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8 Ways Successful People Beat Procrastination
Giving up
Take a step back and figure out the reason you’re procrastinating on the project or task. Is it because it’s actually not that important, or doesn’t move you closer to your big-picture goal?
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Keep yourself accountable
Making a commitment to yourself helps keep you accountable.
Write your goals down, keep a to-do list with you, and create reminders on your phone and on your calendar.
Make yourself accountable to others
- Tell everyone what you plan to do and talk about your goals. Tell friends, employees, and employers your intentions and you won’t want to let them down.
- Start documenting and sharing your journey. A blog or vlog where you share the projects you’re working on and your progress will encourage you to get things done.
Cut out temptations
If you’re a chronic procrastinator and simply can’t resist the temptations of things like Facebook and Youtube, it might be time to cut out temptations.
There are tools such as Rescue Time, SelfControl and Focus that will temporarily block access to distracting websites like Facebook. Less aggressive tools such as Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator and Distraction Free Youtube will allow you to have access to Facebook and Youtube but block the distracting parts of these websites (such as the newsfeed).
Self-awareness
Becoming aware of why you procrastinate means taking a step back and looking at some of the possible reasons such as boredom, lack of confidence in the project, lack of self-confidence, and feeling overwhelmed.
Once you know the reason, it’s a matter of finding things to remedy it and cut your procrastination off at the source.
Planning ahead
If you get to your work desk and have no idea where to start, it can lead you to work on low-impact tasks (such as checking email) or other worse forms of procrastinating.
Put together a plan or to-do list before starting work or any project. The night before is a good time to do this. It allows you to reflect on what you’ve accomplished during the day and then come up with what needs to get done tomorrow.
Showing up
Commit to just showing up and you’ll find yourself completing a lot more tasks.
The next time you don’t feel like tackling a task, commit to only working on it for one minute. Set a timer for 60 seconds, then sit down and get to work. More often than not, you’ll find yourself wanting to go beyond the 60 seconds and continue.
Break up large tasks into smaller tasks
Successful people understand that tasks need to be broken down into much more specific and measurable sub-tasks.
This often encourages you to get more done and feel accomplished and motivated by scratching to-do items off of your list.
Giving up
Take a step back and figure out the reason you’re procrastinating on the project or task. Is it because it’s actually not that important, or doesn’t move you closer to your big-picture goal?
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