The reason we procrastinate is simple – we don’t like to feel discomfort and pain. Yet, discomfort is necessary to achieve your goals and have a good life. This is how life is for the most of us.
When we procrastinate, we create more complications on top of an already complicated task. This just leads to a vicious circle of worries, longer working hours, bad sleep, less fun and cold shoulders from your boss. You are always tired and stressed.
“Maybe I should take it easy today. It can wait till tomorrow”
-Everybody
With this in mind, procrastination suddenly sounds like an illogical and stupid thing to do. Yet, we all do it.
To stop procrastinating you need to start thinking fast and slow. Check out how:
Let go of your fear
The deep root of our inclinations towards slacking is fear. We are afraid of the discomfort we are about to feel and our natural defense is to avoid it. Moreover, the fear makes us view the projects harder and more complicated than they actually are. We always need more time to think.
Think less, do more
The truth is you don’t need more time to think. There won’t be a better moment to begin, there won’t be better conditions any time soon. You won’t be better prepared to begin your project later. You need to start now.
As soon as you start doing, you get ideas. You work might not look very well in the beginning, but as you stick to it, you start to get better ideas and solutions. Inspiration comes from doing.
Spend your energy wisely
An average human brain works at full power at most 2-3 hours per working day. It’s at best right after you wake up. Our biggest mistake is to spend our mornings with a coffee and a morning newspaper. You clutter your mind with unnecessary information during the best time of the day for the hardest tasks. News can wait, really. Check out the steps to manage your energy:
- Prioritize your work according to difficulty and finish the hard work first. The rest of the tasks will seem easier.
- Break large projects into smaller chunks and reward yourself for completing each chunk to stay motivated.
- Keep a notebook at your desk and write down everything that comes to your mind during work. This way it’s harder to forget about things you have to do.
- Do one task at a time and avoid multitasking for better focus
- Don’t be a perfectionist. Start doing and you can improve later. Focus on the structure and then it will be easier to fill in the gaps.
Manage your time well
To stop procrastinating you need to improve your time management skills. Along with your energy, time is your most valuable resource. Here’s how:
- Create to-do lists and leave them at your sight.
- Give a time estimate for each task.
- Set a timer with an alarm while working at each of the tasks. If you don’t finish the task before the alarm goes off, move to the next one. Come back to it when you are done with the rest.
Remove distractions from sight
In the digital age, we live in it is very easy to get distracted. Your phone gets notifications all the time, another thing bleeped, something else lit up. You are always tempted to check what it is.
Close Facebook, turn your phone off, leave only the tools necessary to do the task you are working on.
Motivate yourself
Think of short and long-term goals. Think of the immediate benefits of having a project done. For example, you will be paid an X amount of money, or you will earn some credit from your boss. Long-term goals can be a bigger Christmas bonus for exceeding the quota, or that house you want to buy for your family. Use your imagination.
To stop procrastinating you also have to motivate yourself. Reward yourself for completing your tasks on time and punish yourself in case you are not successful. Don’t watch TV or don’t eat sweets.
It works even better when you ask a friend for help. Make deals with your friends. Also, friends are always happy to help you with a good kick to get you back to work!
Summarize your day
Remember those notes we told you to keep during work? Turn them into your work journal. See what went well and what went wrong during the day. Make conclusions on what you can do better tomorrow. Make notes for the next day.
To stop procrastinating, you need to set a routine of these steps. You should put your emotions aside and have a can do mindset. Be kind to yourself. Never forget how awesome you are and how good you are at what you do.
Now stop procrastinating and get back to work!