We all procrastinate from time to time. Procrastination occurs when we avoid tasks that we find unpleasant. Even if we perform other work related tasks instead of the ones we dislike, we are guilty of procrastination. Unfortunately, procrastination will hinder our long term success. With the proper skills you can overcome procrastination. Eat That Frog.
Mark Twain has a saying that applies to procrastination. If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog. You can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that it is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. Brian Tracy named his course on time management Eat That Frog because of the saying the frog is anything that you do not want to do. Basically, you should complete your dreaded tasks first. Getting them out of the way will provide you with a sense of accomplishment and keep you from procrastinating.
Always begin with a task. That is the hardest and most significant, and you will be less tempted to procrastinate on other activities. Just do it. When you dislike a particular task, it is easy to procrastinate. Whether you spend time checking email or looking at Instagram, you are procrastinating. You need to do more than identify when you procrastinate.
You need to discover why. Discover Your obstacles. What do you choose over your tasks? discover ways to remove obstacles. Ask for support and take action. For example, you could turn off the internet and your phone.
Reward yourself. Make the task fun and use small rewards as incentive. Once you have identified your frogs and obstacles, the only answer is take action. Make the tasks that you want to avoid part of your daily routine. schedule the tasks into your calendar. Once they become habit you will find them easier to accomplish.
Once you have scheduled the time to accomplish your tasks, you must follow them Through. Resist the temptation to procrastinate with your favorite time waster, just do it. The 15 minute rule a lack of time is a common excuse for not completing a task. We often overestimate the time that it takes to complete tasks. But the 15 minute rule allows you to accurately time your tasks. When you follow the 15 minute rule, you set a timer for 15 minutes and work on a task.
You should stop working on the task when the time is up. You will be surprised by how many tasks you complete within the 15 minutes. When you are not able to complete a task within 15 minutes schedule 15 minutes the next day for the same task. This allows you to make consistent progress. You will also be able to better estimate how long a similar task will take. Chop it up.
The size of a project can also contribute to procrastination. It is easy to become overwhelmed by large project. The key to overcoming procrastination is to chop up the large project into smaller tasks. Rather than looking at the entire project focus on the single task. This will prevent you from becoming overwhelmed by the enormity of the work you must complete. For example, you could break a large report into different tasks such as brainstorming, outlining, writing, etc.
This technique will create a sense of achievement with each step and improve motivation, allowing you to stay focused as you reach the end of the entire project. Case Study, Carl's manager assigned him the task of running a self audit on the department. par was overwhelmed by the task. Every time he requested information from someone he would spend 20 minutes chatting. He constantly checked email and immediately reply to all messages. Carl knew that he was falling behind but it did little to motivate him.
After an interesting exchange with his manager poro realized that he needed To take action, he broke the audit down into smaller segments and avoided chatting with people. He even established set times to check email. After a few days, Karl began to see progress. This motivated him to continue the work. Despite the setback, Carl managed to finish on time.