5 Tips to Avoid Procrastination

What is procrastination? 

Well, procrastination is defined as the habitual or intentional putting off tasks or work for a later date, knowing full well that there will be negative consequences if you don't do it. 

So why do we procrastinate?

Most of the time, we procrastinate because we associate the task with a bad emotional feeling like stress.

 So we avoid or put off the task so that we don't have to confront the emotion that comes with doing the task.

What do I mean by this? Let's say you are a student and have assignments to work on, but the thought of starting fills you with anxiety and stress.

So instead of forging ahead with the task, you choose to postpone it to a later date to avoid the stress that comes with doing the task; this is procrastination.

Well, today, we are going to look into five ways you can avoid procrastinating and be productive.

1. Find out what is causing your procrastination

If you are in the habit of putting off important work for short-term gains, then you need to sit down with a pen and paper and write what you believe could be causing your procrastination.

Whenever you think about doing the work,  what emotions come to your mind,  is it fear of failure, or is it the stress of not completing the task on time. 

Whatever it is, write it down and find a workable solution for it and you are well on your way to curing your procrastination problem.

2. Organize yourself

Keep it organized, whether it's your desk or bedroom, wherever you are doing the task. 

You are very likely to procrastinate when your workspace is disorganized, not only your workspace but your work.

Organize your work and invest in a planner if you can or download a free one from the Internet.

The point is to put your work in such a way that you can handle your tasks more effortlessly. 

3. Break down your tasks into small manageable pieces

Let's face it when you look at cleaning your whole house, especially when you have several rooms to cover, you are most likely to postpone cleaning it. Still, when you decide to clean it one room at a time, beginning with the most untidy one to the least, you are more likely to finish faster.

The point am trying to make here is to break down your tasks so that you don't look at them as huge mountains you have to climb but as small hills, you can quickly plow through. 

4. Eliminate distractions 

These days there are a lot of things that can keep you distracted. One major one is mindlessly scrolling through social media, which can take up a considerable amount of your time and lead you to procrastinate.

So put down that phone and eliminate all other distractions, prioritize your work over everything else, and before you know it, you will be done with it, and you have no need to procrastinate.

5. Set goals with deadlines 

The "I will do it tomorrow" mentality is what leads to the habit of procrastination. Postponing tasks eventually leads to the task never getting done.

To curb this, you need to set goals with specific dates and times to complete them. 

You should also set yourself a reward mechanism such that once you complete a task at a given time, you either take a break or reward yourself with a treat or a nice walk in the park. 

Conclusion 

Alright, these are the 5 ways you can tackle this procrastination monster. Please feel free to reach out to us for more information on this subject because this is something we are passionate about, and we would love to help you out.