Techniques to counteract procrastination...
Greetings friend of steemit, Welcome to my blog...
In my previous publication, Are you procrastinator? ... Probably have a different brain., I promised you some techniques to reduce or eliminate procrastination.
The first, and most important thing to do, is to recognize that this syndrome is suffered, since this will facilitate the development of the suggested techniques to progressively reduce delays.
So once you recognize that you suffer from procrastination, you can apply these little tips, which will help improve the situation:
Identify the most affected area:
Some people tend to postpone things only in some specific areas of their lives, while others postpone activities in many areas, but it is rare to find someone to postpone activities in all areas.
Make a list of the main things you normally postpone (for example, cleaning the house, exercising, eating healthy, studying, going out with friends). Also, you can classify them, depending on the environment where you are:
- House (for example, ironing clothes, cleaning, ordering, ...)
- Work / school (for example, postpone exams, postpone the delivery of a report)
- Relationships (for example, take a serious commitment)
- Health (for example, eating well, medical exams)
- Others.
Identify the causes of postponement:
To establish an effective strategy against procrastination, it is important to clarify the causes that cause the delay. The most common are:
- stress.
- fear to fail.
- Overload of things to do.
- sloth.
- lack of motivation.
- lack of discipline.
- bad time management.
- perfectionism
- avoid unpleasant activities.
Each cause on the list deserves separate attention to deepen. Once you have identified your cause, you can think of the most appropriate strategy to deal with it. For example, if your goal is to write a book and the cause of the postponement is the overload of things to do, the strategies that will be taken will be to make an action plan, divide the project into smaller tasks and adopt a productive mentality.
Make a list of Tasks and classify them:
Make a list of tasks to be done, placing first the most important tasks and then those that are not as important or are easier to perform. In this way, the most important one could be postponed but those that are simpler will be carried out and the list will be completed little by little until all the tasks are completed progressively.
Identify a specific task to focus on:
You can choose a task that has been postponed for a long time. The objective must be specific, concrete and precise; For example, I have postponed taking piano lessons, so when setting specific objectives you can propose to learn to play a specific melody on the piano. Another important thing is to set a specific deadline and try to respect it.
Get away from evasive strategies:
Referring to the objectives outlined, ask yourself: what excuses do I use to avoid starting or completing the activities? For example, I do not have enough time, I'm tired, there's time to do it. Take a moment to think about your homework and how was the last time you tried to start doing it, but it did not end at all. Once you have thought about and identified the excuses you used, try to avoid situations that allowed you to rely on your excuse. For example, if you have to study for an exam and you know that you are distracted by music or TV, then study in a place that is far away from the television or radio, and so you will not be tempted.
Establish an action plan:
Describe the specific behaviors you intend to use to complete your tasks, including details such as when, what, where and how you will do that action. Research has shown that procrastinators who specify the actions necessary to implement their goal, are 8 times more likely to start a task compared to procrastinators who do not use them. For example, instead of saying: I will do some physical activity every day, you can say: every night at 7 p.m. I will take a 15 minute walk.
Programming:
Mark in the calendar the actions you must take to complete your task and draw a colored line every day that you did what you had to do.
Forget about perfection:
Many times the postponement of activities, is due to wanting to do things perfectly ... it is good to do things well, but often you want so perfect that it is very hard to reach the goal and that is why it is postponed time. Or simply, you never start working on the goal, because the perfect moment has not arrived, therefore the person is paralyzed and does nothing.
Elements that can help carry out the previous techniques:
Motivation.
During the journey towards your goal, it is important to keep motivation high. An effective technique suitable for this purpose is the visualization of the gap: close your eyes and visualize how nice the apartment is clean and organized, feel the emotional benefit you feel when you see the order and cleanliness in your apartment. Now open your eyes and look at the apartment in disarray and disorganized. Now try to visualize the gap between the apartment you are facing now and how it will be once in order ... This exercise can be very motivating.
Reward your progress.
Do not forget to reward the results with what you like, a dinner, a small gift. This recognition of your efforts will help your brain associate doing a task with positive feelings and help you develop a habit of action.
Change the way you talk.
The language used internally plays a very important role in procrastination. Words like: I should, I will try, I will try ... they must be changed by: I will, I will ... For example: instead of saying I should register in the gym to lose 5 kilos. It must be said: I will enroll in the gym to lose 5 kilos.
The expressions as it should, could, transmit unconscious and conflicting messages that evoke internal resistance. Unfortunately, it is often the words that those who postpone things say to themselves to be stimulated to action. The secret is to talk to yourself in a motivating way, and it is done by transforming the activity that will take place in an election or an act of determination (I want, I choose, I will go).
I hope these techniques are useful ... I leave you with this sentence by Christopher Parker:
"Procrastination is like using a credit card: you have a lot of fun until the bill arrives."
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