Motivation Buster: Procrastination
and how to conquer it
I like to tell myself that I can get an entire marketing plan out in a day. So I start working on it half a day before the deadline. I am a genius, right? More accurately I am a delusional procrastinator. And most probably all of you are as well.
We like to think that our procrastination isn’t too bad because we always manage to get our work done. But we seldom realize the harm it can cause to our bodies.
No matter how hard we try to tell ourselves that the immense time crunch makes us more focused and efficient, in reality, it is probably taking a toll on our mental health.
Don’t worry, a marketing manager with the same problem isn’t going to lecture you about cortisol and its negative effects (ask a Doctor)! Instead, I am going to share with you what worked for me.
The most common advice we procrastinators receive is to plan your day, the first thing in the morning with a to-do list. Personally tried and tested, I usually end up procrastinating on my tasks in the pretext of doing my to-do list. Who knew writing your to-do list in block letters and cursive could be so therapeutic and yet soooooo time-consuming? And thus, beginning my day with planning for the rest of it usually ends up in me spending an hour on making the checkboxes look even and my lettering to be in matching colors.
Some of you would say the key to concurring my to-do list problem is to exercise my self-control and to focus my attention on the tasks on the to-do lists instead of the to-do list itself. But I am going to be honest here; I have ZERO self-control. I eat the whole chocolate bar at one go, the WHOLE bar!
So my tip to everyone who is a delusional procrastinator with self-control problems: plan for tomorrow!
Instead of writing your to-do list at the start of the day, write it at the end of the day instead. This, in essence, would mean you are planning for tomorrow. By writing your to-do list at the end of the day, you don’t have to worry about spending too much time on it and thus affecting your working hours.
So plan in advance the night before and you can have the perfect looking to-do list without eating into your work schedule.
Bonus tip for budding entrepreneurs: Use The Startup Buddy and you won’t have to worry about planning anymore! All the steps you need to take and resources to help you, all in one place.
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