Procrastination is the most famous thief of time. There are a lot of reasons why we procrastinate: we have unpleasant or overwhelming tasks, an unclear task flow and goals, a tendency to overcommit ourselves, an addiction to cramming, a fear of failure or simply a fear of change.
Most of these reasons are inner rooted. We simply do not want to do something and actually do not do it even if we have to. There is no easy ultimate solution how to defeat procrastination, but there is only one hard way how not to be a victim of it. You need to direct all your energy to a behavior change. It really is not easy, but it is really possible.
The first step in the procrastination defeating strategy is defining actual reasons why you procrastinate. You have to identify the root (or roots) of the problem. Next, you have to make a list of your business goals, personal duties and responsibilities, long-term and short-term tasks that you should be doing already, but have not gotten around to yet.
The next step is to identify what causes procrastination in all tasks on your list.
And finally, you have to move your tasks forward depending on what causes procrastination in them.
Below is the list of the most popular procrastination causes and proven techniques to solve them.
- Cause: the task seems unpleasant.
- You can find somebody else to do it. Sometimes you have to simply find somebody and pay him some money for doing the task you do not want to do yourself.
- Make it the first thing you do in the day. Just do not postpone it. Try to solve your unpleasant task in the morning and leave the rest of the day for pleasant tasks. You can do one unpleasant task each day and solve them all.
- Use the "measles" approach. It is a popular time-management technique: if you do not want to do some task now, just mark it in the list. If one task has a lot of marks like this, it has the measles, you'll get the message. Next time you start with this task.
- Make an advantage/disadvantage list. List all possible things that will result from getting the task done and then list all disadvantages of doing it. It helps to start doing the task.
- Set a reward for yourself for solving the task. Just a promise that you will get something pleasant after solving the task.
- Cause: the task seems overwhelming.
- Divide and conquer. Split a major job into small pieces. Henry Ford, credited with designing the first production line, once maintained, "Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." Virtually any complex task is open to this approach.
- Find a solitary place to do it. Hide yourself from others, switch your cellular phone off, close ICQ and the e-mail client on your computer. Close your office door or go home and stay in a solitary room. Start doing the job.
- Ride the momentum. If you have started your job, keep going as long as you can. Do not stop. But when you feel tired, take a break.
- Do it regularly. Just set some time apart for the task each day. Work on the task regularly and it will move along.
- Cause: the task is unclear and unplanned.
- Just define it and plan it. Make concrete plans, set milestones, prepare flowcharts, etc. You should have clear tasks and know where to start and where to finish.
- Cause: your goals are unclear.
- Set clear goals or sub-goals. Sometimes you define goals that are not clear. For example: to earn more money, to get a better life. Instead, you should define clear minor goals that help to achieve major ones. If you want to get a better life, maybe it is better to define some clear goals that mean "better life": to buy a new car, to carry out a major repair, etc.
- Set measurable goals. It is much better to use some measurable characteristics, for example: "Increase earnings by 30% in the next year" then just "To earn more money".
- Cause: you fear change.
- Do not resist a change. Changes are unavoidable. If you resist changes, you may become "obsolete".
- Think about changes as an improvement. Improvements always mean changes. If you do not like changes, you simply do not improve anything.
- Cause: you fear failure.
- Do not be afraid of trying. You cannot achieve success if you do not even try to achieve it. Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself".
- Cause: you tend to overcommit yourself.
- Sometimes you have to say "no". Some people tend to overcommit themselves even if it is avoidable. In many cases we can do work at somebody's request, but postpone our own tasks.
- Concentrate on goals. Some people have a very broad range of interests. They try to do everything, but no one can do it all. Work on concrete tasks to achieve concrete goals and do not diffuse your energy.
- Cause: you are addicted to cramming.
- Simply try not to cram. Some people often do tasks during the last minute. But cramming is dangerous, you do not think about quality and you live under stress. Just try not to postpone important tasks and you will be more successful.
- Cause: you just can't stop working on one task even if it is not necessary (perfectionism).
And at last, when you are feeling that you begin to procrastinate, ask "Lakein's Question" proposed by Alan Lakein in his book: "what is the best use of my time right now?"