Procrastination — My Rules!. 5 Easy Ways to Deal With…
By: Koma Live
Tags: Self Improvement, Blue Insights, Procrastination, Self-awareness, Discipline

Procrastination is something that many people face and have to fight. For this purpose, a variety of time management and productivity techniques have been created and applied, which allow you to take control of your time and business. But are they always clear and available for use by absolutely everyone? Can they be called universal techniques that give a guaranteed result? Most of them probably not. The creators themselves say that the proposed solutions need individual adjustment. Therefore, in this article, I want to acquaint you with the basics, and at the same time the simplest ways of time management, with which any technique, the system begins. Having understood and accustomed yourself to use them, it will become much easier for you to manage states, take on any business at the right time, and complete what you started.

But first, a little philosophical remark. Probably, if you are reading this article, you already understand that there is never a “good” time for most routine tasks. If you are just getting acquainted with time management, then this knowledge should be adopted. It must be remembered that the appropriate time depends on the situation, other people, our condition, and attitude, in a word, on many factors that are in themselves uncertain. You can wait for a convenient moment for years and in itself, such an attitude towards life must be eradicated. Why? Because the extra time for something by itself will not appear anywhere. You need to learn how to cut it out of a standard day, 8 hours of which you work, and 7–8 more sleep. How? The material below may prompt you to answer.

Structure your time

This includes not only keeping to-do lists, but also timing each task, dividing it up, and working alternately. Rigorous planning may seem completely pointless at first, but this is the only way you can train yourself not only to follow the to-do list but also to adhere to the set time. This is important because, when making a list of tasks, we are often confident that we will diligently fulfill all responsibilities, but in reality, the work is amorphous. Either the client will call and take 15 minutes, then some of the work cannot be completed on time for reasons beyond your control. Setting for ourselves not only the amount of work but also the time to complete it, we find ourselves under double pressure. At first, you may not succeed, but soon you will learn to be quite clear about the time required for a particular job. Also, do not forget about a kind of motivational competition — by setting a framework for yourself, you will instinctively strive to get the job done on time, which in turn will eliminate some delays.

By the way, for those who are looking for a more functional, but at the same time, the same simple planning tool as to-do lists, we recommend that you try using a Kanban board. There are many software today that allow you to use this technique for free. Thanks to it, you will receive not just a list, but an interactive tool that allows you to control the time and process of performing various tasks.

Determine the reason for procrastination

It is important to know that you are not fighting with abstract time delays, but with your concrete actions, which become their cause. Procrastination, avoidance, reluctance — these are just definitions that describe the character but are not the essence. As well as their specific manifestations — computer games, aimless surfing on the Internet, collective tea drinking in the office cafeteria during working hours, and much more. The reasons for this can be much deeper than the banal “no strength” or “now just do not want to.”

Consider this situation. Kim has been dreaming for a long time, although — she wants to keep a blog and share her thoughts with the world. But something is constantly getting in the way of achieving this goal — at first, she planned to do this next weekend, but she was busy at the dacha/helped her friend with the move, the next weekend the company management sent her on a business trip, after another week she had only to get started with Blogger. And in general, when she has a free minute, she prefers to do something else or just relax. So what is the real reason? It is not in the situations described, but, for example, in the fact that subconsciously our heroine is worried about the fate of the blog due to the low self-esteem of her abilities. She simply avoids specific actions. And on the day when she will not need either to the dacha or on a business trip, there will still be dozens of other reasons not to work in this direction. Obviously, here you need to overcome a reason that is not in the field of time management.

Develop discipline

No matter how disliked the word “discipline” is for most of us, it is with it that the fight against laziness, procrastination, and disorganization should begin. It is important to understand that discipline is not something that limits your freedom, but something that brings order into life teaches you to do what is needed at the moment without looking back at momentary desires, emotions, states. Without it, none of the to-do lists and time management systems will work.

Here I will only point out the importance of positive motivation when developing a habit. Why does it matter? Not bending our hearts — we do not really like all kinds of restrictions. And discipline, like the willingness to follow an established order, is very easily confused by our brain with limitations. To neutralize this, you need to reinforce your decision and the first steps on the path of mastering time with a specially designed reward system. For some it is a dessert, for others, it is a purchase of some little thing. They can be used to reward yourself for “accomplishments” — focusing on work over a period, following a to-do list, and so on.

Engage emotions

It will not be a discovery for anyone that a person in his actions is guided not only by logic and cold reason but also by emotions. This knowledge can also be applied to combat procrastination. Each of us has our own sources of inspiration — what makes, “turns on” and pushes us to action. Resort to their help whenever a wave of passivity comes over you again. The author of these lines, when there is absolutely no desire to go out for a run in the evening, is literally kicked out of the apartment by the famous “Eye of the Tiger”. It is trite, but it is she who, since childhood, has been associated with something heroic, with the expectation of accomplishments and some kind of uplift that is characteristic only of childhood. Moreover, music is only one of the instruments. Each person has several of them: quotes, movie quotes, books, close people, challenges to themselves. Motivate yourself, connect emotions — use this lever to get out of the state of procrastination and move on to action.

Force yourself

Most people are inert by nature. And what is even more unpleasant to realize is that they are lazy. When we receive the expected, we quickly get used to it and try not to leave the created comfort zone unnecessarily, avoiding the unknown. If you want to change your life, even at the level of making a to-do list, you should be prepared for the fact that it will not come easily. Therefore, you need to be able to force yourself. This is partly a matter of discipline. Part of it is the ability to convince yourself to love things you may hate now. The main thing is to start doing. Through strength, without desire and enthusiasm, but start. After some time, when the psychological barrier is overcome, you will realize that in fact, it is much easier than it seems. It is enough to bring a little awareness into the business and say to yourself in time something like “This is not the time to be lazy, you need to work.” Try to control yourself and see for yourself.