On your left lies a bag of spicy nacho Doritos next to an ice-cold Carlsberg. And your latest Netflix binge, The Stranger, is staring at you from the TV screen, inviting you to put your mind on mute and dive in.
On your right though, lies that presentation you started a week ago and gave up after the first five slides.
So what do you choose?
Join our community and instantly get access to our Smart Moves productivity checklist - for FREE!
The fun, effortless binging your heart craves or that task you know you must accomplish but for some reason you keep putting off, hoping it will magically disappear?
Procrastination is painfully counter-productive as much as it is human nature.
The good news is that once you understand why you procrastinate, taming that wild beast becomes much easier.
To get you on the path to productivity, here are 15 proven methods of dealing with procrastination, as told by yours truly, a pro-crastinator.
So make it a point to read at least three before bookmarking it and putting it off for later!
Contents
1. Get Things Done
Getting Things Done, or GTD, is a method — or better yet, a global movement — developed by productivity guru David Allen. In the book bearing the same name, Allen illustrates his 5-step productivity method. While it may seem simplistic, this tried-and-true method could bring some order and calmness to the chaos constantly running in your brain, or your neverending todo list.
Allen believes that unloading what’s on your mind, even just your top three tasks, can help you relax and gain more focus and clarity.
From my experience, GTD — now a family of instructional products — can really help you reduce the overwhelm in your life and set your priorities right.
2. Take a break!
When given a tight deadline, it may be tempting to work for 10 hours straight. But science proves that taking a breather every few hours is way more effective.
So plan your power sessions ahead of time, during which you will give your full attention to the task at hand.
But be just as adamant about taking a 15-minute coffee break in-between sessions. Keep your eyes off the screen, grab a healthy snack like carrot sticks or an apple, use the toilet, walk around the room and stretch out. Or take a power nap of 7 minutes.
You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how efficient your power sessions can be.
3. Find your Magic Time
If you’re like me, waking up at the crack of dawn is your path to a productive day. But some people would cringe by the mere thought of rising before the birds even consider chirping. And let’s not forget the night owls, those who love pulling out all-nighters with a bottle of wine, some chips and hip-hop music.
There’s no right or wrong here. You need to know yourself and find your Magic Time, the time of day when your productivity is at its peak. As Craig Ballantyne from EarlytoRise.com illustrates, once you sync your power sessions with your Magic Hours, your productivity could go through the roof.
4. No time? Really??
Look at your to-do list, if you have one. I know it’s not fun but do it anyway!
Now, how many open tasks do you have? Things you know must be done but somehow have fallen by the wayside?
Ask yourself why…
Until I read Quinn Tempest’s letter on productivity, I thought the answer was “because I don’t have the time.”
It turns out I was wrong.
If you could get $100K for washing somebody’s car, you’d spare 2-3 hours to do it, right?
Entrepreneur Quinn Tempest argues that productivity has very little to do with time, and a lot to do with getting your priorities right and clarifying your vision of success.
So look into your priorities and find your top three tasks. Now get to work!
5. Love the process
Ugh, that tax paper must to fill up…
You’ve been putting it off for over a fortnight. But now you’re finally going to get cracking on it!
One moment, you just need to check the celebrity news on TMZ. And your Instagram feed… You need to stay up-to-date, don’t you?
How is it that we actively search for distractions when we know there’s an unfinished task awaiting us?
Gary Vaynerchuk, owner of VaynerMedia, says one way to overcome procrastination is to do what you love. If you love the process, you never run out of energy and nothing feels like work.
Think about it for a moment and you may realize that the tasks you keep putting off are the ones you hate. So if you hate your job, take the first step towards a career change today. And if you feel overwhelmed, delegate, eliminate or automate each task.
Join our community and instantly get access to our Smart Moves productivity checklist - for FREE!
6. Work out
I love starting my day with a run. While it’s a very intense workout that gets my heart racing and my legs aching (sometimes), the rest of my day ticks like clockwork.
I feel highly motivated, bursting with energy, ready for any challenge. Bring it on, baby!
How funny is that?
Excercising doesn’t drain your energy, on the contrary. It turns out that the more energy you spend working out, the more energetic you become,
So find your favorite workout (I recommend cardio activities like running or cycling) and commit to exercise at least once a week. First Thing in the morning if you can!
7. Eat healthy!
Leadership expert Michael Hyatt, recommends consuming whole foods to stay focused and boost your productivity.
By staying hydrated, avoiding soda, sugary snacks and other types of processed food, you can escape the post-lunch drowsiness and feel rejuvenated throughout your workday.
Now pour yourself some water, grab a few nuts and get down to business!
8. Avoid distractions
Boy is that a biggie!
If you have any notifications on your phone, for news, emails, social media and the likes — turn them off now.
There’s no way to get meaningful work done when you’re distracted in any way — kids, phone calls, loud noise etc.
So create your intimate workspace at home, in your office or in a shared space. Be sure to remove any visual distractions.
Block time chunks in your calendar dedicated to work only, and let everyone know that at this time you’ll be taking urgent calls only and won’t be answering emails or text messages.
