5 Ways to Stop Procrastination and Make Sure Things Get Done
Determine when and why you procrastinate to discover which techniques work for you. Create a plan to put an end to procrastination so you can get things accomplished more effectively.
To take effective action, it’s crucial that your motivation comes from within yourself – rather than from outside sources or others. That means motivating yourself to learn and succeed for productive reasons rather than out of fear or pressure from other people.
1. Set a Timer
Timers can be an excellent way to stay focused and on task, helping you combat procrastination. Use an egg timer, digital watch or any other timer that works for you; for instance the Pomodoro method involves working 25-minute increments followed by short breaks – set yourself a goal, reward yourself when the timer rings with a break – giving yourself the motivation needed to complete all tasks successfully.
An additional method for combatting procrastination is reminding yourself of the benefits of finishing a task, from stress relief to impact on future self. By thinking ahead to how your decision to put off work affects who you’ll become later.
If you find it hard to stop procrastinating, remove any triggers that cause it. This might mean turning off your phone or using apps that block distractions. In addition, having someone hold you accountable for accomplishing tasks and goals could be invaluable; whether that be parents, coaches or even coworkers.
2. Make a To-Do List
Many of us struggle with procrastination on an almost daily basis. If this describes your behavior, taking steps to overcome this habit may be essential. A to-do list can be an invaluable way to stay organized, reduce stress levels and ensure all responsibilities are taken care of in a timely manner.
When creating a to-do list, it’s essential that it remains short and concise. Too long of a list may become overwhelming and prevent you from starting; for optimum results, create one with three to five major tasks and some smaller ones; this way you have work to do every day without being overburdened by too much workload.
Setting deadlines for each task on your list can provide extra motivation; knowing that a certain date must pass will keep you focused and moving. Consider what will happen if you put off finishing that presentation for work; perhaps imagining receiving an angry email from your boss or discovering your coworkers were laughing behind your back could serve as extra incentive to get things done on time.
Once you begin working on your to-do list, try to eliminate distractions from your surroundings. While this may be challenging, doing so is necessary if you want everything completed on time – this might require turning off phones, closing social media apps and clearing away distracting spaces in your home or office.
3. Give Yourself a Reward
Procrastinating is usually driven by our fear of an undesirable outcome. This could include feeling incapable of completing work, failing, or being criticized; these fears often cause us to push back deadlines and stockpile tasks resulting in decreased productivity and decreased quality of life.
Once you can identify why you are delaying a task, it can become easier to overcome them. For instance, if procrastination stems from fear of failure, try motivating yourself with goals such as learning or accomplishing something new, or the satisfaction gained after accomplishing a task – these will help overcome fear and help get the ball rolling on it more easily.
Reward yourself when completing a task well by planning to treat yourself after finishing. This could involve anything from eating your favorite snack or watching your favorite film; the key thing is having something specific in mind as motivation when taking on large projects or tasks that cause anxiety.
Stopping procrastination isn’t impossible and is essential to improving the quality of your life. There’s no use in allowing procrastination to become an everyday part of life that affects sleep schedules and leads to health problems, so start practicing these time management tips now if you want a happier tomorrow! The sooner these changes can be implemented the greater will be the impact they’ll have.
4. Break Down Your Tasks
Procrastinating is often due to feeling overwhelmed by all of the work you have to do, so breaking it into smaller tasks may help lessen its difficulty. For example, if writing an essay, try committing just one word at first and giving yourself permission to make mistakes as part of a writing exercise. You could also use techniques such as setting aside enough tools before beginning work or clearing away distractions in your environment to get you moving more easily.
An effective way to break down a task is to focus on its aftermath: how it will make you feel. For instance, when studying for exams, visualizing passing them successfully will give more motivation than being reminded about email notifications from bosses or snacks you might need later.
Rather than giving in to procrastination, use the “count to 10” technique. This works by forcing you to count backwards from 10 before touching your phone or taking any actions which could be considered procrastination. If you can’t stop counting until your deadline arrives, procrastinating will become much harder!
Procrastination can be an alarmingly harmful habit that has major repercussions in both your personal life and career. If this destructive pattern has become an obstacle for you, it’s essential that you recognize this and seek help in order to regain your momentum. There are various solutions for doing this that are fairly simple – with just some effort you can rid yourself of this destructive behavior and return to being an independent and productive member of society once more.
5. Make Your Bed
Make Your Bed to Start the Day Off Right
Procrastination often takes the form of bedtime procrastination – staying up late at night to do things you don’t value such as surfing the Internet, watching television shows or video games even though these will keep you from getting quality restful sleep. Unfortunately, bedtime procrastination can result in poor energy and focus levels, poor health outcomes and depression – serious implications to consider!
Procrastination caused by lack of free time can be addressed by looking at your schedule and cutting out activities that don’t add value or happiness to life, setting a consistent bedtime each night and sticking to it will ensure adequate rest is obtained. Tracking sleep patterns will also provide valuable information regarding when to go to bed and when staying up late is happening; you can then devise an action plan to alter these habits; once established, this should help stop procrastinating and get work completed!
