Avoid procrastination with these new tips. Many people today wonder why they are not successful at their jobs. Sometimes the answer is simpler than it sounds.
To be a successful worker takes much more than talent and specific knowledge. Successful people are disciplined, constant, organized, and don’t wait until the last minute. They are those who are able to work even under conditions of high pressure and stress.
So what is procrastination?
It means to delay or postpone activities that need to be addressed. Then, replacing them with irrelevant or pleasant situations out of fear or laziness.
It’s a disorder based in the association of the action to be performed with change, pain or discomfort, and even stress. This can be psychological, present in the form of anxiety or frustration. It can also be physical, such as during acts that require hard work, or even intellectual.
The term refers to the sense of anxiety before a pending task without having the willpower to complete it. Then, people postpone the act. They can see it as overwhelming, challenging, disturbing, dangerous, difficult, tedious, or boring. That is, stressful, for which people justify postponing it to an idealized future.
How does procrastination affect work?
Procrastination is the natural mechanism that human beings have to avoid facing these tasks that we do not like; we do not know how to solve, etc. Procrastination can be a symptom of insecurity, lack of motivation, or low tolerance for stress.
For these reasons, when it occurs in the work environment, procrastination can have fatal consequences. When procrastinating, just put aside those tasks that are important and boring or those that are innovative and stress you out. In the long run, procrastination at work affects the achievement of important tasks, your professional development, and even the performance of the rest of the team.
Tips to avoid procrastination
There is a saying that goes “do not leave for tomorrow what you can do today. ” However, we all know that it is not an easy thing to do. Even more so when distractions happen all the time. Procrastination is a very popular word nowadays, but with these useful tips, you can learn to combat it in the best way.
Know yourself
The first thing to do is analyze the situation. Reflect on how procrastination is affecting your productivity and how this can negatively affect the performance of your daily activities. It is convenient that you identify the habits that may be causing it and try to avoid them as much as possible.
Avoid procrastination with these new tips: Manage your time effectively
Sometimes the amount of work we have to do becomes overwhelming. Dividing a complex task into several simpler ones can be a very effective way to cope with your workload. However, even when the task is simple, we continue to postpone the date to finish the pending, until it is too late.
Create a timeline and assign specific times and deadlines to each little task. Letting the date pass to finish a task can affect the completion of previously established tasks, so you will feel the urgency to act to meet your goals. Having your duties and times well organized can improve the quality of your work and avoid stress.
Change perspective
Reflecting on the two points above can change your perspective on what is truly important to you right now. Try to think about what you are passionate about doing, how you can achieve your goals, and focus on it. Perhaps, in the end, you will realize that spending all day watching videos of kittens is not the solution to your problems and that it is time to get to work on the pile of papers on your desk.
Avoid procrastination with these new tips: Commit yourself
Creating a list of tasks and assigning them times is not enough to deal with procrastination, because the list may well be on the side, and you can keep reading the endless list of tweets that your friends post. Commit to yourself and the tasks that need to be done. Do not waste time thinking that they are too complicated or boring and just start doing them, nobody will benefit more than you.
Work in productive environments
Make sure your office has good lighting and that the elements in it help you create an inspiring environment. Avoid those that can distract you from your daily activities or negatively influence your mood.
Avoid procrastination with these new tips: Eliminate distractions
Things get hard when working from a computer with an Internet connection because distractions are just a click away. Searching for a single word or image can turn into a never-ending search that can use up several hours of our precious time. In addition, social networks play an important role in this matter. Fortunately, there are some tools and services that can help you focus on your daily work.
Overcome obstacles
Even when we commit ourselves from the heart, obstacles may appear that will prevent us from achieving our goals. Just as you can make a list of tasks, create a list of possible obstacles that you will encounter along the way and a list of possible solutions. Experience will tell you where to route solutions and will help you save time in the future.
Avoid procrastination with these new tips: Constantly learn
If you want to improve your performance, in addition to keeping yourself busy with something really worthwhile, start by learning as much as you can. Take courses, read, specialize, study a career, experiment, and don’t be afraid of failing. Failure is not always bad, sometimes we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes.
Reward your progress
Your effort and progress deserve an award. Create a reward system that helps you celebrate your achievements and small “punishments” for when you fail at something. Celebrating by buying yourself something new or going to the movies every time you are successful in a project or depriving yourself of using your cell phone for a few days when you don’t, is a good strategy to boost your productivity.
Avoid procrastination with these new tips: Do not be so hard on yourself
Despite all the above, keeping such a strict work rhythm is not good either. Being busy does not allow our creativity, among other skills, to develop properly. The key is to know how to balance our time to be able to carry out all the activities of the day and still have time for ourselves or to go out for coffee with friends.
When procrastinating, not only are pending activities postponed, but it is also a way to avoid being successful in life, since for many people, more than an act of laziness, it is a lifestyle. Remember that everyone procrastinates and don’t be too hard on yourself if something is put off too long. These things happen, so it is best to get back to normal as soon as possible.
Postponing a task creates delays and with them reduces productivity. In addition, it can lead to conflicts with other people, creating tensions. And on a personal level, the accumulation of tasks with a due date generates stress and anxiety, as well as frustration when we cannot combat this tendency to postpone tasks.
In sum, good organization and time management are essential to optimize the results of a company and have a better quality of life on a personal level. At VLV, we recommend that you spend your time improving your habits to avoid procrastination and become the best worker in your company.
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