Stop Procrastination and Manage Time Proactively

Procrastination is the habit of postponing actions. Why do people procrastinate? You may come up with a variety of reasons like the fear or anxiety of failure, lack of motivation or difficulty in changing priorities.

If you take a closer look at procrastination, you will realize that it only helps in de-motivating you from achieving what we want by creating stress.

On the other hand, if you stop procrastination in its tracks and do things in a timely way, you will have plenty of time and energy and enthusiasm to live a satisfying and successful life. So you can make a start now by making this idea your motivation and following the steps as detailed below:

Maintain a “To do” list and Manage time proactively

Maintain a logbook or diary and write down the list of things you have to do starting from the most important and urgent and then others according to their order of importance.

Writing down the goal and their finishing date helps you to focus on and keep the momentum of your efforts. You will be reminded of your target on a daily basis and will remove the confusing and discouraging thoughts from your mind making the process of achieving your goals easier.

The most important thing is to take the first step as the old adage goes, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

Break up tasks and reward yourself

Some goals may seem to be too big and hard to reach; do not get overwhelmed by big tasks as you can break them up into smaller chunks so that you can space out the process in achieving them.

Another good idea is to start with the hardest task first thing in the morning so that it is out of your way. This gives a moral boost for you to keep moving forward.

Procrastination is, hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage. ~ Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby (Tweet this)

For example if you are a student and working on a thesis, set goals like two chapters a day or 5 chapters per week. On achieving each small goal you can feel a sense of achievement and feel good about being on track.

It is also important to keep the motivation high which will propel you to move faster towards the overall goal. You can reward yourself for reaching each of the smaller goals like giving yourself a weekend outing.

This gives you an opportunity to relax in between and enjoy leisure while still moving consistently towards accomplishing your targets.

Avoid distractions

When you have marked your calendar with targets with dates, you set a timetable to follow so that you reach your goals on the stipulated time. Many people find this easier said than done. It is because they fall into the trap of losing time on wasteful things like TV, long phone calls, playing video games, chatting for long hours and so on.

So you can make your own rules to control unproductive activities and devote more time for working towards your goal.

Stress Relief

It is natural to feel stressed out due to a loss of time due to heavy work schedules, or other important things causing delay in reaching your target. When you feel anxious or stressed about finishing a task, taking deep breaths can give you instant relief. Inhale deeply and hold your breath for five counts and do the same while exhaling and repeat a few times.

Remember what motivated you to take up this action and how you will enjoy the happy ending. Replace your negative thoughts with those of success and happiness. This conscious effort will put you in a relaxed frame of mind and help you to make further strides.

Seek out supportive people

When you set yourself on the path of achieving a target, it helps to spend time with similar people who have clear targets and are working on them. This way you can check frequently with each other how far you have moved towards your goals.

Inspired action gets positive results. It’s time to act. All the best!