Five Hacks to Deal with Procrastination in Business

You know that procrastination is a bad thing. You have heard people say “Never put off tomorrow what can be done today.” You may spend nights thinking of what you will accomplish tomorrow, only for that next day to be another day of not accomplishing much. This constant procrastination continues until you find yourself with too much work in too little time, which can hurt your health, work, and irreplaceably worsen your life. But if you are reading this, you may finally understand that it is time to take charge of your life and fight against procrastination and for productivity. Admitting that you have a problem is a good first step, and here are some solutions for how to be a better worker.

1. Get rid of distractions (especially email)

When I talk about getting rid of distractions, I do not really mean leisurely distractions like Facebook. I mean the sort of small distractions that take up way too much time and let you think you are being productive until you realize at the end of the day that you have accomplished nothing. Email is the biggest of those small distractions. Sid Savara observed that you should not check your email first thing in the morning because handling whatever requests you receive in the morning puts you off from what you had planned to do. Some famous businessmen like Warren Buffett and Carlos Slim do not even use computers and cell phones because of the distraction they cause. Figure out what small, routine tasks are distracting you from your important assignments. Designate a time for when to do those tasks and only do it during those periods.

1. Don’t create a rigid schedule

A natural response to not accomplishing enough is to create a strict, well-defined schedule where you define precisely what you will get done at what time. But the old adage of “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy” is just as true with your work as it is to war. Things will pop up throughout the day which will cause you to deviate from your schedule and leave you back at step one. Instead of creating a rigid schedule which states that you will do X from 9:30 to 10:30 and then Y from 10:30 to 11:30, delineate larger blocks of time where you will work on Project X. And leave yourself plenty of spare time to give yourself a break and to account for any surprises.

1. Tell others about your plans

While you should be looking to keep yourself accountable, heading off procrastination becomes much easier if you can count on others to help as well. One way to get others involved is to let them know what you plan on doing and by when you plan to accomplish it. This can include both your co-workers as well as people outside the workplace like family. How does this help? Because no one likes that jerk who talks big but never delivers. By making it clear to others that you intend to accomplish something, you will give yourself an additional incentive to get to work. So do not hesitate to talk big about what you intend to do, because that will give you encouragement to do what is necessary back your words up.

1. Look at your work environment

Depending on where you work, it may be difficult to entirely revamp your work environment, just ask the Salt Lake SSDI lawyers. But there are always little things you can do to improve your environment and improve your productivity. For example, a clean, organized workspace with plenty of light should encourage you to work better than one where you cannot be sure where anything is. And try to work alongside some of your better organized and more motivated co-workers who can set an example of what to do. While it can be intimidating to be next to someone who seems to have his life together, that is all the more incentive for you to learn from them and emulate what seems to work for them.

1. Do not be afraid to fail

If there is any reason why procrastination happens, it is because we are scared of failure. We get intimidated by some daunting task which we know we have to do, and try to ignore it and hope it goes away while distracting ourselves with smaller tasks. We may always want to do things perfectly, but it is better to do something and fail than to do nothing at all. Even failure can teach us how to do better for next time. Perfectionism and procrastination are inexorably linked, and you need to lower your standards if you want to accomplish anything at all. The tips listed above will help overcome procrastination, but the only thing that will absolutely overcome your worries is to forge ahead and do something. As long as you are moving forward, you will succeed in the end.