4 Effective Ways to Stop Procrastination
The habit of putting things-to-do away for later and eventually postponing it continuously to a later date will prove to be disastrous for your personal and professional growth both. If you have the habit of procrastination, then you are in for trouble. Before it is too late, you should get cautious about this and know that this habit of yours is doing you more harm than good. The one and only gratification procrastination gives is instantaneous and once you have passed the time doing nothing fruitful, you will surely end up regretting later when perhaps, it is too late or you have lost an important opportunity all because you procrastinated on one occasion and then it became a habit. There are some effective and practical ways in which you can stop procrastination from becoming a way of life for you and move ahead like never before. Listed below are 4 effective ways to stop procrastination.
1. Create a to-do list
We all have short term and long term goals. Even if we do not write them down and follow them religiously. The first important way to stop procrastination is to make a list of the things which are needed to be done, no matter what. Of course, you cannot include things like watching television or playing video games because these are things to be done in leisure. You need to focus and identify the important tasks that lie ahead of you, like finishing a project or planning out for a boutique you always wanted to open or research for writing a book and so on. Remember that these are things which mean something in your life and are things which you must do, not for somebody else but for yourself. Obviously, petty household work and other monotonous stuff which need to be done for ordinary functioning are part of this list too. Make a list of these things and keep it in front of you. Use a post-it note if required.
2. Set realistic deadlines
Once you have a list of things that have to be done, you need to set up deadlines for yourself. Keep in mind that you must set realistic deadlines as to when you are required to or when you intend to complete the tasks at hand. You will now have a list of things along with self-set deadlines ready and then you will follow it in order to stop procrastination. Once you know how much time you have for something, the tendency to avoid a task and be lazy will be lesser.