So it's Friday morning and you're struggling to meet up with the deadline set by your project manager. You know it's a task that could have been done earlier and in convenience but you couldn't help but keep scrolling through the latest threads on Twitter and watching cat videos on Pinterest (cute!). Honestly, it's something we all go through and though it might seem unsurmountable, it is rather easy to surmount.
Procrastination is the act of putting off important tasks for less rewarding and easier tasks. It is often mistaken for laziness but it is way different from laziness.
The battle against procrastination is a never-ending one so I'll share a few hacks I use to trick myself into completing tasks on time.
Acknowledge your habit of procrastination
You have to, first and foremost acknowledge the fact you are a procrastinator (I know, it hurts). This puts you in the position of knowing your flaw and actually putting in work against it. As with all problems, identifying it is the first and most important step.
Focus on starting, not finishing
The more we dwell on finishing a particular task, the more we dread getting on it. A workaround for this is to focus on starting the task, forget about finishing up the task, just get on it and start something no matter how minute it may seem. You'll might be surprised to wind up with the task done in no time.
Keep Yourself a To-do list
This list should be comprehensive and have a breakdown of the larger tasks into smaller chunks. This'll take your mind off the task as a whole and lets you do your thing getting things done.
Hold yourself accountable
"Yes, we are back on your case, you won't get discharged till you hold yourself accountable". Put yourself in the spotlight and tell yourself you can get it done. It is always harder the first few tries but as you hold yourself more and more accountable for getting these tasks to the finish line, you realize the habit of getting things done is actually dope (dope!).
Tackle the hardest tasks at your peak time
So you've started working on that feature you've been putting off for weeks but you're feeling like taking a nap to continue later?
Don't!
Truth is, you're just looking for an excuse to leave the task for a later time which might be another four weeks from now. No matter how hard it may seem, persisting might just be what you need to get it done.
Some tasks might be really hard to get done at that point in time, so setting a reminder or alarm to come back to that task is a good solution.
Reward Yourself
Yay!, so you set a target for yourself and reached a milestone, what's next?. Go get yourself that ice-cream you've been meaning to for a while. Getting tasks done and doing it on time is a huge achievement and you need to pat yourself on the back and shout out a nicely done hero!.
Congrats!, you're winning the fight against procrastination and getting more productive hours in, be careful not to let the villain back in though, who knows what havoc he'll wreck.
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