Procrastination: 15 Tips to Beat it
“We shall never have more time than the time we have now. We have, and have always had, all the time that is available to us. No object is served in waiting until tomorrow or next week. Keep going day in and day out. Concentrate on something useful. Having decided to achieve a task, achieve it with due diligence and you’ll feel the satisfaction.” Peter/CXO, Wiz4.biz
ProCrastination Topics: To-Do List, Smaller Tasks, Time, Rules, Tuff Stuff, just get Started, Note, Break, un-Sociable, Rewards, Timing, Habits, Feelings, Anti-P,
ProCrastination is the curse of many of us growing up — from grade to graduate school to guru. It can certainly lead you down the dark road of bad experience & failures. But there are ways that you can deal with that nasty procrastination. Check out what these and see if you can adapt any for your own use. So don’t procrastinate – Let’s get started !!!
do a To Do List
Make a list of things that need to get done and put a priority on each. Work thru each step by step. Don’t make it a list of major things, make it a list of smaller do-able things and work through them. Take short breaks between them to build your confidence in your abilities.
“Break Tasks into smaller components
(if you can) Smaller tasks are less stressful and are quicker to complete. Completing them makes you feel more satisfied, cause you got it done.
Value your Time
Examine your To Do List to determine if you’re doing things that aren’t going to be helpful in the long run. Determine and mark your priorities, then stick with them.
Set Rules and Stick to them.
What do you do when you should be doing something productive from your To Do list? Tell yourself you can’t have your reward (game, social media, texting, etc), until you start or finish your task.
Don’t avoid the Tuff Stuff.
Knowing it has to get done, but know you’re not going to enjoy it, is a dilemma, so make a di Lemon Aide. Get it over with now and get it behind you, then give yourself a reward for doing it.
Just get Started !!!
Whatever task it is you don’t want to do, just do it for a few minutes. Don’t want to write that report? Just do a pair of graphs or more. If – by the end of that time – you’re still not motivated, then move on. Chances are, that by the end of that time, you’ll want to get started and will go longer procrastinate.
Put a “Do it Now” sticky note
on your Computer, if you normally procrastinate. Then when you got distracted, sidetracked, or have talked yourself out of doing something, the note will stare at you. Is this task a priority item that needs to be done now or should you be working on something more important. On your To-Do list, number the order that you should to things in.
Give yourself a Break.
Take breaks every 30-45 minutes of work and come back to it after a 5 minute break. A break will clear your mind and re-energize you.
Be a little un-Sociable –
if you’re a slave to it or get distracted a lot by Social Media. Try a Rewards system to motivate you not to get distracted. Every time you finish one unit of your work, take a physical break or Surf the Web for a short amount of time, so you wont have withdrawal.
Make your Distractions, your Reward.
You may think that if you take away your distractions, you’ll just be bored until you do whatever you need to do. Using your normal distractions as your Reward system should make you feel motivated.
Time Yourself,
to prevent you from getting distracted. Whether you use your distractions (games, social media, texting, etc) as a Reward or just take a break, set a time to do it, but keep it short, so you can go back to the important task you’re working on.
Be Timely.
The key to not procrastinating is to get off Social Media (or your other distractions) Do your work by priority or as soon as you get them (if you can get it done quickly).
Form good Habits,
when it comes down to disciplining yourself and establishing a good routine. Schedule your work & free time, then actively stick to it. Once you do this for a while, you’ll develop a habit of doing it always.
How do you feel when you Procrastinate?
When you get a new task, remember how you felt when you procrastinated on a previous task. Do you want that feeling again or do you want to feel satisfied – that you got you task done in a timely way that met your goals.
Become a Anti-Procrastinator
to defeat Procrastinating by becoming an anti-Procrastinator. When you see others procrastinating, point it out to them. Challenge them to a duel of who can finish first. You’ll both win.
Conclusion:
In general, think what kind of worker that you want to be. Spend time analyzing about the way you act, think & react to the tasks of your life. Every time you think something is hard, remember that everything you’ve ever thought has happened inside on just a handful of cubic inches of squishy organic material. So, while it’s contrived, the physical distance between failing to be the way you want, and being the way you want is really, really small. And that helps you remember how easy it can be to change your behavior.”
The Road to/from Procrastination.
Just think of it this way, whenever you’re about to procrastinate and imagine you are at crossroads. You’re gonna suffer temporarily from fighting the urge to procrastinate on the first road. You’re gonna suffer in the long-term on the other road. So which will you choose? Choose now. Don’t procrastinate. LoL
Comments: Do you have any other wisdom to share about how you won your battle with procrastination?
from “Four Tests” Blog 2/19 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4.biz
For more Info, click on ProCrastination.