How do you fight procrastination?

Hi Alyssa,

Read following lines.

Avoiding procrastination tips

1.Build your knowledge of procrastination.
What do you procrastinate on? What activities do you turn to when you are procrastinating? Keep a notebook handy and, next time you notice you are procrastinating, take notes on what you are procrastinating on and what activities you turn to.

For example, I used to procrastinate by watching TV. Now I set goals around reducing my TV time - this reduces my procrastination. By keeping tabs on your procrastination you build your awareness of procrastination.

Procrastination Habit

-Do you think you work best under pressure?
-Do you need the pressure of a deadline to get motivated?
-If so, then you could be addicted to the last minute adrenaline
rush. This can increase your stress and reduce the quality of
output.

2.Think and plan on paper.
If you don't think and plan on paper then you are keeping it all in your head.

This can magnify how much you have to do and overwhelm you - a major cause of procrastination. Thinking on paper reduces stress and feelings of being overwhelmed. Whether you download an action plan to plan on paper, see how these tips on how to overcome procrastination assist when you are overwhelmed.

3.Take small steps.
What do you do when you are faced with a mountain of work? Do you dive in or put it off till another day? If you are a procrastinator the latter excuse may be all too familiar.

How do you eat a large elephant?.....One step at a time. So you need to break the important task into smaller chunks!

Sure, you may not have a spare 4 hours!

But setting mini-goals allows you avoid the "I haven't got time to do that now" procrastination excuse. Break your tasks into bite-sized chunks of about 20 minutes.

Research shows that by setting small concrete steps to achieve tasks that you are 8 times more likely to do them. I talk more about setting goals to beat procrastination.

4.Create a sense of urgency.
Creating a sense of urgency is the opposite of procastination.

This includes setting goals, making clear deadlines, and reinforcing successful habits. See these procrastination strategies to create a sense of urgency.

5.Know your causes of procrastination.
Why do you procrastinate? Is it because of unclear goals, shifting priorities, or a lack of confidence?

Often the identification of the causes of foibles and habits is a good approach to overcoming a habit.

There are also many unhelpful unwritten rules and assumptions that may cause procrastination - such as perfectionism or a fear of failure. I talk more about this at why do people procrastinate?

Hope these tips will be very usefull.

Reference: http://www.effective-time-management-strategies.com/avoiding-procrastination....

Abid Mahmood
Software Architect.
Provide Software Solutions.

do one thing. however small. move the ball forward. getting started is the hardest part. so take a baby step...

We all procrastinate don't we? I ask myself 'why am I procrastinating' until I get to the root cause. I often find I procrastinate when I don't know how to get something done. I therefore need some clear space to think it through to a logical real action. Othertimes I procrastinate because I've over committed and need to uncommit.

http://beatingtarget.com

I like Mr. Mahmood's answer but I feel the only really important item he listed was number 4 "creating a sense of urgency".

When I list my goals for the day I assign a priority level to the important items and I also assign a reward to each item. An example is "before lunch". That means I don't eat until the task is done. You can't get much more urgent than that. Other rewards are "before I go home" and "before I check my e-mail again".

Longer term goals carry rewards like "before I take another day off" or "before I watch football on TV".

If you develop the discipline to honor the reward structure your productivity can increase tremendously.

One way is to do do all your procrastinating later.

Every day, do what you dislike first.

Set a personal deadline 3-5 days ahead of the original project deadline.

Set milestone events and milestone dates to keep you on track.

If you find yourself procrastinating on many issues, this indicates that you are not working on issues that you are uniquely suited for. You should discuss this with your supervisor, or consider finding other employment. Continuing to work under current circumstances will only further frustrate you and may lead to performance issues.

To protect your confidence, operate only in areas of your unique ability. (This last sentience is attributable to The Strategic Coach Program, Chicago, IL).

I've found the following inspiring and helpful:

"If the first thing you do when you wake up each morning is eat a live frog, nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day".

The 'frog' in this case is the most difficult task you have to do, the one that you're most likely to procrastinate on.

www.eatthatfrogmovie.com

I first would look at the task that I am procrastinating on, then deal with the root cause of the problem. Now that you have that understanding, you can follow some of the other great ideas provided.

Personally, I schedule a meeting to review the information then set taswk reminders on all my devices, work and personal so that I can dedicate the time necessary to complete the work so that it can be reviewed on the timeline dictated by me.

One other thing that you could do is to delegate the work to one of youre employees assuming you have some and they have the skill set to be successful at completing the task in a timely manner that would only put you in the monitoring role insteas of the performing role. Becareful not to just dump work on people.

Procrastination is a symptom, do not fight it, understand the cause.

Alyssa, what a great question! I think it really matters what it is you're procrastinating from. Since this is a professional online forum, I am going to assume that you're talking about doing work. I actually had this conversation with a coworker of mine a few weeks ago and she made a very interesting point, she told me that my contribution has a huge impact on the fact of the company. After all, it is up to me to talk to people, engage them. In reality it's a pretty big deal. She told me that it is up to me how people perceive us and whether or not they want to talk to us. This really struck a chord with me because often times, whether you're working in a huge corporation or a small business, it's hard to remember that what you do actually does change something and does matter. So that is my answer to you, try to remember that the work you do is valuable.

Also, after having read some of the other answers here, I agree with a lot of them. If you're faced with doing a nasty task and you're trying to avoid it, hold your breath, jump in, and get it done. The longer you wait, the more annoying it's going to seem and the longer it will take you to do it. Plus, wouldn't you want to get everything done right away and then have some time to yourself to do what you really need to do or better yet, what you WANT to do?

