Four Top Tips to Beat Procrastination

Procrastination is a time and energy drainer. If only we could beat procrastination.

Have you ever experienced having something really important to do and found yourself doing absolutely anything else other than that important task in hand?

You know the impact of not doing something and yet somehow get drawn to the virtually useless tasks of reading emails, watching TV, surfing the internet or a sudden urge to do any easy task which doesn’t really matter.

You’re not alone.

Procrastination affects even the most motivated of people from time to time.

The procrastination can be a result of an underlying fear of failure; so if we never do the task we can never fail is our unconscious thought.

Or we may have simply built a task up in our mind to be bigger and more overwhelming than it actually is.

 

Out of your head and onto the page to Beat Procrastination

Once the mind is cluttered any task can feel overwhelming, however simple. Whether you use post its or a “to do” list, once the tasks are out of your head and on paper the mind is instantly de-cluttered. This allows you to think more clearly and put things in perspective.

Prioritise your Top 10

It is a fact of life that we will never have time to do everything we want or need to do, yet somehow we find time to do the pointless things. It’s only because we can miss what’s important when we get caught in the cycle of doing “stuff”. Work out the 10 things that will give you the most benefit this week and work on those relentlessly.

Put time limits on your tasks

Go through the list you made of your top ten priorities and then put reasonable time estimates on how long you believe you need to complete the task; then stick to those like they are deadlines. It is true that a task expands to fill the time allotted so be strict with yourself.

Create an accountability system and Beat Procrastination

Once you’ve imposed your time limits for your tasks, create a way to be held accountable. Working with a coach is one of the most effective methods for this. If you’re not ready yet to hire a coach, then partner up someone who also wants to move past procrastinating on his or her projects and do a weekly check in.