4 Ways I Killed Procrastination to Get More Work Done (Avoid STRESSED Thoughts)
Do this to make things easier for you.
Tense thoughts dance in your head as you reflect on the wasted time.
You don’t want but procrastinate.
“Now, I have time. I’ll do it later in the evening.”
“I’ll check it after some time.”
But that “later” and “sometime” never come, and you can’t help but beat yourself for wasting time and delaying work.
Instead of getting frustrated, I used 4 steps to eliminate the ailment of procrastination. For less tension. Less burden on my head. Less time wastage.
Here’s how:
1) Refine to direct your mind
To not confuse your mind with home gerunds, emails, meetings, pending work, and new projects — refine your work in the pipeline:
- Is it urgent?
- Is it important?
- Is it random?
Then, prioritize them.
When you know why and what you do, you finish it timely. As our mind operates with reasoning. It wants to know the ‘Why’ behind everything.
“The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.”
2) Do minor things on the spot
How common it is to add even a 2-minute task to your piles of work.
That’s a useless burden to the mind while thinking over and again — “Oh! It is yet to be done. It’s okay it’ll take only 2 minutes.”
Whether it is for writing an email, sharing details via message, and updating any file.
Do it right away whenever it comes to your plate. To avoid piling up small things and adding more distractions to your mind.
3) Note down to create an urgency for yourself
It made things easier for me — Write down what all comes to your mind.
Give it a heading — Work in the pipeline to do today/this week/this month
Categorize it.
Then, do it as you get time.
Writing things in your to-do list is the easiest way to create a sense of urgency for yourself and get the work done.
4) Set a timeline for each of your tasks
Lots of people believe that procrastination comes from being lazy or not skilled enough, but that’s not really the case.
Procrastination is actually tied to our biology. It happens because of a tug-of-war in our brains between two parts: the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex.
The limbic system usually wins this battle because it’s stronger, causing us to procrastinate.
We tend to go for what feels good in the moment. You can think of procrastination as a struggle between your current self and your future self. (You can read about limbic system and the prefrontal cortex in this article.)
Procrastination is unavoidable.
What we can do is get better.
For this, I set time duration while listing things in my to-do list.
How does it help?
- Challenges your mind.
- Increases your focus to finish in the given time.
- Helps you work without getting distracted.
Give A Better Direction to Your Mind
How often do you sit scratching your hand thinking about the piled work?
How often do you regret delaying things?
It’s frustrating and energy-consuming until….
You give a clear direction to your mind on what to do next. How to do it. When to do it.
Yes, I screw. Miss things sometimes. Deal with procrastination.
But it doesn’t mean to let procrastination win over YOU.
So,
- Refine your tasks.
- Do small things right away.
- Note down things in the pipeline.
- Set timelines.
Have a cup of coffee, do what matters, and amend your approaches.
Improve yourself while having fun.
Enjoyed reading this? Tap on the clap, share your views, and follow to get such insightful stories weekly. I write about Freelancing, LinkedIn tips, self-improvement, and healthy routines and share my stories.
I’m a LinkedIn personal branding strategist and copywriter. I share insights based on my experience and learning. Want to get practical LinkedIn approaches to achieve your business goals?
Let’s connect on LinkedIn.