Hope that helped and good luck!

Rita
Adar IT

Alyssa,

Here are some ideas from a piece I wrote on my blog a few months ago ...

- Concentrate on priorities. Time does fly by, but it doesn’t run out – only our ability to use it effectively slips away. Decide what you want to do with time, and what you want to accomplish, then you can focus on priorities.

- Take responsibility for how you allocate your time. Manage it aggressively. Say “no” to interruptions. Don’t allow interruptions – no matter how urgent they may seem at the time – to get you off track. While there may be times where you cannot refuse, in others simply say “no” to avoid taking responsibility for tasks that yield control of your time to others, and keep focused on what’s really important.

Those of us who are effective time managers put forth the effort and are diligent practitioners – we are patient, committed and willing to stay the course to get the big payoff – delivering on commitments and results.

Just advance the dates the things are due (this must remain secret even after because if it comes to be known, it won't work anymore and could be far more desastrous).

As a time liberator, I teach my clients that the only difference between prioritization and procrastination is how feel about it. Both are making a decision to do one activity before another. When we feel bad we call it procrastination when we feel good about it we call it prioritization.

When you feel bad, look at the activity you did versus the one you didn't and ask yourself:

Did I make a good decision about completing the activity that was done?

If yes, stop beating yourself up - it was prioritization.

If no, why did you make the choice? We tend to take the path of least resistance. ID the resistance and you'll move ahead.

- Are you missing information? Make finding it a separate
task
- Is it an activity you dislike? Delegate or trade with
someone who enjoys it
- Don't know where to start? Task 1 is break it down into
managable tasks
- Can't execute to your standards? Start it, allow yourself
to do it poorly as a learning exercise then evolve it.
- Don't have the education/tools? ID what's needed,ID a
resource and move ahead
- Is intuition telling me it is not the right time or
activity? Listen more closely, intuition might be telling
you what to do.
- Is it something you think you should do but not something
you want or need to do? Chances are the activity can be
dropped - it is someone else's priority not yours. Time to
say "No". You can do it gracefully and when it is done
honestly, everyone is better off

It easier to do it and be done with it. That way there is no gnawing feeling I ought to do this, and the good feeling I won't need to do it.

This is an excellent question for today's world in that I don't believe we recognize how much modern technology is an enabler. Butch is so right - turn off the notifications and schedule email and internet time.
I am as guilty as the next in thinking answering a few emails will only take a moment. Before I know it, the ease of clicking an eye catching link, web-searching for support for a new thought, skimming the latest news briefs I subscribe to, checking social media .... etc., etc., etc., all of these are distractions and unplanned activities devouring more of my time than I would like to acknowledge.
I am glad I stumbled upon this question as a reminder to refresh prioritization each morning and evening. Susan, I am sorry to say that your techniques seem quite enabling as well, so I will stick to Abid and the others' tips to guide me back on the straight and narrow path to productivity.

Building on Susan's answer when we procrastinate we are certainly making a choice to do something that feels easier rather than some thing that feels harder.

Interestingly enough we are very rarely conscious of what is 'harder' about the thing we are choosing not to do. I try myself when something feels difficult to use a mindfulness technique and stay with the experience of difficulty and see what emerges.

Very often the simple act of enquiring into what is really behind the idea of 'difficult' is enough to liberate us from acting automatically and unconsciously. Usually it is some sense that we will not be able to do it or it will have some result we are scared about. Once the deeper issue is on the surface it is much easier to decide whether to carry out the action or not.

Very good discussion.

Bob

As Alex Dail says, "It's easier to do it and be done with it." Ask me again in a couple of weeks when I'm less busy.

Michael Schwartz.

I've been collecting productivity and anti-procrastination techniques for the past 10 years or so.

One crucial element is that time is not fungible. Read more here:
http://wiki.dandascalescu.com/essays/best-productivity-motivation-and-anti-pr...

@ Fred : Just ask Frenchies, there are plenty of frog receipes !

Put the 15 minute rule into use. Do the "nasty task" for 15 minutes. At the end of those 15 minutes, you can 1) give yourself a pat on the back for getting started and then pick it up later, 2) get up and do something enjoyable or rewarding, or 3) continue.

Most people who proscratinate, like me, find the hardest thing to do is get started! Fifteen minutes is a short managable period of time. My mind can wrap around it and I know I can "walk away". What I have found it that after 15 minutes I am in the right mindset and feel a small sense of accomplishment (I am over the hump) and I just keep working on the task. Not that I get it done necessarily, but I am well on my way!

Cheers!

I generally put it off till tomorrow.

This link came to me in an email from a coworker, struck a chord so clicked thru - I'm procrastinating. I read the responses; didn't learn anything really that I haven't heard before - I'm procrastinating. And now I am answering this question instead of doing what I need to be doing so I am procrastinating - again.

With anything in life, if it is worth doing, it is worth doing well and on time. I'm going to stop procastinating (for now anyway) and just do what I should be doing for at least '15 minutes.'

Just do it!

@ Karen. Do not feel guilty as we're all the same.
And, Karen, keep in mind that you have a full life ahead of you to think about procrastination !

Fight it! I usually just curl up in a foetal position and play dead until it gives up and moves on. I know I could never win!

Alyssa,

I suggest first step (1)with use a Black Pen then cross it out on all the dictionaries within your reach (2) make a list of priorities and arrange them ACCORDINGLY (by rank, by date, ) start with a short list say 1-5.. overtime if you can handle 1-10 and ,,,

Till then...