One out of five people could be classified as chronic procrastinators, but the number of us who make a habit of delaying decisions and actions is more than that. We very often don’t even realise it’s happening and that we’re undermining our success and happiness as a result. Procrastinators tend to suffer from far more stress than those who haven’t learned this habit, and they also get sick more often.
Being a chronic procrastinator, or even a frequent one, can spell serious trouble if you work for yourself or run a small business. There are simply too many things that need doing to make putting things off a viable strategy.
Whichever of these strategies you end up choosing, addressing procrastination is incredibly important. If you are putting off activities that are an essential part of your business and personal well-being, there’s no time like the present to address this. You need to find a way to handle your tendencies to put things off until tomorrow before it’s too late.
Work in Short Bursts
You need to do a lot in a short period of time with this strategy. Much like if you were spending time at the Bingo Cafe UK site playing games, or have only an hour to get to the bank and pick the kids up from school.
Get a timer, set it for 10 minutes, and dive in. Put your entire focus on your task for the time period you’ve given yourself and see how you feel when the buzzer sounds. Once you start replacing your feelings of dread with a sense of satisfaction, there’s a good chance you’ll keep going.
Team up With Someone
Enlisting the help of a work colleague or friend can be enough to tip you over into Active mode. When you’ve committed to getting something done and someone who’s opinion and respect you value is checking up on you, you’re more likely to accomplish what you said you would.
Work Through Negativity
You know best how your mood changes as you keep making excuses to not do what you’re supposed to be doing. Rather than fight these, let them happen, and work anyway. Push past them and see what’s on the other side! Whenever you start feeling discouraged, refocus on your goal, telling yourself that you can do it and that you’ll feel better when it’s been handled.
Break Tasks Down
If you’re struggling with a really big, complicated project and finding yourself unwilling to begin, try breaking it down into smaller action steps. As you finish each one, check it off the list, and you’ll find that the sense of achievement may help you keep the momentum going.
Put Your Anxiety to Work
The upside of getting agitated as a deadline approaches is that the feelings of anxiety you’re experiencing can free your mind of distractions. When you have limited time to get something done, you get very creative, very quickly. Anxiety can work to blow preconceived ideas wide open, creating a space for originality to take over.