Procrastinators are made not born. You need to first identify some of your causes of procrastination so you can begin to understand how to overcome it.
Procrastinators can change their behaviour—but doing so consumes a lot of psychic energy.
Knowing why procrastination happens can help us overcome it.
For example, procrastination comes when we think a lot about what we need to do and how difficult is, we start thinking of multiple other thinks we can do or have to do before starting the work. Focusing on a limited number of activities at once can improve your completion success rate.
Therefore, just focus on accomplishing your goals. Anytime you think of something else you should ask yourself “Is this going to help me accomplish my goal now?” If not then don’t get sidetracked with that thing and continue with your work. Seems simple, but focus takes practice and this takes proper engaged focus.
Playing to what we know about human beings may aid our avoidance of procrastination.
As human beings we will always do much more to avoid pain than we will do to gain pleasure. So, how can we make the procrastination more painful than the task? If we can focus on the negative consequences of not doing a task then the potential pain may actually motivate us to complete the task.
If being more knowledgeable about the origin of your procrastination, increased self-awareness and focusing on limited goals doesn’t work…then you need some more hints on how to tackle procrastination?
1. Make a list of everything you have to do.
2. Write a statement of intention.
3. Set realistic goals.
4. Break it down into specific tasks.
5. Make your task meaningful.
6. Promise yourself a reward.
7. Eliminate tasks you never plan to do. Be honest!
8. Estimate the amount of time you think it will take you to complete a task. Then increase the amount by 100%.
Once you complete one task, keep that as motivation going. Before you know it, you will have overcome the challenge of procrastination!