Procrastination At Its Finest

Procrastination At It’s Finest

Forgive Yourself

What does procrastinate mean? Procrastinate means to delay or postpone action. Are you someone who procrastinates? Many of us have a proclivity to procrastinate, and no matter how often we chastise ourselves for waiting until the last minute to pack for a vacation, book a flight, or pay our taxes, we keep doing it again and again. If you’re ready to put an end to procrastination and get ahead of the game, you’ve come to the right place.

I’m going to share my finest procrastination tactics and strategies with you in this post, and we’ll start with forgiveness today. I understand that this seems like an odd place to begin, but it is a vital first step. Here’s why the first step should always be forgiving yourself for procrastinating.

Learn From The Past

Here’s the deal: Nothing can be done about the past except to learn from it. It does you no good to beat yourself up for not sticking to your goal-setting plan. In fact, the reverse is true. You make things worse by stressing yourself out and engaging in negative self-talk. Those anxious sentiments will reinforce your habit of procrastinating in the future.

Tell Yourself It’s Alright

Tell yourself that it’s acceptable the next time you find yourself procrastinating. It isn’t the end of the world as we know it. Say it out loud, and then promise yourself that you will try harder in the future. Attempting is the essential word here. You’re attempting to learn new abilities and break a bad habit. That takes time, practise, and, of course, lots of failures. It’s all part of the process of learning.

You may be frustrated by your lack of development at times. It’s perfectly natural. Tap into your frustration and use it to motivate yourself if you can. Make a promise to try again and do better. Examine your blunders. What was the source of your procrastination this time? You will improve as a result of it if you learn from it.

Best Practices

Maybe there’s a massive task ahead of you, and you’ve decided to tackle it one step at a time. You then skipped a day, and then another. That’s OK. It’s not amazing, but it’ll do. For a while, you were successful. It’s good practise, and perhaps this particular experience taught you that you can’t afford to miss more than one day on a project that you’re working on.

When we fail at anything or fall back into a negative habit, there’s always something fresh to learn. At the very least, we’ve discovered that something isn’t quite right. Perhaps three or fewer to-dos per day are more manageable for you. Maybe you’ll need twenty-five so you can always cross something off your list. You won’t know unless you give it a shot.

Allow yourself to forgive yourself for procrastinating so you can get back to practising some more.

Make A Goal

Getting rid of procrastination necessitates taking action. Of course, saying it is easier than doing it. Today, I’m going to show you a simple three-step procedure that will help you get off your ass and accomplish more than you ever imagined.

Everything begins with a goal. You must have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. It’s difficult to know what you should do initially or what you should be doing right now to progress in the right path if you don’t know what your goal is. So, what are we going to do instead? Anything other than the work that we know must be completed.

Put Your Thoughts Into Words

Your goal is to simply put into words what you already know you need to do. A good goal is one that has clear parameters and a deadline. It doesn’t have to be difficult. Here’s a simple objective that we should all strive for. We have a deadline to file our taxes. You have a good notion of what papers you’ll need, what forms you’ll have to fill out, and where you’ll have to give it in.

You’re also aware of your deadline. In other words, when it comes to filing your taxes, you have a clear purpose in mind. Yes, I recognised that the majority of us still postpone when it comes to this chore. As a result, the remaining actions are equally as critical as the first. For the time being, I’d like you to consider one task that needs to be completed and make it into a goal.

Make A Note Of It

Make a note of it. I don’t care if you use a scrap of paper, your favourite notepad, or your phone to make a note to yourself. The main thing is that you write down your aim. This accomplishes two goals. First and foremost, it aids in the clarification of your objective. When attempting to express what you want or need to do into words, you must be very explicit. Second, putting it down provides you something to reflect on in the future. It can be used as a reminder as well as a tool when you’re inclined to postpone.

Get Started Now

Finally, it’s time to get down to business. Isn’t that always the most difficult part? You’re tempted to put off your workout until you tie your shoes and get going. It’s much easier to keep going once you’re up and running. After you’ve laid down your objective, consider what you can do right now to move you in the correct path. Go ahead and do it. Then return to your original task. Start each day by reviewing your goal and challenging yourself to take action. You’ll have made significant progress before you know it. And you’re making progress against procrastination.

Self-Motivation Techniques

Are you ready to put an end to your procrastination and get some work done? To inspire yourself into action, use one of these seven simple tricks. Try them all out over the next several days and weeks to see which ones make the most difference for you. Return to this list whenever you feel yourself delaying and use one or more of the tricks. Your output will skyrocket.

