Procrastination is a part of all of our lives, whether want to admit it or not. We all know that horrible feeling when we put off a task for months and it takes all of five minutes to do. New research has shown that what we thought helped with procrastination, may not be true in the present day. Procrastination is different than laziness because, with procrastination, we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing because we are doing other things. When we think about the thing we don’t want to do, we dread the thought of having to get it done. Past research showed that having a deadline decreased procrastination but new data is showing that no deadline can help us be more efficient. Obviously, some tasks need a deadline but it could be helpful to take off that due date for some things. So, with all that, we’re going to talk about some ways you can procrastinate less!
The first thing you need to do is change your mindset and remind yourself of your goals. If you have goals that mean something to you, it’ll motivate you to get things done. While trying to achieve these goals, remind yourself to take some of the pressure off. You can’t be perfect all the time so strive for improvement. I know it’s easier said than done to not be so hard on yourself but reminding yourself of this part can help you get closer to achieving your goals.
Next thing is to decrease distractions. This doesn’t just mean putting yourself in an environment where you can get stuff done but putting your phone/electronics down. That little computer in our hand can distract us for hours and we don’t even realize it until we’ve been scrolling for hours. If you have a lot to do and it’s overwhelming you, break down the tasks by priority and knock things out one by one.
If you don’t want to get a task done, there is always something that seems more fun to do. But if the tasks have some meaning to them, the feeling of getting them done will make you wonder why you put it off for so long. So get that task done you’ve been putting off for so long! You got it!