How to beat procrastination and live a fulfilling life?

Dreams and goals are first step towards success. Often the reason why we do not reach our goals or fulfill our dreams is either we get too carried away with our life. Or we keep postponing beginning our journey towards our dreams. If you are also victim of procrastination, read further to know how to beat procrastination at work or in general, with simple tricks.

One of the best things about being an adult is that I can finally make my own schedule. I have better control over what to do in life. I set my goals, my tasks and chase them. And may plan to work entire day to finish my work or take breaks to enjoy walk by the beach. This sounds great in theory. But it doesn’t always work out when I’m faced with a deadlines on those projects that require planning ahead. And I already have my hands full due to old pending tasks.

More often than not, I find myself in crunch mode the night before something is due. Because procrastination caught up with me and I have to put everything else aside to get it done.

Procrastination is one of those things we all try to avoid, but everyone does it! If you’re also plagued by this issue, read on and hopefully you’ll learn some new ways to kick the habit here.

Procrastination: Why we do it.

Procrastination is a hot topic these days. But, what exactly is procrastination?

Procrastination is putting off important tasks until later, without any real justification. It’s a way of avoiding negative emotions and the pain associated with them. For example:

• If you don’t feel like writing your reports right now and you know that the deadline is coming up soon, you may choose to put it off until after dinner so you don’t have to think about it or feel stress from having an impending deadline looming over your head.
• You might also see this as someone who doesn’t want to go exercise because they don’t want to get sweaty and gross before going to office or going to bed. Or maybe they don’t like the pain or discomfort that follows next day.

A new way of thinking about procrastination.

Let’s get one important fact out of the way: procrastination is a habit. It isn’t an all-encompassing, monolithic thing that can be conquered simply by saying “don’t do it, don’t think about it, don’t even think about thinking about doing it.” That would be nice if it worked that way, but unfortunately we humans aren’t wired that way. The more you fight against your natural tendencies—which is what fighting procrastination is—the more stress gets piled onto you and the worse off you are for trying to beat yourself into submission with willpower alone.

The first step in overcoming procrastination is understanding why we do it in the first place; below are some reasons people procrastinate:

• One finds the task to be boring or repetitive or too easy
• The task may seem to be too difficult, unpleasant or require lot of efforts
• Person has low self-esteem and is doubts if he can accomplish the task
• Person is suffering from mental health implications, depression, anxiety or feels overwhelmed or is a perfectionist

Now that we know what could be possible reasons for procrastination, let us delve to know how can we beat procrastination.

Plan for your work, work for your plan.

Once you’ve identified the tasks you need to accomplish, it’s time to plan how and when you’re going to do them. If this sounds like a lot of effort, it is—but the payoff is huge.

Plan for your work:

• Think about what kind of goals you want to achieve in the coming week or month, and break those down into smaller pieces that are more manageable. Write down your plans for achieving these goals (i.e., “work on article”) so that you have a clear sense of what needs doing by when in order to meet them (i.e., “finish article by Friday afternoon”).

• Make sure each task has an exact start date so that there’s no question as to when it should be completed by—and then actually schedule that date into your calendar! If something isn’t scheduled, it won’t get done—so don’t make excuses: if something needs doing on Monday morning at 8am sharp because it’s already written in stone on your calendar? Then make sure nothing intervenes before Monday morning at 8am sharp! No excuses!

Read More >> Explode your productivity with these time management tips

Read More >> Is social media the real reason for your procrastination?

Dealing with perfectionism.

Perfectionism is a form of procrastination. It’s a self-defeating strategy for dealing with fear and anxiety about the future. And it’s a way that you can avoid risk by focusing on processes rather than outcomes.

Although perfectionists are more likely to be high achievers, they also tend to experience higher levels of stress and anxiety due to their relentless pursuit of excellence in everything they do (along with the inability to accept anything less).

Realise that perfectionism is causing procrastination. Let go of perfectionism. Be okay with less-than-perfect performance. Mark your task as complete and move to next one.

Tackling overwhelming projects.

If you’re facing a big, looming project that looks like it’s going to take forever, start by breaking down the project into smaller tasks. This will make the whole thing seem more manageable and easy to complete. Once you’ve broken it down into bite-sized pieces, plan when and where you’ll do each task.

If one part of the task is boring or tedious for example (like editing), try doing that in one sitting so that it doesn’t drag on for days at a time. Then reward yourself for each completed stage with something small but meaningful like a snack or taking some time out for yourself without interruptions from other people!

Learn when to take a break.

• If you start feeling tired, take a break.
• When you are distracted by the world around you and lose focus on what you are trying to accomplish, take a break.
• When your body needs recharging, take a break—even if it’s just for 5 minutes!
• When your mind is hungry for stimulation (a quick game of solitaire or Sudoku can help), get some fresh air instead of reaching for unhealthy snacks—or better yet: make yourself some healthy snacks! That way when hunger does strike again later in the afternoon/evening/nighttime hours later than usual you will have something healthy to eat instead of unhealthy munchies.

Read more >> How to achieve career goals with time bound plan?

Get an accountability buddy.

Get an accountability buddy. Find a friend who will check in with you regularly and make sure you’re staying on track.

You can ask them to call, email or text you at certain points throughout the day (such as when they’re about to go out for lunch). If it seems like there’s no way for them to do this, try setting up a Google Calendar event that sends “reminders” via email or text message at those intervals.

Making yourself accountable and setting deadlines helps you avoid procrastination

Make yourself accountable to someone. This can be a friend or colleague who’s in a similar situation as you, or even just a family member who will check in on how your work is coming along. You’re more likely to get things done if you know that someone will ask about it later (and possibly give you an earful if you don’t).

Set deadlines for yourself and use them to stay on track with your tasks. If there are no consequences for not getting something done, why even bother?

Break down large tasks into smaller chunks so they seem less intimidating and easier to accomplish. For example, instead of trying to complete an entire report by tomorrow morning, set some time aside every day this week until it’s complete.

Use a calendar app or simply put reminders in your phone calendar so nothing slips through the cracks! If possible, put all due dates on one calendar page so they’re easy to reference when needed—or just stick them up somewhere where they can’t be missed (like on a mirror at home).

100% Responsibility 0% excuses

This one concept shared by life coach Vidhi Tripathi changed my mindset completely.

We are 100% responsible for everything that happens in our life. No blame, No excuses, No reasons. Just owning up our situation and our responses to those situations, can change our life forever. When the situation in your life is adverse or not conducive for your goals, you have to exert additional efforts to overcome such situations.

So next time when you analyze, why you have not achieved your goals, just analyze the situation. Figure out what actions you can take to overcome those situations. Do not let your thought wander towards blame or excuses for your situation.

Final note

The best way to beat procrastination is to have a plan and make yourself accountable. If you find yourself slipping into your old ways, try taking a break and giving yourself time to re-energize. Then make a new plan, enlist the help of friends or family, and get back on track. Remember that nothing can stop the person who refuses to give up!

Stay in touch

Let me know in the comments below, what would you like to improve in your self.

You can also learn about ways more about self-improvement on my Pinterest account, Instagram and facebook. Join my facebook group to mingle with like-minded people who are interested in personal growth and self-improvement.

We are in this together!!!