Five Tips to Defeat Procrastination

One of the easiest things to do, but also the hardest to combat; procrastination is a tricky foe to beat. We are impatient human beings and if a task does not bring us joy, then we often put it off to the side until we magically get that burst of motivation to complete it. Our brains can’t seem to process the possible future benefits of completing the task immediately and instead only concentrates on the hassle at hand. While we may fall into the procrastination trap more often than we would like to admit, there are ways to avoid it.

1. Announcing your plans publicly is a great way to keep accountability and slow the procrastination process, as you’ll be more inclined to follow through if you know other people are watching. You won’t want to be seen as being lazy or irresponsible by the people around you.

2. Visualisation can also be a useful tool, as it’s often been used by athletes to imagine what winning would look like. This helps them to mentally prepare themselves before a major race or competition. To help, you could always visualise finishing the task and how you will feel when you've completed it. You'll be much more motivated and will have a clear picture in your head of the finish line.

3. Managing your tasks and scheduling in time can also be a massive help. In order for you to not put off the task until the end of time, schedule it into your calendar so you have a concrete date when you need to complete it by. If you can, divide it into smaller manageable chunks so you’re not overwhelmed and so you’re less inclined to procrastinate. Setting a timer is another good way to keep your mind on track while you're doing the task, you’ll be less tempted to stray if you know you have a time limit.

4. There is a fine line between rewarding your behaviour for completing the task and rewarding your behaviour after 5 minutes of ‘work’. Only give yourself a reward if you know you’ve done your best and have accomplished what you’ve set out to do. Seeing as humans are prize seekers, usually if there’s a prize at the end of the tunnel, we are more persuaded to seek it out. Whether that be a Netflix episode, food or social media, pick whatever way will help you achieve your goal.

5. The most important thing is to just start, start on the project, start writing the novel, pick up the paintbrush and just start. Perfection can often be a hindrance to getting started as sometimes we expect a situation to be ideal and our motivation to be high before we take the first step. It’s vital that we realise that to take productive action we can’t wait for motivation to strike; instead we need to begin before we are ready.