Procrastination is pretty much one of the most difficult things to deal with and definitely can be considered a major enemy for your progress and your ability to be productive. I am someone who struggled quite a bit with procrastination back when I was a student in high school and in university (it only got worse with uni, to be fair). I fell victim to the whole “I’ll do it tomorrow” type of attitude, but this is actually one of the worst things that you can fall into. Procrastination, however, is not a permanent state of mind and you can actually beat it with the right strategies. For today’s post, I’ll be going through 5 easy steps you can take to beat procrastination and boost your productivity right away!
(affiliate disclaimer: some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means that I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you when you purchase something through one of my links).
1. Understand the Cause of Your Procrastination
The first step to fighting against procrastination is understanding the reasons why you are procrastinating in the first place. Procrastination is more than just being lazy, it’s often rooted in deeper emotions like fear, stress, and perfectionism. You have to identify the thing that is causing your procrastination to exist in the first place and why you feel like you don’t want to get your assignment done in the first place.
A fear of failure is probably one of the most common causes of procrastination and you probably avoid doing your tasks because you’re afraid that you won’t succeed. You may be worried that the end result isn’t going to be up to your personally set standards. This sort of fear can lead to paralysis, where you feel like you’d rather do nothing than do something below your standards.
Feeling overwhelmed is another major reason why you may be procrastinating. When a task feels too big or too complex, it’s very easy to fall into the feeling of being overwhelmed. As a way to cope, you might just avoid the entire task altogether.
Another issue that often causes procrastination is a lack of interest in the subject matter. The task isn’t exciting, you don’t feel like doing it, it’s boring to you, etc… well, these are all things that can easily cause procrastination. It’s hard to be motivated if you don’t want to get started in the first place.
So, if you’re having trouble identifying what is the cause of your procrastination, I recommend that you take up journaling. Write down how you’re feeling every day and try to think about ways that you exhibit procrastination and then you can identify the root cause of those ways. If you want some journal recommendations, you can check out this post! It is for world building, but blank journals are still great. You can also try and pick up an iPad and try your hand at digital journaling too. You will need the Apple Pencil if you want to make the most of your iPad experience in my opinion.
2. Break Tasks Into Small, Actionable Steps
One of the biggest reasons why we get into a pattern of procrastination is because a task just simply feels too big or too overwhelming. When you think about everything that you have to do, it just makes you feel like you don’t want to do it anymore. Instead of focusing on the entire project and overwhelming yourself though, the best thing that you can do is to focus on one small action at a time. This is much more manageable!
I’ve talked about a similar process in my writing scheduling posts before, but let’s just say that you’re writing a book that has 110,000 words. 110K words sounds like a really massive number and it can easily feel overwhelming to think about writing that. Now, what if we take that 110K word count and split it over the course of say, 50 days. That’s just under two months, which is reasonable if you’re writing at the same pace every day.
So, 110K/50 = 2200 words every day.
See? That sounds significantly more manageable than just outright saying 110K words. Instead of saying “I have to write 110,000 words,” you can now say, “I have to write 2,200 words today.” Easy and much more manageable. This same principle can be applied to other tasks as well where you split the work over a period of time, thus making it feel more manageable and it gives you room in case you need to fix something or have to take a day off.
There are some apps that allow you to organize your tasks, but you can also just use your iPad and any note-taking app and create your lists there. It totally depends on what works for you and what your preferences are!
3. Set SMART Goals
Another issue I’ve heard people mention when it comes to procrastination is that they’re not really sure what their goals are supposed to be, so they feel like there’s nothing to stay motivated towards. By setting clear and specific goals, you will be able to give yourself a sort of purpose and a direction towards what you want, which will help you stay on track.
So, what makes a good goal? You might’ve heard the acronym, SMART before. I’ve definitely heard it a lot in school, but SMART goals are actually great ways to turn a simple goal into something that’s more clear and has a direction to it.
What are SMART goals though? Well, let me explain:
- Specific: Be clear about what you want to accomplish and include detail. (i.e., I want to write 1,000 words every day is better than “write more”)
- Measurable: Set trackable goals so that you can measure your progress and feel more achieved
- Achievable: Be realistic about your abilities and how much time you have to accomplish your goals
- Relevant: Make sure your goals align with your overall ambitions or projects
- Time-bound: Set a deadline for when you want to complete the goal and stay accountable to that goal
It’s also a good idea to try and create both short-term and long-term goals so that you can feel like you’re using the short-term goals to work towards the one long-term goal that’s your main goal. Make sure you’re actually reviewing your goals and staying on top of them too!
4. Eliminate Distractions and Create a Productive Environment
One of the biggest issues when it comes to productivity is trying to eliminate distractions and create a productive and engaging environment. Social media, our phone’s notifications, streaming services like Netflix, and the temptation to click over to YouTube are very high and they can be very difficult to fight against. Creating a distraction-free environment is a key component of maximizing productivity.
What you want to do is try to designate a workspace for you. This is where you want to create a specific area for work, whether it’s a home office, a desk in your room, or some other place even outside of your home, you need a place where you feel like you can be productive and your brain can associate it with productivity.
In this workspace, you also want to try and limit or reduce your use of social media entirely. There are apps out there that also help you do this, but you can also set up a time limit in your phone (not sure if this is a feature on android) and abide by that time limit.
You want to also try and set some sort of boundaries in that this is your work time so you don’t want to be distracted. Using Do Not Disturb mode or putting your phone face down or even putting it in another room are all great ways to help.
The Pomodoro Technique is also a great way to get some work in by setting distraction-free times (25 minutes) followed by 5 minute breaks. After four cycles of this, you take a longer, 15 minute break. It keeps you productive, helps you avoid burnout, and gets you to focus. This is a tool that I’ve recommended before as well.
5. Develop Consistent Routines and Habits
The last tip I want to give when it comes to fighting procrastination is that you should be working towards developing consistent routines and consistent habits. This way you can eliminate things like decision fatigue, boost your productivity, and create a sort of stability in your workflow.
Routines matter a lot because they allow you to stay structured and on-track. A routine allows you to avoid distractions, avoid getting sidetracked, and avoid procrastination because you have to stick by that routine. For instance, having a morning routine where you check your goals and do something small followed by breakfast and coffee and then work allows you to start the day off on a positive note and lets you focus on the things that matter.
Setting schedules, journaling, creating targets, etc… are all important ways to help get you in a productive mood, avoid procrastination, and get things done on time! You should keep track of your progress and note when things go well, when things don’t go so well, why, and what you can do better next time.
Conclusion
Procrastination is a challenge that everyone will face at some point in life, but it doesn’t need to control you. I personally was able to fight procrastination and graduate and now I use those same strategies when it comes to my work. At the end of the day, distractions exist, and you can’t avoid them 24/7, but you can set yourself up for success by minimizing them and thus minimizing procrastination. That way, you can boost your productivity and succeed at your long-term goals!
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can get updates on all my latest posts, WIPs, book releases, and more!