In part one we learned of some reasons why we procrastinate and what effects it can have. At the end of the post I outlined how important it is to accept that we choose to procrastinate and to make a conscious decision to do something about it.
Photo by: tomsaint11
Here I share 15 tips that I have found to be useful to me or that have helped my friends and family in beating procrastination. Some of the tips I share may be useful, whilst some may be completely irrelevant and some may come in handy ten years down the road.
- Prioritize: you either procrastinate or you take action. Decide which of your tasks are the most urgent and important, then take action on it.
- Write it down: create a to-do list. This not only makes sure you have a record of what needs to be done, but will also get you in a habit of doing those things. Plus there is a added sense of accomplishment in crossing the task off your list, no matter how small
. - Toss out your old habits: as the saying famously goes “old habits die hard” – we all build up a tome of bad habits over time, and I think it’s about time you give those up and adapt more effective and better habits.
- Keep it simple: sometimes we procrastinate if things get too complicated. We tell ourselves things like “this will take me some time, I’ll do it later”. Break up your tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks. Try and simplify your life and your workspace.
- Falling behind doesn’t mean failure: If you fall behind in what you’re trying to do then don’t give up – don’t let those old habits take over your hard work. Pick up from where you left off, if you missed two tasks today then aim to complete three tomorrow – two from yesterday and one from today.
- Divide and conquer: so you have a lot on your plate, well you can’t do it all yourself. Delegate the less important tasks – explain what you need done and why, and get their commitment. You get to spend more time on tasks more important to you, whilst the other, less important (but necessary) tasks still get done.
- Seek help: if you’re having trouble getting something done and you can’t delegate it, don’t agonize over the problem repeatedly – seek advice. Who else is there that has expertise in your area? What resources do you have access to?
- I want to spend time with my friend/spouse: we all want to spend time with our loved ones but don’t let that become the excuse for not doing your work. Let your friends (and spouse) know the dates you absolutely cannot make. Similarly if there is a special event you really want to attend then schedule your work around that.
- Say no: This builds upon the previous points, there are times where you just cannot make exceptions and have to say no. If there are two conflicting tasks then pick the one that’s more urgent and discard the other.
- Commitments, oh commitments: there comes a time when we just take on too much. Don’t stretch yourself too thin, temporarily this may be okay but over the long run this is not good for your work or your health.
- What is so urgent?: especially in business, everything may seem urgent but is it? Not everything that you are told is urgent, filter out the truly urgent from the rest and work accordingly.
- “You’ve got mail”: Voice mails and emails often distract us away from our actual work. Respond to the important messages and schedule time aside for your the rest at the end of the day, after you’ve finished your work.
- Do what you hate first: there are tasks that we just don’t like doing, get these done and over with first and then the rest.
- Morning, afternoon or night?: Are you more productive in the morning? If so, then do the most difficult or boring tasks then, when you have the most energy.
- Stop overbooking: I used to do this, as I am sure a lot of you do as well. We constantly try and cram as much as we can in our agendas and calendars. The overbooking then becomes another excuse to not do something. Set aside a fixed number of hours per day/week where you will devote time to what is important to you.
As you can see from the list, beating procrastination does not have to mean a radical change of your lifestyle. Instead, what I propose via these tips is to be able to manage life better (or at least one aspect of it). Doing so will result in being under less stress and being generally more satisfied with your life.
Procrastination, if gone ignored, can result in losing out on time, wasting resources and missing opportunities.
Do you any additional tips? How do you beat procrastination? Let us know in the comments
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Tags: procrastination, productivity, tips