Not many pay much heed to procrastination until something significant occurs. Why wait for something to happen before you start to take action? Procrastination is a habit, and a habit can be changed when you put your mind to it with conviction. If you think you procrastinate due to whatever reason, then it is high time that you read this so that you stop procrastination once and for all. It doesn’t matter how hopeless you think you might be or if you think you cannot do it, it is well worth a try, and you will feel more organized in your mind too!
Reward yourself when you stop procrastination
Rewarding yourself is the best motivation to stop procrastinating altogether. You can talk yourself into it. For example, you have a task of organizing your basement, but since you haven’t done it in over a year, you don’t want to get to it. You were supposed to start in January, but you are yet to begin. In such a case, you can write in your planner about when you will start. Then you can determine the type of reward you are going to treat yourself with once you have completed organizing your basement. This will inspire you to do things more.
Getting things done as they come
This can be a little irritating for people, but it is, in fact, one of the best ways to overcome procrastination. You can deal with things as they come instead of solving them at a later date. For example, you get small tasks that you have the time to do right not. If you leave them for later, then you will have lots of small and big tasks to complete at a later time. However, if you make yourself complete at least one task, then you are on your way to stop procrastination. When you start to do this regularly, then you will form a new habit of finishing tasks quickly instead of procrastinating.
Divide work and then complete bit by bit
Do you have a huge project and don’t know where to start? You can divide and conquer by dividing the massive project into smaller parts. This will not only make it more manageable, but you will be able to dedicate time better. When you think of tackling the project at once, you will procrastinate thinking that you need to devote a lot of time to it. However, when you divide the project into smaller projects, you will be more likely to complete it. You can start by doing this, and then you will be able to procrastinate lesser and lesser over time.
Anticipation of problems to manage procrastination
You can anticipate the problems that can arise if you leave your projects to the last minute. Let us say that you are supposed to declutter your house tomorrow. But you are already making plans to delay that because you already feel overwhelmed about everything. Think about what will happen if guests or your relatives were to come over. Would you like for them to see your house in such a mess? When you anticipate, you motivate yourself to complete the task at hand, and this helps you start doing things instead of putting them off until later.
Change your schedule to stop procrastination
One of the most-used excuses of procrastinators is that they don’t have the time to complete something. For example, you want to start your morning walk, but you cannot find the time to do that because your morning time is so hectic already. When you can’t find time to schedule something you know you should do, you can do something else. You can take some time out by sleeping an hour less or by cutting down on some other task which is not as important as your morning walk. This will cut down on your procrastination.
Manage procrastination by minimizing interruptions
There are so many distractions that might be causing you to procrastinate and even delay tasks that take 5 minutes to complete. Let us say that you had to send an email as a reply to an email you received earlier. Your phone beeped, and now you are busy looking at who sent you something instead of getting to sending the email like you were supposed to. Keep your phone away from you and keep it on silent. You can similarly ensure that you have no distractions when you are working or have a task at hand. This will reduce how much you procrastinate.
Declutter workspace regularly
When you have a cluttered workspace, it not only looks bad but it makes you feel bad. It is one of the causes of procrastination because when you can’t find something, you require you give up if there is a lot of mess to sort through. You can dedicate some time every single day or every other day to declutter your workspace. This will make your workspace to look good, and you will notice that you feel pretty organized as well. When you declutter your workspace, you will find the things you require, and you will be motivated to stop procrastinating.
Finish the worst first to stop procrastination
You may have a lot of tasks that you need to complete. However, one reason that you haven’t started the task is that there is a part that you do not like. Let us say that you have to clean your entire house, but you are just not in the mood to clear out the shoe closet and set everything. You can do that first so that you get it over with and then move on to the other tasks that you need to do. This will help to stop procrastination because you will finish the worst task first and then proceed to tasks that you like which you will end up doing.
Go by inspiration and motivation
There are times when you are super-happy and motivated to do something. At times like these, you want to get the most done. Since you will be in a good mood to start to do something, it is good to keep going in that direction. When you complete one task happily, you can do the next, and then the next task and so on until you don’t have any tasks to complete. Whenever you are even in the slightest mood to get something done, do it instead of procrastinating. You will notice that you will be able to do the task more efficiently which will inspire you to complete other tasks.
In the beginning, you might have a tough time stopping procrastination from taking place. A habit is difficult to change overall but not impossible! You might even have a hard time to manage procrastination because you are so used to your old ways of doing things such as delaying work, but that is all a part of the learning experience, so there is nothing to be afraid of. Once you set your mind to it and do it a little bit at a time, you will realize that you can stop procrastination and enjoy living your life in the present.
