Procrastination is the thief of time. I believe you’ve heard that before, over and over again. You have a job you must finish before a specific period or submission to do before a deadline, yet you aren’t doing it, but you’re putting off for other miscellaneous things like chatting on social media, surfing the internet, watching videos on YouTube, sleeping, visiting a gist partner and doing something else unrelated to getting the work done. You’re aware you should be working and of course, the work has a deadline, yet you don’t feel like touching it or completing it all, then you have a problem of procrastination.
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Procrastination is when we squander away our free
time and put off work that we ought to have started and finished until it becomes too late. When it becomes too late, we panic, we regret and we wished we had started earlier. It leaves us with a feeling of regret. Procrastination is the mother of unproductivity, career killer, personal stagnation, financial impoverishment and unfulfilled life. In this article, I highlight 8 ways to
overcome procrastination.
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Break Your Task Into Smaller Parts
One of the reasons why you procrastinate is because you subconsciously find your work overwhelming. Divide your work into smaller parts and tackle them one after the other. Even if you find the smaller tasks overwhelming, still break them down until you get to the point where you find it very simple to execute.
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Create Specific Deadlines And Timelines For Each Smaller Tasks
Having a single deadline for a huge task could sap your morale to get it done and cause you to put it off and focus on trivial issues. For example, if I want to finish writing a 270-page book in three months because I think writing such a volume could be overwhelming, I will set 4 hours a day to write at least 3 pages. With this, I can finish the book before the deadline. At 3 pages a day, the book will be ready in three months.
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Change Your Environment
Very often, your environment affects your productivity. Does the desk or bedroom always inspire you to keep working or snuggling up to sleep or crawl? For example, it’s easier to laze around when your bedroom is your workspace. Sometimes going out to rent a workspace outside of your comfort zone as a freelance writer, and remote worker can make you productive and hit your deadline. Step into an environment that fuels your driving power.
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Hang Around People Who Drive You
Hanging around people with energetic drive can influence you to push more and become productive. Energy is contagious, especially with people of similar professions and goals.
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Get A Workmate Pal
Have a workmate preferably a friend. This can make work exciting as both supports, inspire and drive each other. Both of you will hold each other to your goals and plans. With this, you can spur each other on.
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Get Rid Of Distractions
Procrastination grows because you’re distracted by trivial stuff you find comfortable doing. Identify those things you leave your tasks for? It could be a seasonal movie, your social media, your friends, your email etc. Get rid of distractions by disabling notifications, packing up those movies, avoiding those friends smartly and so on.
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Seek Out Those Who’ve Succeeded In What You’re Trying To Achieve
Seek out friendship with those who are succeeding in what you’re trying to achieve. Sometimes, hanging around achievers can fuel your drive. As a writer, I often hang around successful writers offline and online. Their newest release or new projects often fuels me to finish my book. That’s how it works.
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There’s No Perfect Time To Do Something Worthy
This has often been the case of many procrastination causes – the illusion of the perfect time. Most times, you’re not living your best life because you’re pushing off that worthy cause, that wonderful project, because you’re waiting for the right time. The time for anything worthy is now! There are CEOs who’re in their teenage years.
Don’t wait till you’re aged before you set up your dream business. If you don’t have the necessary knowledge, start acquiring them. Start that business course online by visiting YouTube channels or signing up for Udemy and so on. Dream big, but start small – start now. Don’t procrastinate any longer. Start now.
Featured Image Source: Association For Psychological Science
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This article was first published on 24th August 2021
nnaemeka-emmanuel
Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.
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