The world is full of opportunities you miss because of procrastinating. Learn how to get rid of this bad habit.
2 minute rule
This is a very simple tip used by the most successful people. If there is something you can do in 2 minutes – drawing a simple graph, writing a plan for your work, reading a small article – do it right away! It is proven, that if you don’t do it now, you will either not do it at all or it will take you so much more time in the future. Plus satisfaction that you receive after completing one task gives you energy and motivation for the next one.
Set yourself achievable goals
An importance of planning and setting goals can’t be overestimated, but make sure that those are achievable and realistic. Psychologists have proven that the main reason for procrastination is not our laziness, but the lack of belief in ourselves. We are too self-critical, we are afraid not to be successful, to fail, we postpone important things because we are scared of not being able to complete them. Even though most of the times this fear is irrational, many people all over the world suffer because of it and, as a result, procrastinate.
If you set an unrealistic goal there is a big chance that you will fail to achieve it. This will only feed your self-doubt, you will nod your head and say to yourself: “Yes, I thought so, I knew I would fail, I should not have even started”. Avoid such situations, set yourself clear and achievable goals and be proud of yourself, as you can do much more than you think!
Divide into pieces
There is a famous phrase we hear on many workshops: “An elephant should be eaten piece by piece”. This phrase would probably never lose its relevance. The thing is that a lot of times we are scared of the size of an upcoming project or of the amount of information we have to learn for our exam. It seems so extremely hard, and huge, that we do not even know how to start, you may say that we start procrastinating out of desperation. An old and simple trick is to divide your big task into smaller ones and start working on each of them. Completing every next simple task you will notice how the “elephant” – your huge and heavy project – becomes smaller and smaller, until finally you start dealing with the last and the tastiest piece!
Interest yourself
After dividing your work into pieces, find something interesting in each of them. Think about its good influence on your professional and personal life, how it helps you to be a more educated, creative, interesting person, or how satisfied you will be after. If none of these works, motivate yourself in a different way, by promising yourself to go for a walk, have a cup of hot chocolate or watch your favorite show after completing this piece of work. Keep your promise and start working on a new piece with a new energy and motivation!
Even though the phrase “I will think about it tomorrow” has made Scarlett O’Hara from “Gone with the wind” world-famous, let’s save ourselves lots of energy, time and mental health and stop procrastinating!