How To Curb Procrastination?

Do you have a deadline looming but you are reading this article instead? Guilty? You don’t need to be because you are going to get your priorities straight at the end of this article.

Procrastination is when you know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything. We are all familiar with this feeling and we have all procrastinated in some phase of our life. We squander away our free time fiddling with unimportant things and put off an important task that we should be doing instead. For instance, you might be binge watching on Netflix instead of preparing your presentation for the board meeting tomorrow.

Although procrastination is a common phenomenon, chronic procrastination can be miscellaneous. Procrastinating on a task can not only bring end-minute stress and anxiety but can also foster depression, low self-esteem and disable you from reaching your goals. It stops you from being who you want to be. And that is why it must be ended.

However, the good news is, overcoming procrastination is not that a complex effort when you put your mind to it. We have listed certain practical steps that can help you curb the procrastination.

Get to the root cause.

This is the most important step of all. If you only realise why you procrastinate half the battle is already won. Maybe you procrastinate because you fear the task. You might dislike maths and thus you don’t want to finish your Algebra assignment. Or you might just not consider the task important and not feel motivated to complete it. Whatever your reasons are you must identify them in order to curb them and get yourself to be productive.

Meditation buries negative emotion.

You would realise that the root causes of procrastination are two of the deadliest negative emotions, fear and laziness. 15 minutes of inhaling and exhaling in the morning will sweep away the negativity and help you harness these unhealthy emotions. So meditation be the first task in the morning and reboot your energy to kick start a fresh and productive day.

Create a to-do list.

Now that you have started out fresh, let’s create a fresh routine as well. Yes! Create an old school to-do list. This is an effective way to know what you have in-hand for the day. List down everything you have to do along with the deadlines. Adding deadlines to your task is actually important because it keeps driving a push within you. Make sure your deadlines are feasible and not too short cause you don’t want to get stressed and procrastinate again.

Break down tasks.

Part of the reason why we procrastinate is because subconsciously, we find the work too overwhelming for us. No worries. Break them down into little parts and do one thing at a time. Soon you will realise that the task was way simpler than you’ve thought. Also, don’t forget to give yourself chill time in between before you jump to the next phase of the task.

Reward once you did it.

One way to motivate yourself to accomplish something is to reward yourself with something that you love. It can range anywhere between a beauty nap to a chocolate muffin. Celebrating your accomplishment gives you an up in your esteem and a boost to work better the next time.

Avoid distraction.

Is your WhatsApp buddy texting you while you are in between your task? You need to elope out of everything that opens a door for you to run away. A procrastinator will try to mentally find any excuse to avoid a task. “Oh my friend is texting me about the pizza he ate last night, how exciting.” So not! Whether it is your Facebook, Emails, or Friends who are calling you out of your task. Switching off those siren sounds is the best thing to do.

Recite the end result.

Procrastinators often indulge in self-inflicting lies. One of the common things they say is, “I can always do it later.” Maybe in certain cases that is valid. However, mostly this escape is fatal for your dreams and ambitions. Procrastinators often fail to reach their desired goal and eventually regret not doing the task before.

While having this rage of self-argument always remind yourself why you wanted to do the task in the first place and what its benefits are. Find positive ways to make your task a sweet reaping fruit. Remind yourself that accomplishing your task, big or small, is only going to benefit you and not harm you. Because life-always-rewards-action!

Remember, it’s never too late to start again. So bring your procrastination into submission and be the person you want to be. Start today!