How to Stop Procrastinating: 5 Practical Ways for Procrastinators
By: Kaushiki Tripathi
Tags: Procrastination Cure, Overcome Procrastination, Procrastinate, Stop Procrastinating, Procrastination

Are you worried and thinking, is there anything we can do to stop procrastinating? Yes! Don’t let procrastination take over your life.

Let’s take a look into some ways to combat procrastination… Here’s what you need to do-

Break your works into smaller tasks

One of the reasons we procrastinate is that subconsciously we find the work too overwhelming for us. So it is crucial to break your work into smaller tasks to focus more on one part at a time. If still you procrastinate after this process, then you need to break down your task even further. It is so overwhelming to think about finishing a whole work. If you think your work is a big obstacle, then break it down into small pieces.

For instance, If you need to write an article. So, break it down into phases such as-

Firstly do your research

Decide the topic of an article

Creating the outline

Drafting the content

Writing content

Proofreading

So, if you divide your work in this manner, then it seems very manageable and easy to complete work within a particular time.

2. Stop over-complicating Things

Are you waiting for a perfect time to do this? Our desire to do perfect everything makes us overcomplicate a work. That maybe now is not the best time because of some reasons. Leave that thought, as there’s never a perfect time, but if you keep waiting for the perfect time to come, it will become difficult to accomplish anything.

Perfectionism is one of the biggest reasons for procrastination. That’s a reason, even simple tasks seem difficult to do. This makes us procrastinate on it and waiting for the perfect time to come. Thus, instead of overthinking about your work, set an objective if you need to do any big project this will really help you to complete your tasks step-by-step in a simple manner to complete within the deadline provided.

3. Set a deadline

Are you someone who thinks like- I’ll complete my work tomorrow. You must have heard this phrase- “ Tomorrow Never Comes” that’s true. Create an overall timeline with particular deadlines for each small task. So in this way, you will be aware of a certain date to finish your task. And make sure to complete a task within a deadline because if you fail to match your planned timeline, this way it creates the urgency to act.

Think like this- If I may not follow my daily tasks routine, it might be difficult to accomplish my goals by the specified date. But it would be better if you complete your tasks in advance. This way, if something unexpected happens, you still have extra time to complete it. Thus, it is good to set a specific date as a deadline to accomplish your goals.

4. Get rid of distractions

It is important to rid yourself of any kind of disruptions before you start your work so that you didn’t get distracted from your work. What you can do — Firstly, try to pick a place that works for you, where you will be less distracted and able to do most of your work. That can be a library, home office, or local bookstore.

Then, remove your phone from the space because it creates a lot of disturbances. When notifications pop up on your screen phone, you get easily distracted from your work. So it is better to turn off your phone. If you need to keep your phone for some emergency reasons, turn- off all your notifications.

A recent study found that having your phone out and insight, even if you are not using it, can make you perform 20% worse than if you had put your phone away.

Listen to music without lyrics. Many people struggle to work and stay focused on their work when in a completely silent room. But if you are listening to music with lyrics, you’ll almost certainly get distracted by the lyrics of the song. So switch to a white-noise machine or instrumental music.

5. Get the hard stuff done first

This may happen with you, that hard stuff constantly pushes you back to complete your tasks as it seems hard to do it. Because of this reason, you were not able to start your work, and you procrastinate. But guess what? Once you start doing it, it’s over! It is better to complete your most challenging tasks first. In this way, only a small amount of work will be left, which seems to be completed in an easier and shorter period. It’s best to buckle down and just do it!

“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.”

― Mark Twain

Whenever you are struggling to stick with a habit, try these ways to get rid of it. But if you still procrastinate, look at the bigger picture, and think- if I don’t waste my time, feeling lazy and delaying my works, how much I can achieve in my life, my GOALS, my DREAMS like anything. Thus, think about it and STOP procrastinating!