5 Tips For Keeping Procrastination at Bay

Procrastination is self-sabotage in disguise— it derails us from completing tasks and holds us back from our bigger goals. These 5 tips for keeping procrastination at bay will help you stay on track, manage your time, and establish better self-discipline.

Bad Habits Are Hard To Break

Whether it’s filing your taxes on time, paying your bills, cleaning out the garage, or getting out of bed to exercise, everyone tends to procrastinate once in a while.

Are you the type of person who tackles projects head on and gets tasks done right away, or do you tend to procrastinate and put things off? The habit of procrastination is an attractive form of self-sabotage and is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

The Toll of Procrastination

Procrastination can take a toll on all aspects of your life and has a significant impact on your mental and physical health. The habit of procrastination brings with it a whole host of overwhelming, negative emotions such as increased stress, anxiety, guilt, fear, worry, depression, burnout and low self-esteem.

Here are five proven tips to help you overcome the problem of procrastination and become more productive.

Overcome Procrastination With These 5 Tips

Schedule Bite-Size Tasks

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. You can keep yourself from feeling overwhelmed by breaking your project up into smaller, more manageable bite size tasks.

Develop a written plan of action and set realistic timeframes for the completion of each task. If you find that you’re able to complete a task fast than you have planned, you will feel good about being ahead of schedule.

Allow Enough Time To Complete Each Task

Be sure to allow plenty of time to finish each task. Once you have estimated how much time you will require to accomplish your project, schedule your work into short, thirty-minute blocks of time to keep you energized.

If you do not need all the time you’ve allowed, you will be able to progress ahead of schedule.

Avoid Distractions

Stay focused and avoid distractions such as talking to coworkers, checking your e-mails, playing computer games, answering phone calls, or surfing the Internet.

Make The Commitment to Yourself

Make a commitment to accomplishing your project and hold yourself accountable. If you catch yourself thinking about not working on your project, remind yourself of how good you’ll feel when you’ve completed it.

Multi-Task, But Don’t Get Sloppy

Become more efficient by multitasking whenever possible. The problem with multi-tasking is that people either juggle too much at once and can’t stay focused, or they don’t manage their time well and don’t see any of their tasks to completion. That’s why it’s so critical to combine these strategies for the best outcome.

How many important projects or tasks on your “to-do list” keep getting put off because you have deliberately chosen to procrastinate? The good news is that procrastination is not a character flaw you were born with, but a habit that can be overcome with self-discipline and determination.

“Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started.”
– David Allen

Another great way to avoid procrastination is to work with a coach to help you stay accountable. A coach can define the process by which you can see your goals through so that you can achieve anything you set out to do. Find out how a Sales Gravy coach can make a difference in your sales day.