rather than do anything about it, we procrastinate. If you spend 15 minutes a day or just clean and clear things as you go (email, physical cleaning, tasks, etc.) the load of things to do isn’t as big.
7. Track Yourself.
One of the best ways to know where you are spending your time and find free time to beat procrastination is by tracking yourself. There are a host of apps for doing this. Find your weaknesses and change them.
8. Set Goals For The Day.
At the beginning of each day identify a handful of things that you want to accomplish. Some say three things. It depends on how large the tasks are. Set a limit for yourself and work on each of them until they are done.
9. Destroy Social Networks.
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, everything. Turn them off completely to beat procrastination. Focus on the task at hand. Pull out your task list and work on a big task first. Check your mail later.
10. Give Yourself A Break.
Don’t be too hard on yourself if you are having a tough time beating procrastination. Remember, you are human and we love to sit and stew in our own uncompleted mess of work sometimes. Just work hard to get out of it.
