How to stop procrastinating
Are you a chronic
procrastinator, who always leaves their work for the next day, which never comes
till a deadline is looming over your head so much so that you end up losing too
much body mass while struggling to cross the finish line? So, here your chance
to change that. Be the ‘right now’ person so that you don’t have to wait until
tomorrow.
Squandering away
your free time during which you could have achieved N number of tasks is holding
you back from unleashing your greatest potential, thus putting a dent in your
success. Don’t let you stalling
behavior stop you from moving forward.
Here are
some tips that you can follow:
Forgive yourself
for the past procrastinations: You’ll do more harm than good if you keep
cursing yourself for any past procrastinations. Studies have shown that
self-forgiveness promotes a positive mind-set and reduces the chance of procrastinating
in the future.
Commit to a
task: As the Nike slogan says ‘Just do it’. Try not to avoid and focus on getting
the task done. List out the jobs that needs to be completed and assign a time
period for it. This list will help to systematically overcome your task without
burdening yourself.
Break down
your chores into smaller fragments: Imagine you have to complete your practical
file record, with few experiments. It may appear burdensome so, you tend to
avoid it, what if you divide this gigantic workload and proceed by writing one
experiment per day with a time frame in mind. Baby steps, but it does help to
break your cycle of delaying and avoid the added stress and anxiety.
Categorize your
task: Try doing the most difficult task and get it out of the way in the morning. We are most energetic during the day with a hardy breakfast, harness your morning energy and conquer
the herculean task, so you can complete fewer easy jobs later that day.
Keep yourself properly motivated with pep talk: Pat yourself on the back and compliment
yourself for the work you’re doing or have achieved during the week. Keep yourself
motivated by “self-talking” to calm yourself down, get focused and to complete
your goals.
Ensure your
work is completed verses it being perfect: In order to perfect an assignment, you
keep stressing about it. As a result no work is done /completed. So focus on
task completion and then you can edit it to your hearts content because without a draft
you can’t present the finished assignment.
Reward yourself
once you have completed a task: You might be curling your toes over the task at
hand and it might be giving you acid reflex. But fret not, just focus on
completing it and keep reminding yourself that once done you can celebrate after with
your favorite things.
Customize your
own work space: Find out where you’ll be doing most of your task and create an environment
with the least distractions. Ensure this place of work is totally different
from the place you relax e.g. library, a coffee shop, your local bookstore, or
a home office.
Download
apps on your phone/computer to avoid distractions: Now-a-days we can’t live
without our phones so we keep this life lines close by all the time, but these are the biggest distraction. You need to use technology to beat
technology hence, download apps such as AppDetox, Yelling Mom, Procraster etc. If net
surfing/browsing is the problem, then try downloading Freedom for all devises
and OS, Self-Control for Mac and Cold Turkey for Window, StayFocused for Chrome browsers or
LeechBlock for Firefox. This will prevent your wondering self from losing focus.
Remove the
phone from your vicinity: Get rid of the temptation all together
if possible otherwise just follow the previously mentioned points.
Let Music be your guide to focus: If you don’t like the sound of silence (not talking about the song) in your workspace, you can always listen to music without lyrics to do complete your task.
Focus on one
task at a time, avoid multitasking: Although, juggling a few task at a time makes
you feel like you have achieved a lot. But it could be quite over whelming because
of the busy schedule. So, prioritize one task and give it your all.
Get your
buddy to help: Focusing to get a work done without distraction is quite hard
and if you have to do it all alone, it gets even more difficult. Ask a friend or
family member to partner up with you so you can keep an eye on each other’s work habits
and accomplishments.
We can do a
task for just 21 days before it becomes a habit, so the first 21 are the
hardest but eventually you’ll get the hang of it so, just don’t over exert and
do your job as best as you can.
