3 Clever Ways To Stop Procrastinating
Stopping procrastination can be challenging, especially since
you can't put it off until tomorrow! Most people who
procrastinate did not do so overnight. Like any other bad habit,
procrastination starts small and builds itself up.
Returning to a more dependable lifestyle however is possible.
Follow these simple steps below and eventually, with dedication
and self discipline your procrastination should be under control
and your tomorrows will be a little less full!
Step #1 Start Small.
Usually if people procrastinate in their business lives they
also procrastinate in their personal life too and vice versa.
Start small by making an everyday to do list. Examples include,
but are not limited to; taking out the trash, doing the dishes,
hanging up clothes, and maybe even littler things like making
the bed or tidying up the living room.
When you have things under control at a personal level it is
easier to get things under control at a business level.
Getting yourself into the routine of not putting things off at
home will be difficult since the home is the easiest place to
procrastinate: it is always there, you always have an extra day
to work on it, and no one besides you or those who live you will
know what you are putting off.
However, if you have noticed, the places that we feel most
comfortable in are the easiest to begin a bad habit and also the
hardest place to get rid of that bad habit.
A smoker's hardest place to deal with is their personal space
and yours is too. So take control and shape yourself up at home
to start the process of stopping procrastination.
Step #2 Take control at work.
No doubt if you are a procrastinator at home then you usually
have things piling up at work to do or you find yourself at the
end of the day hurrying to get things done that you should have
done that morning or the day before.
Well stop that!
Make a list, just like you did for at home. Start the day by
making a list of things you must check off by a certain time in
the day.
For example, say you want to get the reports done on time that
usually you put off until the end of the day. Make a list and
note that reports must be checked off by 10:00 that morning.
At first you may find yourself racing and checking off that item
on the list right at ten or slightly before but keep at it and
you just might find yourself checking off your list long before
the time its due!
Practice makes perfect and the more you practice and being on
time the easier it gets and soon it becomes as second habit as
procrastination is or hopefully used to be.
Step #3 If All else fails, weight the guilty consequences.
You know how mad you feel or even embarrassed when you have
pushed yourself to the last minute or even past the last minute?
Whenever you feel yourself giving into the urge to procrastinate
just remember that feeling and predict how you will feel the
next day when you are faced with your normal circumstances plus
those you have avoided and waited to do. A very simple form of
self discipline but a very effective one.
Stopping procrastination isn't always easy but it can be done.
Follow these steps diligently; just be careful to get started
today even if only in a small way.