TIRED OF PROCRASTINATION? A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO OVERCOME IT

Tried many strategies and techniques and yet kicked the can down the road? Read many articles and blog posts on techniques and strategies to beat procrastination, but could not execute them effectively?

Well, let’s keep it simple and straight to the point. Let’s think and focus on our basics first.

1.       Train Your Brain: It all starts with the thought. If you are serious about discarding the dithering attitude, train your brain. Identify, what you procrastinate? Why you linger? Note them down and acknowledge that you dawdle and that’s perfectly alright. Prepare a table with two columns. In the first column - Note down the areas/tasks you often temporize. In the second Column – Use a positive affirmative statement to cut down that limiting belief in column one. Do it for everything that you stall. You have to train your brain first, to train yourself.

2.       Set Up Daily Goals and To-dos In Advance: Since you have acknowledged yourself as a procrastinator, it’s way lot easier for you to work on it. Plan and Organize to get rid of that self-image of a procrastinator. It is always beneficial that you plan your day in advance. Make an advanced to-do list and set up daily goals that you want to achieve for the next day. Schedule goals and tasks specifically with time limits.

3.       Early to Bed Early to Rise: Now, this is very crucial and beneficial. We easily get carried away by staying up late at night browsing web, emailing, texting, late night dinners, partying etc. And we give ourselves an excuse to start over again next week and the cycle goes on. Say a big and loud NO. Go to bed early, switch off - the wifi, mobile devices, the lights and the tv. Get some sound sleep and wake up early next day with energy and enthusiasm to accomplish something valuable and meaningful. Waking up early will surely boost your energy and you’ll surely stay focused to work on your goals and your to-dos for the entire day.

4.       The First 20 Minutes After Waking Up – Determining Factors: Your first 20 minutes are the indications of your achievements. They will surely trigger - how you’re going to spend the rest of your day. Start your day with a glass full of water immediately after waking up and get your morning tasks and chores done in the next few minutes. Ponder all the tasks and goals for that day. Use this time to review your plans. Prioritize them, Schedule them and be flexible and comfortable even to reschedule.

5.       Execution is the key: Your plans will remain as plans unless you execute them. You have to push yourself harder to execute them. Planning without execution is futile. If you want to see the results, you got to execute your plans. Track the goals and keep checking your to-dos. Focus here should be on the execution and not on perfection. Perfection follows execution. This is where you should avoid complete distraction and your goals and to-dos should be under complete focus.

6.       Revaluating your action plan: Many strategies and techniques fail for the need of revaluation. It’s very significant that we have a check on the strategy adopted. Reviewing enables us to identify the gaps and help us design accordingly. It shows your areas of strength and achievements. Reward your achievements and celebrate small victories. Reviewing also provides an insight on the areas that need improvement in your strategies, techniques or even your goals and to-dos. Never forget or even underestimate the need for evaluating your plans to crack your success in beating procrastination.

Some thoughts that can keep you stay on track:

• “Better three hours too soon that one minute too late” - William Shakespeare
• “He who every morning plans the transaction of that day and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the busiest life.” – Victor Hugo
• “Arise, Awake! And stop not until the goal is reached” – Swami Vivekananda