10 LIFE HACKS FOR STOPPING PROCRASTINATION
“Why did I not do this earlier? I could have saved a lot of energy and time”. We say this every time we end up doing things at the last minute only to end up in that same position again. This is the plight of a procrastinator. Is procrastination ruining your life? Then this article is for you as we would be looking at some “hacks” that could help you rid yourself of the habit.
What is Procrastination and how do you know you are a Procrastinator?
Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word “procrastinate” as to put off intentionally or habitually or to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done. The end result is that important tasks are put off for a later time.
There are a couple of things procrastinators have in common and if you do these things too there is a 99% chance that you are one. Do you…
- Hit your snooze button over and over again?
- Wait for the very last minute to do things?
- Always arrive late for appointments?
- Have a messy or unorganized room/house/workplace?
- Spend too much time dreaming and thinking about the future?
- Spend most of your time on social media?
- Leave things until tomorrow?
- Give lousy excuses for not getting things done?
- Always fail to reach your goals or hit your targets?
If your answer to most of these questions is a yes, from one procrastinator to another “nice to meet you”. Now we have a basic understanding of what the problem is, let us talk about practical solutions to prevent it from ruining our lives.
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Have a breakdown for the work you need to do
One of the major reasons we tend to put off work for later is because they are overwhelming at first. Dividing it into bits and focusing on one part at a time could help you get the work done. It’s obviously easier to eat small chunks of bread at a time than eating the whole loaf.
Apply this principle and you will find yourself getting the job done just in time. For example, I am to write an article, I could breakdown the job into smaller tasks such as choosing a topic, researching, creating an outline, drafting the article, writing the article, proofreading.
Change your working environment
Many people fail to understand how their working environment affects their attitude to work. Take a look at your workspace or room, does it make you feel like working or sleeping when you have work to do? If the latter is your answer, you should consider making adjustments.
Create detailed timelines with specific deadlines
Setting one deadline for a task doesn’t stop procrastination because a procrastinator will end up pushing all the work till that deadline is due. This has a direct relationship with the first tip for it to be effective.
Create an overall timeline for the work to be done, then set specific deadlines for the small tasks. This should be created with a sense of urgency to the deadlines to ensure you don’t put off tasks till a later time and disrupting the entire plan.
Eliminate things that make it easy for you to procrastinate
Identify things that make you put off work for later and maybe not necessarily get rid of them but put them in check, depending on what it may be.
The most common could be spending too much time on social media, it may be extreme to delete your social media accounts but you could keep yourself in check by using the “Do Not Disturb” feature on your phone to avoid receiving notifications for the duration of your work.
It could even be the sight of your bed that makes pick sleep over the task at hand, you could move your work to a different room; one without a bed.
Hang out with people who inspire you to act
Identify your friends, colleagues or course mates that inspire you to do the work. Hang out more often with them and you will pick up the habit in no time.
Get somebody that will hold you accountable
Getting yourself a companion or buddy with whom you share your goals and timelines will help keep you in check because you will be held accountable.
Preferably it should be someone you respect and wouldn’t want to disappoint and it’s best when that friend also has goals for which you would hold him/her accountable. Trust me it works like magic.
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Tell people around you about your goals and projects
When you tell people around you such as family and friends about your goals they are bound to ask about it from time to time and this serves for accountability too.
Re-evaluate your goals
Sometimes the reason you procrastinate might be a lack of proper understanding of your goals and what you really want. At that point, it is important to take a step back and ask some questions like what do you want to achieve? How do you achieve it?
These questions help you align yourself with your goals and in the long run cut down on procrastination.
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Stop complicating things for yourself
Waiting for a perfect time to do things will only complicate things for you and make you procrastinate. Get rid of that perfectionist thought because there is no perfect time to do the work and if you keep waiting for one it may never come.
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Reward yourself
You can choose to give yourself rewards for getting things done on time. It could be anything as long as it keeps you motivated to stay on course to do the work and not procrastinate.
Conclusion
Now it is important to understand that no matter the number of steps you take to curb your habit of putting off work for later, it all comes down to taking action. No amount of planning, thinking and strategizing will get the job done until you choose to take action. So I implore you to take action and get the job done today.
Thanks for reading guys. Kindly leave your comments below and don’t forget to share
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