Tips to Rid your Life of Procrastination
Procrastination is an obstacle that we all must face in order to become happy and successful in our chosen lives. Everyone from kids in grade school to people in the workforce struggle with this and they are often unable to accomplish goals because giving into procrastination is much easier than following steps to make ourselves more productive. Many people think procrastination is just a fancy word for laziness, but it is not. Procrastination can rule a person’s life and make even the simplest of goals feel as though they are a lifetime away. The successful people in life have figured out a way to combat procrastination with a few simple steps to make it easier to work towards their goals. A few of those general steps are outlined in the paragraphs to follow, but please keep in mind that everyone is different and what works for some may not work for everyone.
One of the best ways to get over the hump of procrastination is to create small and attainable goals that lead you to your overall goal. For example, if your goal for the day is to get a haircut, make it a point to set an appointment beforehand. In other words, commit to it. Most people procrastinate due to a lack of commitment. If there is no commitment there is nothing in place to propel you to get to that goal. The simple act of making an appointment to get your haircut takes away half the obstacles standing in your way.
Another way to overcome procrastination is to keep a planner whether it is digital or if it’s a more traditional method of planning your life. What having a planner does is show you in writing what you need to get done and when, which many people say makes them feel more connected to their plans because they seem more tangible when written down. This tip requires a bit of work on your part because many people get planners or download apps to serve that purpose but then never use them. Updating your planner needs to be second nature because if not, it will just become another empty book on your nightstand or another unused app on your smart device. The other aspect of this step that requires actual work is checking your planner daily because adding tasks to your planner but not checking to see what needs to be done is pointless.
One of best ways people have found to end their cycles of procrastination is to tell others about their goals and intentions and to even ask the people in their lives to keep them accountable. The act of spreading the news of your plans makes your goals feel like more of a requirement because there is that sense of wanting to do what you say you are going to do. For example, many people who have successfully lost weight are the same people who post their goals and progress on social media accounts.
If you follow these three steps, along with other steps that make you accountable for your goals, the overwhelming desire to procrastinate will begin to dissolve. It is important to remember that this change does not happen overnight, so beating yourself up for not figuring it all out right away only hurts your goals. Procrastination has been a major part of most people’s lives for a number of years, so it only makes sense that putting it behind you would be a process.
