Procrastination is something that everyone deals with. It’s hard to place too much blame on ourselves though, as the internet offers an unlimited amount of alternatives to doing our work. Since that’s the case, this Lifehacker article offers 6 ways to combat procrastination.
1) Pre-commit to the dreaded task – a great tip for those of us who are deadline oriented, either by verbally telling a friend you are going to do it or use an app that requires you to put up cash in advance and if you fail to complete the task – the money is donated to a charity you HATE!
2) Set Macro goals and Micro quotas – your goals can be big, but they can be intimidating if you don’t set micro quotas, which are what you must get done everyday to make it happen. This strategy breaks your big goal into manageable bite-sized chunks.
3) Always hit the ground running – rather than suffering from “analysis paralysis”, hit the ground running each day by setting a simple to-do list that consists of 3 big things you want to get done and what work it will entail.
4) The redirect technique – don’t feel bad about yourself for procrastinating. Instead, redirect your worst procrastination sessions into anything productive. As long as the task you are redirecting to is still relevant to your goals, it’s okay to forgive yourself and redirect your behavior.
5) Identify the four pillars of procrastination – one ore more of these “pillars” are stopping you from doing a certain task: (a) Low Task Value (something unpleasant or boring), (b) Your Personality (are you impulsive or easily distracted?), Expectations (how easy or difficult do we expect the task to be?), and Goal Failure (the fear of failure).
6) Fantasize the “right” way – Excessive fantasizing has proven to be a goal-killer. When you build “castles in the sky” you may be sabotaging real, obtainable goals. Visualization needs to include the process by which you will achieve your goal. Read the full article.