Procrastination is something most of us are accustomed to. While many
shake off the feeling easily, some find it devastatingly difficult to beat
procrastination and get on with their daily work. Putting things off for later
is not only a sign of laziness but it also a sign of boredom, lack of focus,
fear of taking the first step to start a work in hand or might even stem from a
lack of interest in work that you are not passionate about. Instead of
pondering over the “Why”, let’s discuss how to effectively beat procrastination
and get work done.
Although there is no formula to beat procrastination but these five simple steps can help achieve a lot.
1. Morning shows the day
Most of us have a
tendency to wake up and decide to check Twitter or Facebook for 5 minutes
before starting with your daily work. Well you can assure yourself all you want
but those 5 minutes will gradually extend to hours and before you know it, it
sucks you into an alluring web of social media. It is extremely important that
you get rid of this habit completely and start off your day with work or
essential things on your to-do list. Make a deal with yourself that the first
15-30 minutes of the day you will only focus on work no matter how
painstakingly difficult it is. Once you start and get into the work groove, you
will find it easier to focus on work and easier to shut out distractions when
needed. Procrastination loses the battle right in the morning.
2. Strategy
If you often find
yourself missing deadlines or hurriedly finishing off pending work at the last
moment resulting in below-quality work, procrastination is basically limiting
your career growth. To avoid long-term disastrous effects, chalk out a proper
strategy and try your best to implement it. Set your time an hour ahead of
deadlines, due dates on long-term work can be set a week ahead and so on.
Tricking yourself into believing that these are the actual effective deadlines
will help you shrug off procrastination early and help you get your work done
in time. Moreover, it saves you some time to re-do any errors that would
otherwise go unnoticed in a hurry.
3. Accountability
If you have major
issues in settling down to work, have someone nag you about it. Having someone
to watch over and keep checking on your work status from time to time also acts
as a friendly reminder that you have wasted more time than you should and
finally get you going. It is often an effective method and procrastination has
lesser chances of messing up your work if there is accountability.
4. Schedules
Human psychology
works in a weird way. If we set up appointments or dates to meet people, going
somewhere etc. you are less likely to miss those. However, when it comes to
work, we tend to fend it off for later. Self-imposed schedules can work like a
charm here. Fix date or time for things that you need to get done and instead
of planning when to do them, firmly decide you are going to maintain those
schedules no matter what. Self-imposed deadlines work better than random goals
any given day.
5. Just do it
If you are
wondering how to beat procrastination and in all probabilities, you are (why
else would you be here?) the best “technique” that I can suggest is to just go
get your work done. Stop reading articles about beating procrastination and get
on with your work already! Be a go-getter.
Mastering the art
of beating procrastination is the key to attract success.
