Everyone seems to be susceptible to procrastination. Even the most prosperous people face it on a daily basis. Successful individuals, on the other hand, do something that most of us don't: they take it further. They don't find excuses and don't let it interfere with their work.
They design smart and practical techniques to overcome mental barriers and be productive. Here are 5 strategies for overcoming procrastination that successful individuals employ.
1. They are committed to themselves.
Show your willingness to get things done. Making a promise to yourself is a good way to hold yourself accountable. This can be achieved by jotting down your goals, having a to-do list handy, and setting reminders on the phone and in the calendar.
There are other, more imaginative ways to empower yourself: change your phone or computer wallpaper to something that says "get the job done." List your tasks and goals on a flip chart or large post-it note that you can place on the monitor. Using Momentum or Limitless, change your browser's new tab screen to remind you of the day's priorities.
2. They hold themselves accountable to others.
If you can't hold yourself accountable, you may find it easier to hold others to account. Tell everyone what you want to do and discuss your goals. Tell your friends, colleagues and employers about your projects; you don't want to disappoint them.
For example, if you want to go to the gym every day, have a friend write to you every night with the question "did you go to the gym today?" Another idea is to start documenting and sharing your progress. A blog or vlog where you reveal the tasks you are working on and your progress will motivate you to accomplish them. Being under scrutiny in public could help start a fire beneath you.
3. They are aware of themselves.
Self-awareness is a trait shared by many successful people. Self-awareness helps you understand why you are delaying. When you understand why to procrastinate, it will be easier to devise a strategy to overcome it.
This will allow you to identify the main reason for your procrastination, allowing you to either fix the problem or devise a strategy to overcome it. Recognizing the reason for the delay involves taking a step back and considering some of the probable causes, such as boredom, lack of confidence in the project, lack of self-confidence, and feeling overwhelmed. Once you know the reason, it comes down to finding solutions to fix it and cutting your procrastination at the source.
4. Plan ahead.
How often do you sit at your desk at the start of your workday, looking for things to work on, ending up on Reddit or checking your emails? If you go to your workplace and don't know where to start, you may end up working on low impact tasks (like checking your emails) or engaging in other types of procrastination.
Those who don't have a card are lost. Before you start any work or any project, make a plan or to-do list. It is best to do this the day before. It helps you think about what you've accomplished during the day, and then plan what needs to be done for the next day.
5. They deconstruct enormous jobs into smaller ones.
The real productivity tip for tackling huge or intimidating jobs is breaking them down into smaller chunks. Successful people recognize that tasks need to be broken down into much more focused and quantifiable subtasks.
For example, "writing a book" can be a daunting part of the to-do list. Does this item on my to-do list mean I have to write the whole book today, or does writing just one sentence count to complete the job? A better way would be to set a goal of producing a certain number of words or spending some time studying each day. “Write 1000 words” or “spend 30 minutes looking for examples of productive CEOs for a book” are much more specific tasks, and therefore easier to tackle. It often encourages me to do more and to feel fulfilled and motivated by crossing things off my list.
Bouns Tip!
They gave up.
Just because you've spent hours on a project doesn't mean you have to finish it. This is called the “sunk cost error”. Gamers, investors and even procrastinators are all victims of the "sunk cost fallacy". Sometimes it's not worth spending more hours on a project and you have to decide when it's time to close it.
Take a step back and think about why you are delaying the activity or assignment. Is it because it's not that important or because it doesn't get you closer to your long-term goal? Subtraction, rather than addition, is more efficient and productive. Maybe you could focus on doing less. Maybe this project you are procrastinating on is actually making you a lot less productive and should be scrapped.
