The Three Best Tips for Overcoming Procrastination

We all procrastinate from time to time. However, some people are chronic procrastinators, and their procrastination takes a huge toll on the quality of their lives. Here are some of the characteristics of people who have a problem with procrastination:

- They are constantly late turning in their work assignments, and their opportunities for advancement are limited because of this. Not only do they hand their work in late, but, because they leave things until the very last minute, they usually turn in poor-quality work.
- Their friends and family members are constantly complaining that they're always late, and that they don't live up to their commitments.
- They have lots of ideas, but these ideas seldom make it past the drawing board stage. Even if they do get started with some of their ideas, they leave most projects half-finished.

If you recognize yourself in any of the three scenarios above, take solace in the knowledge that there are steps you can take in order to overcome procrastination. This article presents the three best tips for overcoming procrastination.

Chunk Down Big Projects

One of the reasons why people procrastinate is because they're overwhelmed by the size of the tasks that they have to take on, and they're not sure how to get started. Therefore, they prefer to work on unimportant tasks which don't take much time to complete, so that they can feel a sense of accomplishment at having gotten something done.

If your to-do list is filled with large tasks, such as, write a novel, declutter your apartment, or start a web site, it's no wonder that you feel overwhelmed. Try breaking down these tasks into much smaller pieces. When you have to face a small task, you won't be overwhelmed by it, and it's very likely that you'll do it.

For example, if you want to declutter your apartment, write down in your day planner that on Wednesday, at 10:00 a.m., you're going to declutter your top desk drawer. Once you do that, write down that on Thursday, at 8:00 a.m., you're going to declutter your second desk drawer. Continue in this way until you've decluttered your whole apartment.

Remove All Distractions

A second common cause of procrastination is becoming distracted by other things while you're trying to work on something that's important to you. As an illustration, you might be working on a report that your boss wants on his desk in two days. However, whenever you start working on the report, the following happens:

- You hear the "ding" that signifies that you got an email, so you interrupt your work to read it.
- Your phone rings, and you answer it.
- Someone sends you an instant message, and you decide to respond.

When you're constantly being interrupted by emails, phone calls, and instant messages, you won't get the important work done. Therefore, before you start working on that report, try to free your environment of all interruptions. Shut down your email and IM applications, set your phone so that your calls are directed to voice mail, and turn off anything else that might distract you.

Reward Yourself

Another way to get yourself to get to work on the tasks that are important to you is by giving yourself constant rewards. For example, if you're going to write a novel, write down in your day planner that you're going to write every morning, for an hour and a half. Then, each morning, after you've completed your writing for that day, treat yourself to a cappuccino and a scone at your favorite café.

Conclusion

By breaking large tasks down into small pieces, rewarding yourself each time that you complete one of these small tasks, and creating an interruption-free environment, you'll soon be able to overcome procrastination. You'll be a completely different person: one who gets things done on time and keeps their commitments.

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