How do I avoid Procrastination?

Procrastination is the thief of progress and it’s also one of the biggest contributors to failure alongside indecision. So perhaps it’s time to step away from procrastination and make ‘getting things done’ your new go to position.

I was having coffee with someone from my network last week and he said ‘everyone procrastinates don’t they?’ I immediately said no but on reflection, I think we all have the ability to decide to put things off, or even flounder. That said some people, and I’m one of them, seem to get things done despite this. I believe this is because procrastination is a choice we make and this means we can chose the opposite.

Here’s my tips for saying No to procrastination.

1. Spend a few moments establishing the top three things you need to achieve and prioritise these in order of enjoyment.
2. Start with the task that you will enjoy the least.
3. Apply ‘laser focus’ by setting a stop watch on your phone for a 15, 30 or 60 minutes and make a deal with yourself that you won’t do anything else but the task in hand until the alarm sounds.
4. Break large tasks into chunks and look at this as several different tasks rather than one overall nightmare.
5. Recognise ‘good enough’ and use the hour you’d usually spend agonising over perfection to treat yourself to a walk or a coffee date with a friend instead
6. Balance ‘to do’ tasks with ‘to me’ tasks. For every hour you spend doing things, put 5 minutes in the bank for YOU.

I have a handy download available in my website shop ‘Make It Happen’ priority list for all of you procrastinators.