10 Tips on How to Stop Procrastinating

Another day has passed and again you have not completed the tasks that you promised yourself you would not procrastinate on. The number of jobs is increasing, and the deals are glowing red. However, you are still slow to complete tasks. Even those that are somehow related to the pursuit of your dreams. Familiar feeling right? 

However, it is not worth wasting time on disappointment. Instead, let us look at what we can do to make tomorrow different.

1. Create a positive work environment. If the task requires silence - find a quiet place. If you need a large space - do not use a tiny room instead. At first glance, these may seem like small things, but actually they are extremely important. The positive work environment will boost your productivity and creativity indeed.

2. Avoid distractions. While one reply to a text from a friend won't ruin your day's plan, it does set the stage for giving in to other small, unplanned tasks. You won't even notice how the past few hours will pass again, and the work you planned to do will not be even started. Since it is very difficult to maintain a balance, it is better to make a clear distinction between work and leisure time.

3. Name yourself why you have to do one or another thing. Procrastination often leads to the fact that we have not clearly defined why we need to do one or another task. Clear and strong motivation is a big step forward. So write it down and hang it in your workplace. It will be like a small reminder that will not allow you to waste your precious time.

4. Have a clear plan for the day. Having a plan (not only on your mind but written on paper or in any of your devices) will ensure you have fewer opportunities to procrastinate. By seeing what you have to do today, you will realize that every unfulfilled commitment will not go away - you will just have to work harder tomorrow.

5. Set realistic goals. Sometimes people quickly get frustrated when they don't implement their daily plans and eventually stop making them. However, the problem is not in their failure, but in unrealistic ambitions. Therefore, before planning the day, make sure that you will be able to implement them today. If not, you can plan how much time you will spend on one task or another to make at least minimal progress.

6. Choose the most important tasks of the day. How to do it? You may sort them into important and urgent can help; important but not urgent and neither important nor urgent. It will help you to prioritize tasks and make sure that procrastination management works well. And focus on the tasks that require the most attention first, and save the simpler ones for the end.

7. Break large-scale tasks into parts. Psychologists say that one of the biggest reasons for procrastination is unconscious fear or reluctance to undertake serious tasks. The human mind is lazy by nature, so sometimes you need to be able to trick it in order to gain benefits for yourself. After all, the goal of writing a book can be simply terrifying. However, writing a page on that day is definitely not an insurmountable task. It is possible that after starting with one page, you will soon find that it is not difficult to write ten pages in a day.

8. Give yourself a limited time to complete the task. The time limit encourages you to concentrate and use the available time as productively as possible. Remember those times when you remembered about an unwritten paper just a couple of hours before the deadline. You focused and did it! Why not apply this method in your everyday life?

9. Take breaks. Although it may seem that the more you work, the more you will accomplish, but this is not always true. Breaks and changes of activities are extremely important for productivity. In this way, your brain will rest and can start working again with new energy. If you do mental work, take a few minutes to take a walk, exercise, and talk to the people around you. If the task you are doing involves intense physical activity, sit or lie down.

10. After completing the task – reward yourself. Such small joys will stimulate creativity, productivity, and also give a sense of satisfaction with the completed task. For one it will be ice cream, for another it will be a meeting with friends, etc. It can be a completely different thing for each person. In addition, it will allow you to take on other tasks with greater desire and joy. But you have to promise yourself that you won't cheat. First is the completed task and then the reward.

If you make a firm commitment and take action to implement these tips in your daily life, you will soon notice positive changes. You will have less and less time for procrastination and more and more time for work. And such a combination will undoubtedly sooner or later bring gratifying results and achievements that you can be proud of.

Therefore, do not delay - take it and implement it. If you want this plan to really succeed, persuade your friends or buddies to do it too. Together, it will be easier to achieve your goals and definitely more fun.