It's a regular workday, and your shift is nearing its end. Yet you are still working hard to finish a task that your manager needs before you leave work.
As the clock is ticking and your deadline is fast approaching, you cannot help but hate yourself for not starting your task earlier.
You are thinking of what transpired during the day and realized that you spent the duration of your shift checking your emails and scrolling mindlessly through social media. There were minute tasks not due until next week, yet you chose to finish them to have an excellent start for the next week. Do not forget the countless hot coffees you drank with your colleagues over some office gossip that are too hot to avoid.
Well, you are not alone since everyone has had a run-in with procrastination. It is a character that may be etched into your being, but you can always create ways to realign yourself for a better career and, ultimately, a more fantastic future.
But first, is procrastination just a fancy word for being lazy?
Many people get confused between the two, but they have distinct definitions that distinguish them from each other.
For starters, laziness is the absence of any inclination to do any activity. Meanwhile, procrastinators are actively working on something other than the task that they are supposed to finish. Thus, procrastinating lets you avoid a boring or tedious but necessary task to one that will entertain you for hours.
While changing your habit may seem hard, it is possible to overcome your chronic procrastination. Diligently following the next steps would help you avoid another bout of procrastination.
1. Be True to Yourself
Coming clean to yourself that procrastination is affecting your productivity can be challenging - that is why you must stay honest with yourself and take a good look at how you work.
Are you re-prioritizing a task because something important came up? Or are you delaying a workload with no concrete plans on when to get back at it and tend to switch from one unfinished task to another? If you identify with the former, give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done. Meanwhile, if the latter resonates more, you have a little more work to do for yourself.
Coming clean to yourself that procrastination is affecting your productivity can be challenging - that is why you must stay honest with yourself and take a good look at how you work.
Are you re-prioritizing a task because something important came up? Or are you delaying a workload with no concrete plans on when to get back at it and tend to switch from one unfinished task to another? If you identify with the former, give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done. Meanwhile, if the latter resonates more, you have a little more work to do for yourself.
There is no need to be ashamed if the second choice resonates with you. Instead, remember that the first step to correcting a habit is admitting that it is happening, and you must fix it.
2. Find the Answers to Your Whys
Once you have admitted to yourself the bitter truth, the next step is to find out why you are procrastinating.
There could be a myriad of reasons why you procrastinate. One of the usual suspects could be finding a task utterly dull or even tedious.
While nothing can remedy a soulless or overwhelming job, creating a list to be more organized can help avoid another spark of procrastination.
Seeing your work responsibilities written down with the priority level and deadlines can help push you to undertake anything on your list. Organizing your workload can also aid you in creating an effective schedule to lessen feeling overwhelmed by a task while having enough time to troubleshoot any mistakes that need some correcting.
While we are on the subject of troubleshooting some mistakes, being too much of a perfectionist can lead to the perfectionism-procrastination loop. You might find yourself putting off doing a task because you believe that you do not have the skills necessary to accomplish your duties with polished perfection. That is why prioritizing your workload can help you catch some mistakes that you may have missed. You can use your free time to polish any of the tasks you need to pass.
Wanting perfection is not necessarily a bad thing, but striving for it too much can hinder you from accomplishing a task. Don't be scared to make a few mistakes and organize your workload, as in the end you will thank yourself for a job well done.
3. Change is not Overnight
It is not impossible to correct the bad habit of procrastination, but you do have to remember that you cannot accomplish change in one night.
There are, however, some strategies that you can adopt which will help you develop a healthier work ethic.
The first part of your game plan is to have compassion and practice self-forgiveness for the procrastination you have done in the past. You know better now, and you will do much better too. It may be challenging but thinking more positively about yourself can help reduce your chances of procrastination again.
The second strategy is to commit to whatever important task your schedule says you should start and finish. After proactively accomplishing your work, reward yourself with a treat like FlexiSpot's Soutien Ergonomic Office Chair to associate positive feelings when you cross out a difficult task on your list.
If you have a reliable colleague, ask them to monitor you if they have some spare time. You will find yourself more excited to finish a task when you know that someone will check up on you to ask how things are going on for you. Speaking of colleagues, you may need to avoid some juicy office gossip when there are pending tasks ahead of you. Lessening the distractions can keep your focus solely on your unfinished work, which will prevent you from procrastinating again. Listening to gossip may be fun, but the time passing can let your work pile up over another. Instead, tackle your duties when they arise so you would have no trouble when another task presents itself.
While procrastination is a habit that cannot be changed overnight, taking the first step would help kickstart your journey to a more responsible version of yourself.
