Procrastination – Two week remedy programme

I spent two days wondering what to write about, then it dawned on me, I was putting it off. So, with an element of irony, here’s how to avoid that dreaded procrastination.

Procrastination effects our inner peace, our calmness and not always consciously. How often do you feel fidgety and not totally relaxed when you know there are tasks to be done, especially ones you don’t enjoy?

It affects us all in some way, so here are 10 tips to help take back control from procrastination.

1. Clear your work place – A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind. Piles of paper, post it notes etc. distract and stop you from focusing on the job in hand. Only keep what you’re working on in front of you, file the rest or create to-do trays.
2. Set Goals – Set realistic goals but break the Big picture down. Set smaller, achievable goals with realistic timelines.
3. Rewards – I once had a client who bought himself an iPad when he achieved his overall goa. I like to treat myself to a really nice cup of coffee and chill for half hour to enjoy both it and my accomplishment. Doesn’t need to be big but reward yourself. Scale it according to the level of success.
4. Learn new skills – How will that help? By learning to achieve the next level of competency, such as dancing, rock climbing, photography etc, helps you look to the next level of aspiration. I started karate some 30yrs ago and this helped me through my whole career (not necessarily the way that you may be thinking!)
5. Negative inner voices – When self-doubt creeps in, put it in its place. Start listing the ‘positive’ reasons that things WILL work and listen to this voice instead.
6. Playing the victim – Stop glorifying how you’re the victim of circumstances. Stand tall and leave what’s happened behind. Be proud of what you can accomplish and when your inner ‘victim’ raises its head, tell it who’s boss.
7. Prioritise – Evaluate and if it’s important enough for you to do, you’ll find a way. If we don’t care, we’ll keep putting it off. Go through your tasks and prioritise them, starting with the most important.
8. Delegate – Others can actually do some of those tasks better than you! Let the reins go and give someone else the chance, who knows, they could very well enjoy those tasks that you don’t.
9. Accountability companion – Chose a person, a supervisor, a junior, a spouse or friend. Tell them you’ve committed to a task with a specific time-frame and ask them to hold you accountable. Human nature compels us to act if we know others are watching!
10. New Habits – take all of the aforementioned and set about creating some new habits on how you will overcome procrastination. Definition of habit: “Settled tendency or practice”. Be positive, be proactive and be aware.

Taking on one step each day (see 3) you should master the skills of overcoming procrastination is just 2 weeks. If you get stuck with any aspects along the way, contact Neil via phone on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk to beat the beast that is procrastination. Good luck