Tip #1: Pick Something Small

We delay for a variety of reasons, one of which is that something feels overwhelming. There’s just too much to do, so we opt to ignore it for a bit. It’s a coping method, but it’s not very effective. Instead, identify one small thing you can do right now to get you moving in the correct path. This builds momentum and motivates you to act.

Tip #2: Set A Time And Go

Setting a timer is another great technique that works wonders. Most smart watches, like your phone, have one built in. Set it for fifteen or twenty minutes and work on a project you’ve been putting off. This method is equally effective for decluttering your closet as it is for completing those dreaded expenditure reports. Start with ten minutes if twenty seems too lengthy. The goal is to get started and do something.

Tip #3:Make A Deal With Yourself

If rewarding yourself is what inspires you, there’s nothing wrong with it. After an hour of work on a home repair job, watch an episode of your favourite TV. Alternatively, if you complete painting the living room, offer yourself a new device or pair of shoes. Make a list of what motivates you and go for it. Whenever you’re tempted to give up, remind yourself of the prize at the conclusion of the project.

Tip #4: Find Someone Who Will Hold You Accountable

Find someone who is either attempting to be more productive or overcoming procrastination. Every day, check in with each other. Share your goals for the day and what you want to accomplish. Knowing that you must report to someone else motivates you to act. It’s also inspiring to see someone else do the same. Give it a shot.

Tip #5: Calculate Your Progress

When you’re working on a long-term goal, such as losing thirty pounds, it’s easy to procrastinate because you don’t appear to be making any progress. Instead, track or measure it to show yourself that you’re growing closer and closer. Make a chart, utilise a spreadsheet, and keep a notebook to track your progress. Find a way to track your progress and utilise it to keep yourself motivated to keep going.

Tip #6: Remind Yourself Of Your Why

There’s a reason you’ve resolved to do that project you’ve been putting off. Consider why you want to complete it. Is it in order for you to receive your tax refund? So you’re free to play with the kids? So you’ll be able to find the clothes you want to wear? Find out why you’re doing it. Make a note of it and keep it in front of you. Every day before you go to work, have a look at it.

Tip #7:Simply Begin

Last but not least, I’ve saved the finest for last. It’s the simplest, but it’s also the most effective. Take note of this. Simply get started. Yes, sometimes all you need to do is get rolling in the right direction. Make a move. Do whatever you want. Even if it’s only a minor detail. You get over the initial hump and begin to gain traction.

Don’t Let Things Or People Distract You

You get up in the morning energised and ready to take on whatever task you’ve been putting off. Perhaps you’re looking forwards to a new project. You get dressed, sip your coffee, and prepare to go to work. Then something unexpected happens.

Maybe you get lured into spending the next few hours on your computer after opening your email or, worse, Facebook. Perhaps a good friend calls and invites you to go shopping with them. Or you get a notification that your favourite TV show has been added to Netflix. It doesn’t matter what it is; the point is that there will always be people and things trying to get you to procrastinate. If you give them the opportunity.

A Straightforward Approach

There’s a simple approach you can apply to avoid this. It’s to make a priority of the crucial project you’ve been putting off and work on it first thing every morning. The entire procedure begins the night before.

Before you call it a day, take a few minutes to sit down and develop a short plan for the next day. Determine the three most critical tasks. These are the items that will begin to move the needle. Maybe they’re all focused on one major project, or maybe it’s a collection of tasks you know you should be completing.

Make A List Of Everything

Make a list of these three things. They don’t have to be massive. In fact, it helps me if they’re all things I can finish in an hour or less. When you wake up in the morning or get at work, go over your to-do list and focus on the three most critical activities first. Do not check your email. Do not begin to play with your phone. If at all possible, avoid answering the phone or attending meetings until these three duties have been completed. Make them the most important thing in your life.

This alone will drastically improve the quality of your day, your productivity, and your ability to avoid procrastinating on those assignments. It’s no longer an option to put them off till the end of the day, when you’re too fatigued to do anything.

Apart from that, merely becoming more aware of the items, devices, and people that tempt you to postpone is beneficial. When you find yourself putting anything off, take a step back and see if you can figure out why. After that, take steps to avoid it from happening again.

It’s Difficult To Break Old Habits

It can be difficult to overcome procrastination. For a few days, we behave well, but then our old habits creep back in, or we become dissatisfied with our lack of visible progress. Nothing moves quickly enough. If you experience a minor setback at this time, it may be enough to convince you to abandon your original goal. Thankfully, there is something you can do to increase your chances of success significantly. Accountability.

Track Your Progress 

Begin by keeping note of your activities. This can be accomplished with the help of a basic habit tracker. Use a box for each day of the week and check or fill it in when you do the task you promised yourself. Continue tracking until it becomes second nature or the job is completed.

