20 Mar How to stop being a procrastinator? Take advantage of this extra time at home during Coronavirus isolation period!!
“Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can be done today!”
I venture to say that this phrase is known by everyone! And nobody assumes to be a procrastinator but at least once in their lives everyone has already pushed some simple daily tasks off, postponed important work commitments and lost focus, opening up almost “unconsciously” social media.
For most people, procrastination has two synonyms: laziness and slouch.
The point is that sometimes, those who procrastinate, are not lazy or slouchers, for example, but leave something important afterwards because they are absolutely sure that they “can handle it”, or even because they doubt their own ability, you know?
If you can no longer take the side effects of procrastination and want to end this true vicious cycle, just read on to check out some simple and effective tips to never think about leaving any task for later.
Ah! Before you think about grabbing a juice, watch a quick video on Youtube or do anything other than sit and read this content until the end, that would be procrastinating.
Take a deep breath, resist the urge and focus on what’s important.
Why do we procrastinate?
It is very common to confuse the act of procrastinating with laziness, when people really don’t want to do it.
The great truth is that in the case of procrastination, we want to carry out the activity in question, but we also want to do something else, and then we end up in a trap of decisions, since we have the intention, but we are unable to carry out the action.
In short, you even want to do your task, just like you want to watch your favorite series, so in the process of choosing one or the other, the brain wants the comfort zone, even if it is not productive, you end up not being strong enough to say a resounding “NO” for this vicious cycle, and this way, your priority is left in the background again.
4 Simple tips to stop being a PROCRASTINATOR and become a MAKER
You can include some simple tips in your daily life, so that the act of procrastinating is gradually reduced.
Yes, it is a process, it requires some time and some dedication.
Unfortunately, there are no magic formulas for you to stop procrastinating, but you can create some routines, which will certainly help, and instead of putting procrastination into action, actually carry out the necessary activities.
1. Plan your day
I know it sounds like a sloppy tip, but actually learning how to plan your day properly is a great way to avoid procrastination.
This way you visualize the tasks to be performed, and you can also organize them in order of importance and checking if at times you have not put in too many activities for the same period.
Planning then involves addressing each task, organizing them not to miss deadlines or leave anything out.
2. Perform activities in steps
After planning, you don’t have to go around wanting to do everything at once, looking to eliminate your list of the day!
Most of our tasks involve different complexities, which is why they end up needing different periods to be completed. Therefore, organize them in steps, dividing each task into blocks to be performed, so that you do not collapse and want to procrastinate again.
3. Take breaks
Since you are going to divide the planned tasks into blocks, between the completion of one block and another, you can take short strategic breaks to think about things beyond the small tasks.
It is important to be careful not to turn these short breaks into big moments of procrastination.
To make sure the break is not a trigger, use the stopwatch, organizing between 5 and 10 minutes between tasks!
4. Eliminate distractions
There can be many! Currently our distractions are focused on cell phones, which make us waste time with information and activities that are not useful.
After organizing and dividing the tasks, leave your phone on airplane mode and put it aside to resist the urge to see your Facebook feed, or enjoy random photos on Instagram.
If your distractions are in other categories, identify them and try to keep them away until your tasks are completed!
Conclusion: Leave the art of “putting it off for later”!
Of course there is no formula or magic potion to take to instantly stop procrastinating. However, if you watch out for your day, adapting small activities little by little, surely this action of not doing what you need to do instead of doing what you don’t need to be done, will soon enough be in the right order.
In times of Coronavirus and quarantine, you could easily take advantage of extra time at home and put all your pending tasks back on track!
No Comments