Me? A procrastinator?
I’ll prove you wrong someday. Just you wait and see.
I am not a procrastinator. I just prefer doing things in a deadline induced panic.
The hardest part is getting started. Procrastination stems its roots from the Greeks. Even pigeons do it sometime. But to procrastinate at the right time and for the right cause will deliver you results. This seems a trivial problem now, but trust me as you progress in your career, you will notice that this will turn into a habit, and a habit that will not only harm your business but also your overall life. So it is best that you over this habit right at the start.
Sure it is human nature to procrastinate and move things until the end. But what you can do it to do creative procrastination. Procrastinate is the way that it does some good to you.
Do you know Leonardo da Vinci took 16 years to complete Mona Lisa? How is that for the motivation?
“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” ~Leonardo da Vinci
Procrastination is one thing but being creative is another thing. Creative procrastination is all about changing your perspective. While doing nothing you’re actually charging your mind for something better. Our brains are programmed to procrastinate. In general, we all tend to struggle between completing the tasks. Starting is the hard part. Here are tips that can help you procrastinate less and achieve more.
To make yourself more productive you need to follow these tips and make yourself worth more.
Visualize the finished task: One great way to achieve something is to visualize yourself completing the task. Researchers have discovered that people are more likely to save the future retirement if they are shown digitally aged photographs of them. Why? Because people take it as something real. Science proved that if you create a vivid picture of the finished task there is a greater chance that you will finish the task. So if you’re avoiding the email reply or the big talk that you want with your colleague, you can visualize completing it first in your mind. Consider doing all right. And your worker appreciating you for the work great done.
Pre-commit, publicly: As per Tim Ferriss, you need to think of a goal and announce it publically so people can bug you from time to time to complete the task. Despite that this method seems obscured, it is quite an effective way to get things done. James Allan also mentioned the same method in this best seller ‘Getting Things Done’ if you really want to get something done, pre-commit publically. Most of us are lazy people, but once we take that laziness to the public, we will surely have to show have to do some actual work. You might be tempted for other tasks but if you make it this way, you will be forced to get the task done.
Identify where to start: The starting point is the most difficult step. Sometimes you are daunted by the task in hand and you fail to start the new task. What you can do is to initiate the first step. Once you start a task you feel motivated to get the task done. The trick is to break down the task into chunks. When you break it, it gets easier to do achieve the small wins and feels motivated to get it done. You can use technology to help you in this matter. You can use any professional task management software to delegate your tasks and at the same time create some time to do your task well.
Tie the first step to a treat: Humans are a social animal. We seek appreciation and win in everything. One good way to complete the task is to attach some reward with it. Although the scientists still argue that this basically affects the productivity. But I don’t think it did anything to me. I often use this reward technique to get things done in a more efficient way. Because you know that once you achieve something you’ll get a reward for that. I am not talking about some big reward. For me, the reward is just a cup of black Coffee. This makes me happy. For you, think of your own. What makes you happy? Get that when you achieve the task at hand.
Keep it transparent: Sometimes we find ourselves returning to tasks again and again. This is due to the fact that that little voice in our head says that we need to make it even better. Despite the fact that perfection is good, but what is not good is to sacrifice everything else in the name of perfection. If you really want to do something worth doing, make it a point to keep everything transparent. When you’re transparent you know what is wrong and what is right. You have that control to make it better because you already know the root cause of the problem. If you want to make it work you need to plan things in advance. And this can only be done once you know what is right for the moment. Doing mistakes it, okay, but not rectifying them and correcting them is not at all okay. If you want to do things that last for long, you need to do it better than others. And the only way to do it is to make everything transparent.
So next time you feel procrastinated towards doing something read this blog again. Know that your brain plays the game with you all the time. What you need is to take over your brain and do that is right for you. At times it might seem okay to procrastinate, but sooner or later you realize that the procrastination cost you heavy loss.
There are tons of books available on market that will help you remove procrastination from the route. Read this blog and then go through those books. In fact why just the books, read everything that you can find on procrastination. It is a wide subject and one of the most daunting problem of this era. You and only you can overcome this problem. We can all guide you on how to defeat procrastination but if you are not willing to take the necessary steps you will be left behind the crowd.
Syed Mohammad Anwer
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