Personal Development, Time Management

Successfully Manage Procrastination

Surely you procrastinate at one time or another – or maybe all the time. Guilty? Only occasionally? Still guilty! The good thing is you can find some helpful tips here for managing this habit.

Getting your tasks accomplished right on time is a good sign that you have full control over yourself and your life. You’ll enjoy the feeling of having more control over your life! You’ll be free from that familiar chaos that follows each time a deadline looms, much more if you finish a task late.

The following steps can help you put procrastination in its place – in your past:

1. It’s largely about the pain:

Now or later? Do you want to suffer now or suffer later? Those who get things done on time would rather just get it over with. Those who procrastinate would rather wait.

As a procrastinator, you usually get active when the pain of doing it is less than the pain of not doing it. The ironic thing is that by waiting, the pain is far greater than if the task would’ve been managed earlier.
Getting it done now just makes so much more sense. You’ll suffer less in the long run and you won’t have the mental challenge of the task hanging over your head for days or weeks.

2. Change your mindset:

Focus on how good you’ll feel when you’ve accomplished a task, instead of thinking about how much you don’t want to do it!

Try to associate as much positive feeling as you can about getting it done and out of the way. When you can think about the task and feel positive about it, it’s as good as finished.
By the same token, try to associate pain to get it done late or at the last minute. Imagine how it will feel if you’re late. What would the consequences be?

3. Just get started:

It can be very difficult to even get started on a large task. Do whatever you need to do to make yourself just start on the task. Once you get going, you can establish some momentum, and then it’s not usually so bad.

Try setting up a schedule where you do 10% each day or reward yourself for getting a certain amount accomplished.
Frequently you’ll find that if you can just get started, it’s not nearly as challenging as you anticipated. The first step always seems to be the toughest.

3. Get some help:

Sometimes involving other people can be motivational. Maybe a friend can assist you in getting your task done. Feeling like you’re not all alone in the situation can ease the challenge of completing the task in question.

4. Make a list of the ways you waste time:

Being aware of the things you tend to do instead of the things you should be doing will make it easier to catch yourself when you stray.

Some common ways of wasting time would include television, surfing the internet, email, shopping trips with no real purpose, and more. If you know your tendencies, you’ll be able to spot them more easily.

5. Track your progress at the end of each day:

You wouldn’t try to lose weight without getting on the scale once in a while. Measure your progress so you can really see where you are, every day.

Procrastination doesn’t have to be an integral part of your life. Focus on how good you’ll feel to have it done and out of the way. The tips above are a good starting point. Stop relying on stress-induced adrenaline as motivation to take action. You’ll feel a much greater sense of control over your life. Don’t delay. Get started with these tips right away, right now!

Caitlin Fillmore

Cait is a former nonprofit executive with extensive fundraising and marketing experience in human service, healthcare, arts, religious, and animal organizations. Throughout her career, Cait focused on elevating transparency and storytelling at nonprofits in Iowa and California. Cait studied journalism at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa and worked as a reporter before her nonprofit career. Born and raised in the Midwest, Cait moved to California in 2017. She now works as a freelance writer and spends her free time cooking and cheering on the Chicago Bears. You can view her work at www.caitlinslhfillmore.com.

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Successfully Manage Procrastination

The following steps can help you put procrastination in its place – in your past:

1. It’s largely about the pain:

2. Change your mindset:

3. Just get started:

3. Get some help:

4. Make a list of the ways you waste time:

5. Track your progress at the end of each day:

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