It helps to set out your goal and then break it down into milestones for larger tasks that you may or may not work on on a regular basis. Keep track of your progress and how close you are to achieving each of your objectives.

Make Daily To-Do Lists 

Make a list of everything you intend to do that day. It’s easier for me to do this the day before. Experiment with the number of items you include on your list. You don’t want it to become overwhelming, but you do want to push yourself to accomplish more. Because you can see in black and white whether you procrastinated or not, the list holds you accountable.

Tell Someone About Your Plans 

Tell someone else about your plans to finally finish something you’ve been putting off for a long time. Make a phone call, notify your spouse, or post about it on social media. Encourage those you’re sharing with to follow up with you to see how you’re doing. It could be the extra push you need to get you to stop delaying.

Find An Accountability Buddy 

Finally, identify another person who is delaying and start holding each other accountable. This may be as simple as checking in twice a day, once in the morning to proclaim what each of you wants to accomplish, and then again at the end of the day to see how things went. Knowing that you are not alone can be quite encouraging.

Try out each of these procrastination-busting tactics to determine which one works best for you. Procrastination, like anything else, is a habit that you can break and transform into the driven and productive person you want to be.

Listen To Your Inner Voice 

Something we haven’t discussed yet is the little voice in our heads that either urges us to go do something else, thereby procrastinating, or the other… the critical one… the one that reminds us how bad we are for not getting the things done we set out to do.

Why is it crucial to pay attention to such voices? Because they influence your life on both a conscious and subconscious level. Let’s start with the negative voice, which I believe is the more damaging of the two in the long term. On day one of our seven-day procrastination challenge, we discussed the necessity of forgiving oneself.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

To summarise, it’s pointless to beat yourself up over past procrastination, and you should expect to “fail” by postponing on occasion. Nobody is without flaws. Everybody has good and terrible days. The most important thing is to show up and give it your all.

That tiny critical voice in your head isn’t going to help you with that. Recognize it and defuse it when you hear it. You can accomplish this by speaking or writing your response to it (via a journal). Alternatively, you may go up and do something else. Make every effort to suppress that voice. Proving it wrong by doing something useful is a fantastic choice. Unless you feed that voice by paying attention to it and allowing it to ruin your day, it will speak up less and less over time.

The Voice In Your Head

Then you must confront the voice in your head that convinces you that doing anything other than what you should be doing is far more enjoyable. That voice is present in all of us. It’s why terminology like procrasticleaning and procrasticrafting have been coined. We can be rather inventive when it comes to doing anything except the thing we don’t want to do, and that tiny voice is constantly offering us advice and recommendations.

Yes, and statements are the best way to disperse this particular voice into something more useful. “Yes, playing video games seems like a lot of fun, and when I finish this assignment, I’m going to play for an hour or so.” If the recommendations this voice makes sound like something fun, use them as bribes. Otherwise, ignore them or postpone them until tomorrow.

Make Progress Every Single Day 

It’s hard to imagine, but our seven-day challenge to get off your arse and finally overcome procrastination is coming to a close. I hope you’ve been following along and, more importantly, that you’ve made progress on at least one of your procrastination projects. We’ll wrap off today with the most crucial piece of advice and the major lesson I want you to remember.

Of course, saying it is easier than doing it. That is why I am providing you with three basic hacks or ideas to assist you today. Give them a shot and see if you can’t develop the habit of being productive rather than postponing every day.

Plan For It 

When you know exactly what you should be working on next, it’s simple to make progress every day. Make a schedule for yourself and decide what you’ll do each day of the week. Make a note of it in your planner and make adjustments as needed. You can see what you should be doing in the morning at a glance. Then get to work on it first thing in the morning before the day passes you by. I find that having my planner right in front of me at my desk helps me stay on track.

Don’t Break The Chain 

There’s something to be said for a streak or a chain. Keep track of every day you don’t procrastinate. You can write it on a monthly calendar, build a chain of sticky notes, stickers, or even a paper chain like you did in preschool. The objective is straightforward. Breaking the chain is not a good idea. Once you’ve completed a few days, you’ll be inspired to go the additional mile and accomplish that one item you need to do to avoid breaking your streak.

Procrastination At It’s Finest

Check In With Yourself 

You should notice a decrease in worry as you begin to make work on the tasks you know you need to complete. Instead, you will notice an increase in your self-assurance. Don’t be surprised if you’re pleased with your achievements. Instead, channel those feelings into motivation for more procrastination free days. Procrastination is a bad habit to have. It’s something you learnt to do, which means you can unlearn it. Stick with it, make daily progress, and bask in your sense of accomplishment.

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