Ahsan Gardezi
Here’s the truth: procrastination is productivity’s worst enemy. Waiting until the last minute can lead to subpar work, especially if the assignment is more intense than you anticipated. Here’s how to overcome procrastination and become more productive.
Also Read: Become More Valuable To Your Company While Working Online
Nearly everyone puts off tasks from time to time, but chronic procrastination can be seriously detrimental to your work performance. Sure, you know procrastination is bad—but how do you move past it?
If you’re looking for ways to become more focused and productive at work, try adapting to the following life-pointers!
Do The Hardest Thing First
Do the hardest thing first every day. No excuses. Spoiler alert: “hard” is rarely about technical difficulty. It’s what you are avoiding—conflict, reflection, writing or having a difficult conversation.
Once you’ve tackled it, the rest of the day feels like a gift. Really! The results become so addictive that procrastinators become volunteer advocates for excitement. Aligning attention and action with values helps too.
Eliminate Distractions
In a world with so many digital distractions, many find that social media and other communication vehicles disrupt the work environment.
The first step to ensuring you don’t get side-tracked is to turn off all those electronics and, more importantly, schedule your work. Forecast how much time it will take you to execute each goal and/or project and book that time into your calendar.
Ask Yourself What ‘Future You’ Would Say
Procrastination dogs all of us sometimes. The strategy that works in most cases, is to schedule everything we mean to do, and then surrender fully to our calendars.
If you find yourself ignoring the calendar alert for some task, ask yourself, “What will future you say tomorrow?” If present you would rather surf Twitter, maybe future you would like to weigh in. This inquiry usually ends with future you winning!
Look For A ‘Procrastination Buddy’
Look for someone like you, set some time during the week, and keep each other accountable for work done.
Have a quick call before you start and set goals for that meeting. Set the alarm for the time you agreed and turn off all notifications. After that, have a quick call again to check if all things got done, and to schedule your next meeting.
This works for us ProPakistanis!
Acknowledge Your Stress And Commit To Working For Five Minutes
Just start by taking one action or step toward the goal. A body in motion stays in motion and a body at rest stays at rest. Newton’s first law directly applies here.
Overthinking, perfectionism and focusing too heavily on the “whole” can stop us in our tracks. Break down the project or task. Commit to a chunk of time to just move on with one item. Then just move on to the next item and let momentum do its magic.
Procrastination is a habit. One way to change the habit is to change your perspective. Don’t think about the task itself, but the results or benefits that will come as a result of completing it.
When we see a task (even if it is unpleasant) in context of something bigger that matters to us, we can be intentional and conscious about it, rather than relying on our habit of “I’ll do it later.”
Last Word | How To Overcome Procrastination And Become More Productive
If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you’ve got a lot of “yes, buts” going on. Chronic procrastination is about contradictory thoughts to a desire.
Focus and productivity naturally come by choosing thoughts aligned with your intentions and desired outcomes. It’s similar to getting in your car and wanting to go somewhere. To go there, you drive in that direction—you don’t go someplace else.
Practice the above-mentioned life-pointers to remove what’s negative in your workplace. Prioritize your surroundings by instilling tranquillity and innovation at all fronts of work! Don’t think about the task itself, but the results or benefits that will come as a result of completing it.
We’d like to repeat something here: The strategy that works in most cases, is to schedule everything we mean to do, and then surrender fully to our calendars. Please ponder.
Then preach!
Well, there you have it guys! This was all about how to overcome procrastination and become more productive. If you have any questions, drop a comment in the section provided below.
Good luck!
