Procrastination can be a hard thing to shake. Especially as students, a lot of us find ourselves putting off that especially daunting task. I have stuggled with procrastination for years. Even now I find myself sometimes falling back into this horrible habit of putting tasks off.
When I was younger I hated school work so much that anything seemed better than doing my assignments or studying for a test that I would find myself hours before a deadline freaking out, repeatedly asking myself how I got to this point? Where I had all these weeks to finish this task but yet I find myself having nothing done. This went on all the way from elementry to high school, till college I finally admitted to myself I needed to stop and conquer my problem.
It took a while, but I finally am on a road where I don't need to stress because I have most things figured out. I took control of my problem and so can you!
To stop the puttering here are nine helpful tips:
- Stop thinking. Start doing.
Having a game plan can help you achieve what you want to achieve. Spending too much time on a plan can have the oposite affect. Don't become obsessed with creating the "perfect plan" a plan where there is no pain or mistakes, a plan where you will never be rejected. This plan is impossible to create and will just keep you from completing your task. The faster you get started, the easier the task will become and be achieved. - Block out distractions.
Identify those little things that become distracting to you before tackling a task. Then remove them from your line of sight. For example, if you have a habit of checking your email periodically, then disable your email alert. If social media is your kyptonite, temporality disable your accounts to escape tempotation of checking your accounts. - Make a to-do list with all the items that you are avoiding with deadlines, exclude the ones that you know you'll do. For more tips Unstuck has some helpful ideas.
- Create partial deadlines for portions of the project to be finished. This will make the project less overwhelming and more manageable. Try making the end deadline a few days before. That way you can make any changes without the added pressure of finishing the project the night before.
- Finish the hard stuff.
When you have multiple deadlines looming, finish the largest task first. Finishing the largest item on your list will make you feel extra productive and give you that boost to tackle the rest of the items on your list. - Ask a friend for help.
Having a friend to help you with your tasks can make the whole process much more fun. Each of you should have your own set of tasks/goals that way you can hold each other accountable for completing them. - Be with people who inspire you to take action.
The success of others will inspire you to take action in your own life to achieve your goals, and inspire success in others. You don't have to physically have to hang-out with these people, you can read their blogs and correspond with them regularly through email/social media. - Make your goals known to friends and family. That way when you see them, they will ask you about process on your projects.
- Just do it.
There's other way to stop procrastination then facing it. Without taking action the task is never going to be completed, nothing is ever going to happen. Whatever task you are procrastinating on, if you want it done, you just need to do it. Nobody has ever procrastinated their way to success before. Just take action.
How do you stop procrastinating? Share your tips and tricks below.
*All images are taken off of Google images*
This is an interesting article. Most people these days overthink every move that they make to the point where they forget to enjoy certain things in life. Sometimes they need to go out there and do it
ReplyDeleteThank you. I find that I usually overthink a lot of things, but once I find a plan that works and I get into a groove the overthinking stops.
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