Top Ways to Overcome Procrastination

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Top Ways to Overcome Procrastination

Do you find yourself procrastinating often? Here are some top ways to overcome procrastination.

Just for a moment, consider how much time you spend thinking about things you should do (but are putting off).

Think about the energy you waste tinkering around with “other stuff” when you are deferring tasks that you will – at some point – have to do. Rather a waste of time and energy - no?

When we catch ourselves procrastinating, wouldn’t it be nice to have ways to draw ourselves out of that pit? Well, here are the top ways to overcome procrastination:

Make a Plan

Once you start procrastinating, it tends to become worse. As the time drags on, your motivation wanes even further. You start to think about the fact that this task probably won’t get handled and starting on it today may not even be worthwhile. In fact, this one act of procrastination may start a domino effect of procrastination.

Nip it in the bud.

Don’t think about the wasted time. Sit down immediately and make a plan for the remainder of the day. (It doesn’t matter if there is not much of it left.) Start a cycle of proactively and get at least one thing completed on this task. While you are at it, plan for tomorrow.

Think of the Consequences

This is not a pleasant one. These may have already been rolling around in the back of your mind – and progressively bringing you down – but, now bring them to the fore and spell them out for yourself:

• What will happen if you don’t do this?
• What are you missing out on by wasting this time now?

Take Action

This doesn’t have to be the task in its entirety. It doesn’t have to be the first part of the task. Simply take a small and manageable piece and do it. At least it is a start and it can help you build up some momentum.

Set Up a Reward System

Think of an activity that you would like to do today, for example, exercise, read, visit a friend etc. One of the top ways to overcome procrastination is to make that a reward for achieving at least one task. Now you have a motivating factor to get something done.

When you are procrastinating you are usually doing one of the following three:

• Aimlessly tinkering about i.e. wasting time
• Something that you probably need to do, but don’t like doing either – it is just better than the real task at hand
• Something that you like, but with guilt nagging at the back of your mind

Whatever the case, find something you love to do, decide you can do it if you achieve your undesirable task (or at least a part of it) and get started.

Maintain Focus on One Thing

One of the downfalls that cause procrastination in the first place is trying to cover too many bases at once. You start off on a number of different tasks and don’t really complete any of them. Multi-tasking is inefficient and not reaching any milestones drags your motivation levels down.

Don’t keep thinking about all of the things you need to complete. Focus on one of them. It will seem more manageable and is more likely to get you to sit down and start.

So, if you are procrastinating, grab onto at least one of these options, get involved and get started. Life will be more enjoyable, smoother and you will have more time and energy to do what you enjoy!

Top Ways to Overcome Procrastination was contributed by Juliet du Preez

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