It’s very tempting to browse news sites, get on Facebook etc. If you feel you can’t resist the urge then don’t feel bad about it, just set a limit and time yourself with a timer. For example, you can limit yourself to 20 minutes of random social media fun per day. There are apps that can help to avoid digital distractions. My personal favourite is Freedom
Freedom allows you to literally block specific apps from your phone/tablet and web pages from your desktop. This way, ‘gaming the system’ and procrastinating online becomes much more difficult and you’re less likely to do it. While Freedom is not perfect, I believe it can really help you stay focused.
9. Multitasking is dead
I know some people who’ll never lift their head up while using their phone. Even when talking to you. Yes, I can insist but it’s a lost battle. They’re too addicted.
Now how does it make you feel?
Multitasking is a thing of the past. Research further proves it. In fact, task switching can cost you as many as 25 minutes, or 10 percent of your time, before getting back to the task at hand. What a waste of time…
Instead of kidding yourself that you’re making progress by ‘multitasking’, get your priorities right and set time blocks to focus on your most burning tasks, one at a time.
Now that’s how you move forward.
10. Better done than perfect
Perfectionists, (yours truly included) this one’s for you!
Are you still working on the finishing touches of that post, painting or website you’re just about to launch?
You need to accept that whatever you’re doing will never be perfect.
Never.
This is not to say that you should create or sell low quality or half-baked products.
But there’s a thing called ‘good enough.’
For example – I love publishing blog posts knowing they’re high-quality, without typos, but far from perfect. I know more work will be done as I go along, but right now that goal is to publish ASAP, drive traffic and keep the momentum of this blog.
So be more lax about it, release a product fast, get it out to the masses and do all the fine tuning thereafter.
Join our community and instantly get access to our Smart Moves productivity checklist - for FREE!
11. Set habit goals
“I want to shed 40 kilos by December 2021”
According to success coach Michael Hyatt, most people set achievement goals, which are big, hairy dreams that require intensity.
It’s very difficult to achieve these goals because they seem too big and ambitious, and they end up paralyzing you instead of propelling you forward.
But what if, instead, you set a daily goal of eating healthy and avoiding processed sugar altogether? Now that seems attainable, right?
And over time, small habit goals can make a significant impact on your life and can help you achieve amazing goals!
12. Someone needs your help
What if you knew that right now, someone out there needs your help?
He or she is not getting it because you’re not sharing your gift with the universe. Success coach Craig Ballantyre talks about this idea (see section #3) in his blog Early to Rise.
I believe it to be true.
Everyone has a special gift the world needs, whether it’s their motivational energy, helpful financial advice or dancing talent. By ignoring it, not only will you become frustrated and unsatisfied from your life, but you will also deny someone that gift from someone else who needs it.
Even if this idea sounds far-fetched, it can propel you into action, so embrace it.
13. Start measuring
How long do you spend in the shower?
Or getting ready for work?
Preparing breakfast?
You may not be under a military regime, but you’ll be surprised by how much time you could save by simply tracking how long you spend on simple tasks. At first you can use your phone’s stopwatch to time yourself, until you get a hang of it.
When your goals and priorities are clear, you will be more mindful of your time. Ask yourself if what you’re doing right now moves you further on the path towards your goal. If the answer is no, do it as fast as you can.
I, for one, have two young kids and work 4-5 days a week in a temporary job. My main goal is to turn this blog into a successful business, so I can keep doing what I love most — to blog.
Since free time has become a rare commodity, I strive to spend it only on my top priorities. For example, I can shower in 5-10 minutes, and making breakfast can take 10 minutes — coffee, 2 slices of toast with butter and a few vegetables aside. And hey, I’m the kind of guy who loves big, hearty breakfasts!
The 20 minutes saved can be spent on writing my next article.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t spend time reading a story to your kids, or giving them a nice, long bath, for example. Being a great parent can definitely be one of your goals, and spending time with your beloved kids never goes to waste. It’s all about being clear about what’s important to you.
14. Batching works!
Publishing 8 blog posts per month, or creating 2 landing pages per week can sound like a huge, overwhelming commitment. It’s hard to find the time for it during the week because so many things can go wrong. Life happens, as people like saying.
One of the best ways to tackle such ongoing tasks is batching. Find the time when you’re less distracted, and you know you can focus for a few hours straight. Maybe Sunday night? Friday morning?
This is when your batching session will be. So if you’re a blogger like me, during your batching session you’ll create 4 blog posts back to back and then schedule their publishing times in advance. You will avoid any distractions and focus on nothing but the task at hand.
This method works for the same reason multitasking fails — it takes our brain a long time to switch from one task to another. So working on one type of activity for a few hours straight can be very efficient. You will also feel satisfied by the significant progress you’ve made, and confident that you’re moving the needle in your business.
Final words: Even if you follow all of these ideas to the tee, you may want to break them from time to time, and procrastinate. Maybe watch a show on Netflix, lose yourself during a shopping spree in the mall, or have a 30-minute long steamy shower.
That’s perfectly OK, as long as you know you’re on the right track, and everything is under control. So always remember to love yourself and never kick yourself!
Join our community and instantly get access to our Smart Moves productivity checklist - for FREE!
Leave a Reply