Procrastination is the personal productivity killer that keeps top people locked in a cycle of under achieving, under earning and stuck in dead-end jobs. Take a few moments to learn ten surefire tips to get going when you feel overwhelmed. Overcome writer's block, increase sales and earn more money online or off by taking charge of your personal organization and increase productivity with just a little effort.
Understanding why you procrastinate doesn't have to take deep soul-searching. Most procrastination is due to a few simple cause that are easy to overcome. Procrastination does not have to block your success. Make progress by taking a few simple steps towards increased happiness and life success!
1: Procrastination is caused by anxiety. You can overcome anxiety over tackling a large complicated project by breaking it down into chunks.
2: Once you have identified the chunks you need to address to complete your large project, break each chunk down into action steps. Each action step should be something you can complete with reasonable effort. Write these down.
3: Some of your action steps may require sub-steps, such as getting a co-worker's input. This might take several sub-steps: Gathering required information, composing an email, and waiting for a response. Go ahead and write down the sub-steps.
4: Organize your chunks and action steps in a way that works for you. I like to use a folder for each project, and write my chunks down on sheets of printer paper. Then, I write my action steps on sticky notes and arrange them on the pages inside my file.
5: Look at your action steps and group them together in sets. You will probably find several action steps that can be consolidated into one area of effort: Do all your online research at once, schedule a time to send out emails to clients and team members, make your phone calls one after another, take one trip to the store to pick up supplies. This will make maximize efficiency and get things done fast, while making sure you don't miss anything.
6: When you are tempted to put off your action steps, remember that procrastination creates more anxiety. You will put off your tasks until the anxiety of procrastination is greater than the anxiety of performing your tasks. Don't make yourself suffer twice!
7: Sometimes your anxiety about work is based on your lack of required knowledge or resources. Breaking down your task into chunks will reveal these weak spots so you can overcome the deficiency. Go ahead and make a chunk or task that says 'find out about this' or 'research possible solutions'. Writing these blank spots down makes them actionable and solvable.
8: If still can't get started on any of your action steps, procrastinate by working on action steps from a different project.
9: Beware of time sinks like the internet. Sometimes clicking around aimlessly online feels like you are doing something productive while you are really avoiding the tasks at hand. Go ahead and give yourself some time-wasting activities as a reward after you work on something from your tasks lists. Make sure to use a timer.
10: Forgive yourself for not starting earlier and plunge right in. You will never have more time to get something done so start right now. Set your timer and dedicate a solid fifteen minutes to your project. You will find that just getting a start creates the momentum that can carry you through to completing your biggest projects.
