Do you ever find yourself drifting away from the task in-hand? Maybe instead of completing that project you really must crack on with, you’re checking emails and surfing the net. It’s that feeling of knowing you should be doing something but you just don’t do it.
This could just lead to a missed deadline here and there and letting someone down maybe but perpetual procrastination is like a disease! Chronic procrastinators can spend years of their life looped in this cycle and never moving forward or taking action towards achieving greater results in life.
Forget everything you have ever been told about laziness, lack of application and short attention span - procrastination is about how we think.
If you are a serial procrastinator then you have allowed your thoughts to morph into beliefs that are getting in the way of your action.
Changing your beliefs is essential if you want to procrastinate less but it isn’t easy. There’s no secret formula for ending your procrastination altogether, but there a number of ways you can manage your habits more effectively:
To be motivating, a goal needs to be challenging enough to stimulate our interest but not so difficult so it’s demoralising. If there’s too little challenge to your goal it’s easy to feel unmotivated to start. If there’s too much challenge, we don’t know where to start.
Remember to reward yourself suitably once you’ve completed the goal. A stroll in the park, a shopping spree, a nice meal or a fantastic holiday – choose a reward that fits the challenge and makes the extra effort worthwhile.
For some of us the idea of losing something is more compelling than the idea of gaining it. Write a cheque to an organisation you can’t bear. If you don’t get the task done, post it. Imagine how that would feel - ouch!Could this be the motivation you need?
Tackle the tough stuff first. After that, it will be downhill all the way.
We adapt our behaviour to fit in with the people around us. Mix with a crowd of action heroes and heroines, feed off their energy and you’ll be much more likely to kick yourself into action.
You can’t eat a whole cake in one mouthful! Break the task into small, manageable chunks and identify the end for each individual section. Concentrate on one section at a time and remember to congratulate/reward yourself each time you finish an element.
If you got this far reading our top tips then what are you waiting for? Get going!
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