The Procrastination Blog

Overcoming procrastination can be extremely difficult for most, but if you know that procrastination is a problem the first step in beating procrastination is telling yourself you’re going at work done. Most procrastinators understand they have a problem with productivity and telling yourself it’s time to quit being lazy and get work done is simply a baby step to living in much more productive life.

By structuring your time you will have a better understanding of why you procrastinate. It is very easy for a procrastinator to buy a calendar or a notebook and tell themselves they are going to start and finish their work with minimal distractions however, whenever they buy that calendar or notebook they put off using it. If you are truly serious about beating procrastination do yourself a favor and do not buy a calendar or a notebook because on the surface it looks like you’ve made a life-changing decision but in reality you always revert to your old self.

There are a couple ways to actually beat procrastination without reverting back to your old self. One way is listing your tasks or work that needs to be completed from the most difficult to easiest. Another way is using time to your advantage, by dictating the hours of the day instead of having the hours dictate you, you will slowly see it changing your behavior. By lessening distractions you will see that beating procrastination is much easier if you have a plan and you actually stick to it, and do not procrastinate sticking to the plan.

Listing Your Tasks

Our workday is filled with several different tasks, and if you list them starting with the most difficult and ending with the easiest you will gain much more confidence in your ability to be productive throughout the entire day. Procrastinators tend to start with something easy and then build their way up to the most difficult task; much like warming up for the rest of the day. If you start and complete the most difficult task of your workday before doing anything else your day will gradually get much more easier. For chronic procrastinator’s this is essential because they are more likely to do the easiest tasks, by completing the most difficult task a procrastinator’s day will feel much more productive then if they completed several easier tasks.

If after completing each task you set out to do during the day you want to take a break then do so because you earned it.

Getting Rid of Distractions

Distractions are why people procrastinate in the first place, if your work is mostly on the computer and you don’t need the Internet; turn it off. The project or task is less likely to get completed when you’re constantly checking your e-mail and going on social networking websites. Getting rid of distractions is a lot easier said than done however, by getting rid of at least one distraction you will be more productive. If the work that needs to be completed requires the Internet then use it only for work related purposes. When you’re finished using Internet turn it off and forget about it, go on to your next project or task.

Time Management

One of the best ways to manage time for procrastinators is to break up work by the hour. Tell yourself or write down what you want to get done within the hour, when the hour is up reflect back what you wanted to accomplish and what actually got done in that hour. Then for the next hour adjust according to your ability to get the work done for the next hour, and continue doing that throughout the day you will see that it’s much better to dictate the hours of the day rather than having the hours dictate the day.

Rome was not built in a day, so therefore beating procrastination takes time, it takes routine, and it takes motivation. These were just some methods that have worked however, they only work if you stick to them and do not tell yourself you’re going to do it and end up not doing it.