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How to beat procrastination

Guest post by: Paul Puckridge

Article Overview: Procrastination. Most people learned all about it in school and perhaps you’ve let it slip back into your working habits. Many people in workplace have become so good at it that they are now procrastination experts.

How to beat procrastination

Procrastination. Most people learned all about it in school and perhaps you've let it slip back into your working habits. Many people in workplace have become so good at it that they are now procrastination experts. No matter how you spend your time procrastinating, it always feels good... at first. You might find yourself staring at the wall for a few minutes or perhaps you go on a twenty-minute coffee break. Some people get distracted by personal emails, others by colleagues who visit their work area. Whatever your procrastination pleasure is, it comes at a cost.

[More...] The trouble with procrastination is that there's always a big black cloud floating above you just waiting to burst and rain all over you later

When you're procrastinating, the real work you have to do is kind of like a hangover. You know it's coming, you know it's not going to be pleasant and you know it's severity is totally dependent on your own actions.

There's nothing worse than snapping out of your happy procrastination trance to find work piling up, deadlines approaching and your manager wanting to know why a certain project is not on his or her desk.

It may seem like a good idea at the time, but in the end procrastination just creates more work and more stress. There are a few reasons for this.

When you're done procrastinating and finally want to get back into work mode, your brain is stuck in procrastination mode, making it very difficult to get any work completed.

While you're busy wasting time, your real work is piling up and your deadlines are creeping up on you. You'll find yourself feeling overwhelmed and anxious - a far cry from the procrastinator of a few minutes earlier.

No one works well under pressure so why put yourself in that position? Deep down you know it's not a good idea to be procrastinating, so here are a few ways to beat it.

Procrastination buster #1: Get over your fear of failure

If you're scared of failing your task or not getting it perfect, you need to keep those old clichés in mind; "Nobody is perfect" and "We all make mistakes". If you suffer from perfectionism, you need to do something about it.

Procrastination buster #2: Be realistic

Think about what you're actually doing during this procrastinating time. Is it something you could totally cut out of your life, like smoking? Kill two birds with one stone and quit the bad habit and embrace the work that needs to be done.

Procrastination buster #3: Manage your emotional state

Everyone experiences a time when they don't feel like working on difficult stuff. However what separates the professional from the crowd is this person's ability to manage their own emotional state. It's their ability to notice the way they are feeling, analyse it and make a decision to feel a different way.

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Article Tags: Daily Planning, Get Organized, Gtd, Paul Puckridge, Planning Your Day, The First Hour Of The Day, Work Smarts, Worksmarts



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