A Complete Guide To Moving Past Procrastination
Procrastination, or the act of putting off tasks until the last minute, can be a normal response to the often overwhelming number of tasks on a to-do list. Many of us have procrastinated at one point or another. However, procrastinating can become a significant hurdle to productivity for some individuals. Research shows that up to 20% of adults struggle with regular procrastination.
Procrastination can severely affect several facets of your life if not appropriately managed. It can lead to poor performance at work and school, affect your mental and physical health, and strain your relationships. If not addressed, occasional delays might lead to chronic procrastination, which can have more severe, long-term effects. Still, with the right strategies, you can overcome procrastination and lead a productive, enjoyable life. Reducing procrastination can improve your mental health and help you enjoy other aspects of life.
What is procrastination?
People procrastinate in many ways. For example, you might be procrastinating if you decide to organize your closet instead of finishing your work project. Another example of procrastination is engaging in an unproductive activity like playing a game when you should be working on a school project with a submission deadline. Neglecting a task altogether can also be an example of this phenomenon.
There are several reasons an individual might procrastinate, including a lack of motivation, perfectionistic behavior, physical health concerns, or a mental health condition. Some people equate procrastination with laziness or failure, but this is inaccurate. Often, procrastination is a coping mechanism that can help an individual avoid the stress of complex or overwhelming tasks. It may also be done unknowingly due to difficulty with focus or time management.
Regardless of its source, procrastination can prompt anxiety, negatively affect overall health, and lead to unwanted outcomes in professional and academic settings. If you’re struggling with procrastination, there are several changes you can make that can increase your productivity.
How to overcome procrastination
If you know that procrastination is a concern, you can learn to stop procrastinating by building better work habits over time. The following tips may help you better manage your time, prioritize tasks, and stay ahead in your professional life.
Remove distractions
With the popularity of technology and other potential distractions, many external forces can interrupt your daily flow. Having a smartphone with pop-ups and notifications directing your attention away from the task at hand can increase procrastination. To eliminate distractions, consider exiting your email, staying off social media sites, and silencing your phone.
In addition, there are several apps you can download to your device that can track the time spent on tasks or projects, in addition to website-blocking programs that ensure specific sites are inaccessible. Some apps make avoiding procrastination into a game. For example, the app may block you from using your phone for a specific period, allowing you to grow a plant or care for an animal while you work. If you get on your phone, the app may reduce your rewards or make you start over on the game progress.
Learn to prioritize
Another hurdle that might increase procrastination is difficulty prioritizing tasks or managing time. You may feel overwhelmed or unsure where to start if you have many important tasks to complete. Having a ton of tasks to complete with no solid planning can cause stress levels to increase and productivity levels to decrease.
Start by sorting through your tasks and noting what needs to be completed and when. You can categorize tasks based on importance and urgency. Once you’ve taken this step, consider selecting the top three highest priority items and focusing on getting those done first. Depending on your workload, you might be able only to finish one priority item each day. However, one step may be better than none. As you work through your tasks, you can develop a routine and make these tasks a habit.
Make lists
Often, people may have trouble finishing tasks because they’re unsure what to complete. Not being on top of your priorities may result in missed deadlines, mismanaged time, and unfinished projects. Keeping lists can help you track what you must do and organize your days efficiently. Consider writing down each task as you think of it or as assigned.
In addition to a to-do list, try making a “done” list. Writing down the tasks you have completed at the end of each day may help you realize how efficiently you are working, where you need to improve, and how to maximize your time the next day.
Let others hold you accountable
Research shows that expressing your goals with someone you hold in high esteem can help you achieve them. Consider telling someone you respect—a higher-up at work, a family, or a mentor—about a specific goal you’d like to achieve. Doing so may help you in overcoming procrastination, committing to the task, and ensuring you’re being held accountable.
Find a challenge
Boredom can be a frequent cause of procrastination. If you are challenged with a task or a project, you may feel more motivated to complete it. If you feel like you aren’t being pushed at work, consider taking on new projects or going for a promotion.
Reward yourself
You might focus a lot on what you need to complete but not on celebrating the accomplishments you’ve already made. A lack of incentives can be de-motivating, causing individuals to view work negatively and potentially leading to procrastination.
Try to take time between tasks to acknowledge your work and reward yourself. Some examples of rewards include taking a short break or grabbing a snack or beverage that you enjoy. If you’ve just finished a big project, consider taking yourself out to dinner or buying yourself a new item of clothing.
Get started
One of the most straightforward ways to overcome procrastination is to start on the task as soon as you think about it, even if it’s a small task, like putting gas in the lawnmower, cleaning a small part of your home, or eating a small snack. Beginning a project is often the most challenging part, but you may find that once you start working on a task, you can complete it until the end.
Overcoming procrastination with a professional
If you continue to struggle with procrastination or feel it may be a sign of an underlying mental health concern, you might benefit from speaking to a therapist. However, if you have many unfinished tasks, scheduling a visit with an in-person therapist can be overwhelming. In these cases, online therapy may allow you to receive support at a time that fits your schedule.
Research also shows that online therapy can help individuals become more proactive. In a study of 150 people, researchers found that online cognitive-behavioral therapy could help participants decrease procrastination. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a widely accepted form of treatment that helps individuals recognize and replace undesired thought patterns. For example, a therapist can help their client realize that they might have a tendency to procrastinate due to perfectionism.
If you’re having trouble with procrastination or similar mental health-related concerns, consider contacting a licensed therapist online. With an online therapy platform like BetterHelp, you can chat with a mental health professional from home and choose between video, voice, or in-app messaging sessions. BetterHelp allows you to schedule therapy sessions through their site or app, making it easier if you struggle to be proactive with tasks.
