4 Effective Ways to Stop Procrastinating
Why do we procrastinate?
Procrastination can become a habit, constantly doing it can affect our overall behavior. Have you ever noticed that often procrastinating something results in never doing it?
We sometimes push aside a task because it feels boring or irrelevant, we lack the motivation to complete it. When tasks seem too large or complicated, we may not know where to start, we get overwhelmed, leading to procrastinating.
Why you should avoid procrastinating?
- Affects productivity
- Creates missed opportunities
- Increases laziness
- Impacts mental health
- Stops self-growth
- Hurts self-discipline
How many times you wished you’ve went to this interview, you cleaned your house sooner, you enrolled in a course you wanted, you went to visit a friend, you learned what you wanted to learn, you went to the gym earlier on, you took care of yourself more.
Have you ever noticed that after procrastinating we create an overload of more tasks to procrastinate? A single plate of dish is easy to do, but procrastinating the task to the next few days can lead to a mountain of dishes to do, we get overwhelmed and it costs us even harder to complete it.
How to overcome Procrastinating?
1. Motivate Yourself
Giving yourself a small reward at the end of the task can motivate you and push you to do it. It can be anything you enjoy, a glass of wine, watching a movie, eating your favorite meal. When you promise yourself a reward you get motivated and push yourself to do it.
2. Break it into smaller tasks
If the task is too big or complicated, break it into smaller ones. For example, cleaning the whole house could be overwhelming and too much, what you can do is clean parts of it each day. Learning a new thing could take a long time, learn a little each day rather than wanting to do it in a short amount of time. Besides doing small things effectively is better than doing it all together but not effectively.
3. Think about the reason behind it
Why do you want to do it? Ask yourself. Is it because It’s necessary, or because it benefits you? If it’s necessary such as work or school, then gather all your forces and do it, get it out of the way first thing. The earlier you complete it the better, when you finish you can sit and relax. If it’s because it benefits you and do you good then prioritize yourself, think that whatever you want to do will affect you in a good way and you will become a better version of yourself. Think about the finish line, visualize it and don’t think about what’s in between.
4. Think about the outcome
When it feels too much and you start thinking about procrastinating visualize how good will it be when you finish, when you get it out of the way. The satisfaction you’ll get after it’s completed, pe proud, reward yourself and enjoy the rest of your day.
Conclusion:
Procrastinating can be a bad habit and have bad effect on our mental health, when you get overwhelmed break it into smaller tasks, understand the reason you’re doing it in the first place, organize your day effectively and get it out of the way sooner. Don’t forget to reward yourself you complete it, motivate yourself and enjoy the outcome of it.