Stop Procrastinating Now

According to a recent poll 20% of the population are chronic procrastinators, does the following sound familiar:

…making a decision for no valid reason to delay or not complete a task or goal

you’ve committed too, and instead doing something of lesser importance,

despite there being negative consequences to not following through on the original

task or goal.

 

If so you are probably a procrastinator.. but don't lose heart here are 

5 Powerful Ways to Stop Procrastination in it's tracks:

 

1. Identify when you are substituting a lesser task in order to avoid the more important task you have committed too. This is a classic way that many of us procrastinate. If you struggle with this, I suggest you read Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy, who suggests that you start your day by doing the tasks you like least first, so you can then enjoy the rest of your day more.
2. Become aware of the reason behind your procrastination, is it because of fear? boredom? lack of energy? lack of interest? Sometimes it can be because we are simply in the wrong type of job. You need to enjoy your work and if you don't you need to start thinking about how you can or find a job that suits your skills better.
3. If you find yourself reading e-mails several times without starting work on them or deciding what you’re going to do with them, make a commitment to read them once and either respond to them or delete them. I have a client I coach that deletes his entire inbox monthly. He says that if it is that important they will email again or call and it frees him up for more pressing tasks. You may not want to do something that drastic, but do become aware of your inbox and allocate a set amount of time daily.
4. Spending too much time on social network sites at work or at home? Allow yourself a set amount of time daily or twice a day for fifteen minutes and then log off! Easier said than done, but I promise you that you will save so much time.
5. Set some goals. We can easily let time runaway from us and as the hours turn into days, weeks into months and then years we need to question what we want out of life and if indeed we are getting what we want. If you are not satisfied with your life, you are the only one that can change it. Make some clear goals that excite you. Then set a time when you want to achieve them by and work consistently towards those goals. All successful people work towards goals, so have you written yours yet?

Successful People Never Confuse Activity with Progress

Often we rush through our day doing lots of different things, but what exactly do we achieve? We are so busy going through the motions as they say, that we allow very little time to effectively plan our day, instead we just keeping doing the same set things and strangely we often expect different results. Regardless of whether you are at work, home, or in social settings, how much time do you actively think about the activity that you are doing? How do you measure if that activity has been a success? To often our mind is on to the next thing before we have even completed the task we are working on.

There has been much talk regarding the virtues of multi-tasking, however if we are not fully attentative to the task at hand we do not produce our best work. Recent research from Harvard University suggests that when people multi-task the standard of their work suffers. Indeed the research concluded that focusing on one task at a time can actually save us time.

Thinking about multi-tasking reminds me of when I was a student I worked in a call centre for a large mobile phone company. I can vividly recall a customer calling me with an enquiry and in the background there was alot of noise. She told me that she was in a queue at her local bank. She also had young children with her and sounded very harassed. I had to ask her a series of questions and she was very curt in her responses. She then told me that she ws trying to do to many things at once, without thinking I replied 'well don't'. On reflection this was a pretty rude thing to say, but to my surprise and relief she actually agreed. She then decided to take a seat in the bank and we finished our call. Now as a busy mum I can relate to this lady's plight, but it also makes me aware of the things that I need to get done in a single day and I plan accorindingly, often around my son's nap time!

Successful people effectively plan their day and don't waste time on tasks that give them little gain. They set goals and then put steps in place to achieve them. They monitor their progress regularly and adjust course when needed. How often do you do this? If you do then good on you, you are no doubt reaping the benefits of your diligience.

However, if you don't it's never to late to start. Try to fully commit to being present in the moment and plan how you will measure your progress in different areas of your life. Then watch how much more you accomplish. List things that need to be completed and then plan the best times to achieve them. Be mindful of your progress and stay on track.

Successful people review their progress regulalary and adjust course if needed.