Takeaway
Procrastination can be harmful if it becomes a habit—if you continually miss deadlines, it can affect your academic or professional life. Learning to avoid procrastination may also be key to maintaining a healthy work/life balance. However, you can employ several valuable strategies to keep it in check. If you’d like additional support in limiting procrastination, consider getting matched with a licensed online therapist. With the above tactics and the help of a mental health professional, you can better manage your schedule, get more done, and stay ahead in life.
What is the best way to avoid procrastination?
Most people find themselves procrastinating from time to time, but if you’ve developed a procrastination habit, it can be difficult to break the cycle.
If you’ve tried to stop procrastinating without success, it can begin to seem like you’ll never stop, and many people find themselves engaging in negative self-talk, shame, and guilt. But there are some things you can do, including removing any distractions from your environment, letting go of perfectionism, picking an accountability partner, tackling tasks step by step, trying not to criticize yourself harshly, and adopting self-compassion.
How do you trick yourself into not procrastinating?
Here are some things you can use to trick your brain into not procrastinating:
- Remind yourself how good it feels when you accomplish a task
- Tackle the task you dread most first
- Set small goals and rewards for achieving them
- Use the Pomodoro method when you’re working
- Use separate to-do lists for short and long-term goals
- Focus on the process, not the outcome
- Tell yourself to do “just one more” thing on your to-do list (i.e. instead of cleaning the entire house, start by focusing on just unloading the dishwasher)
- Adopt habits so you can reduce the number of decisions you have to make each day (ex: Decide what days of the week you work out and then stick to it)
- Plan each day in advance
- Set aside a chunk of time to either do the thing you need to do, or do nothing at all (the “do nothing alternative”)
- Break everything down into step-by-step actions
If you’re procrastinating all the time, it can start to take a toll on your mental health and self-esteem. By incorporating these routines, you can become more effective with your time and improve your wellbeing in the long term.
What is the 5-minute procrastination trick?
The five-minute procrastination rule is a psychological trick that helps you focus on a task you would otherwise avoid. To practice this rule, pick the task you’re avoiding and set a timer for five minutes. Work without stopping for those five minutes on the task, during which time you might find that you’re able to outline a paper, clean the toilet, fold the laundry, or write the grocery list. When the five minutes are up, you’re free to stop, but many people find that by starting, they’re able to break down the procrastination wall and continue working more easily.
What is the 10-minute rule to beat procrastination?
The 10-minute rule is just like the five-minute rule, but instead of focusing on a single task for five minutes, you focus for 10 minutes. This strategy may be better for you than the five-minute rule if it takes you a second to get focused, if you have ADHD, or if five minutes isn’t long enough to overcome your mental procrastination barrier.
How do I break my procrastination habit?
Procrastination is a cyclical habit for many people. When there’s something that needs to be accomplished, it’s easy to find reasons to delay it, self-criticize when it doesn’t get done, and then complete it hastily at the last minute. Afterwards, even if they promise to never procrastinate again, most people find themselves repeating the cycle over and over again.
To break the cycle, first figure out why you procrastinate. For example:
- Do you procrastinate because you’re overwhelmed?
- Do you procrastinate because you’re a perfectionist?
- Do you freeze because you doubt your ability to do the task?
- Do you procrastinate because you’re frustrated by the challenges?
- Do you find it impossible to get the momentum to start a new task?
- Do you procrastinate because you’re not motivated or can’t see the point?
- Do you procrastinate because you’re overbooked and don’t have the time?
The best approach to interrupting the procrastination cycle will depend on how you answer these questions. For example, if you have trouble getting the momentum to start a task, you might benefit from trying the 10-minute rule. If you procrastinate because you’re overwhelmed, it may help to set smaller, more manageable goals.
What is the real solution to procrastination?
Finding the real solution for your procrastination requires some self-reflection to identify the source of the behavior. You’ll want to figure out if you’re procrastinating because of issues like low self-esteem, frustration, confusion, overwhelm, lack of momentum, or lack of motivation.
From there, you can take steps to address that specific challenge. For example, you might benefit from breaking your tasks up into reasonable chunks, decluttering your workspace, writing a to-do list the night before (in order of importance, starting with essential tasks at the top), creating healthy habits, removing distractions like phones, or implementing a rule—like the Pomodoro rule or the five-minute rule.
How do I stop being lazy and procrastinating?
Calling yourself “lazy” may be one of the barriers exacerbating your procrastination tendencies. This kind of negative self-talk can make you less and less likely to start a task and leave you feeling low self-esteem, shame, guilt, or disempowered. Instead, when you focus on lifting yourself up with positive self-talk, compassion, and rewards instead of punishment, you may find it easier to accomplish your goals.
How to break the procrastination cycle?
There are several strategies that can help you stop procrastinating. These include reducing the distractions in your space (such as phones, TVs, and clutter), working in chunks of time (many people have success using the five-minute rule or Pomodoro method), using the “do nothing” alternative, making to-do lists the day before, or breaking each task down into mini tasks.
What is the rule to beat procrastination?
There are many rules that can help with procrastination, but one of them is the “three-minute rule.” This anti-procrastination strategy proposes that you tell yourself you’ll work for just three straight minutes on a task you’ve been avoiding. After the three-minute period, if you’re still unable to get the task done, move on. This rule can be very effective, especially if you find the 20-minute Pomodoro or 10-minute rule too daunting.
How to fix chronic procrastination?
If you’re a chronic procrastinator, it may be helpful to use the two-minute rule, where you only focus on very small tasks that can be accomplished within a two-minute period. For example, instead of telling yourself you’re going to clean the whole kitchen, you can set a series of two-minute goals, like putting away the dishes. Or, instead of reading a few chapters of a book, focus on reading a single page.
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