5 Signs You Need Help With Procrastination
Who wouldn’t want to wake up every morning feeling motivated and raring to get on with their day? Yes, me too!
The trouble is, that from time-to-time we can all fall into the funk of procrastination and when that happens it can be really hard to claw yourself back to a place where life feels hopeful, stimulating or even inspiring!
Check out these 5 signs that your life may have slipped into the doldrums and read on to get help with procrastination before it sets in too deeply.
You Rarely Finish Anything
Are you a great starter but not quite so good at actually getting things finished?
This tendency is more common than you might believe, which means that if you can get your fear of finishing under control it will give a great boost to your productivity and outputs compared to a lot of other people!
It can be easy to lose interest in a project before it’s finished and then be tempted to go and start something else, but that’s a sure-fire way to get labelled as a procrastinator and also leads to feelings of overwhelm as you gradually become surrounded by lots of unfinished work and projects.
Read this blog to learn how to engage your starter-finisher gear to help you overcome your procrastination: Why You Need to Finish What You Start
You have a massive to-do list that’s not getting any smaller
How often are you checking things off your to-do list?
To-do lists present certain problems of their own. In my experience, I find having a list motivating – to a point, but the moment my to-do list starts outstripping my capacity to keep up with the many activities it contains, I start feeling defeated and that can lead to procrastination.
After all, if I’m not going to get ahead of my list any time soon, what’s the point of doing any of the tasks on it?
So what can you do if you find yourself defeated and need help with procrastination with the tasks on your to-do list?
There are a few things you can try that will help you get moving again, for example:
• Go through your list and delete anything that is no longer relevant or useful.
• Once you’ve done that, scan your list again looking for tasks that just aren’t due yet and move them to a separate “Later” list.
• Finally look at what’s left and choose only 1 task to work on and just make a start. Don’t worry about finishing, just get some forward momentum.
You’ve set New Year’s resolutions for years, but have failed to keep them or make a breakthrough
It’s become a cliché that setting New Year’s Resolutions is a bit of a waste of time because most people fail to follow through on their resolutions. In other words, they procrastinate and then give up!
But what if you could be different? What if you were able to finally follow through on your New Year’s Resolutions so that they finally made a positive difference to your life?
Well, here’s an idea – don’t wait until New Year!
It’s not a great time of year to embark on lots of changes – the weather is usually cold, dark and dismal, everyone is feeling ragged after the excesses of the festive season and for most, there will have been an extended period of time off work and then suddenly you’re back at the grind!
How on earth would that combination of circumstances help you get your New Year’s Resolutions off the ground?!
Instead why not just start today?
You probably already have a mental (or maybe even written) list of goals (resolutions) that you would like to progress, so why not make that start now. No fanfare, no jumping on the New Year’s Bandwagon, just you, your goals and a commitment to make it stick.
Give it a try – this post will help get going: How To Stick With Your Goals
You feel like your job is on the line
You will certainly need help with procrastination if you feel like your job is on the line. So it’s time to get some structure and order on your tasks and projects so that you can prioritise effectively.
Start by making a list of everything you can think of from email backlogs to the latest job your boss has asked you to get done.
Resist the temptation to jump straight in on the thing that seems to be screaming the loudest for your attention, because that often isn’t the most important thing you’ll need to get done right now.
Instead, look objectively at your tasks and consider which ones are important to get finished and which ones can wait. This can be hard, because you’ll often find that it’s lower value tasks that taunt you whilst you put off important, difficult or big tasks.
But here’s a hint to help you assess the importance of tasks – if it’s a direct request from your boss or your boss’s boss, then it’s more important that the other stuff vying for your attention.
So make that your priority place to start. Choose something that you can realistically get finished and delivered to your boss in the shortest timescale and just get to work.
Relegate low value tasks, eg, email to the end of the day when your energy is at its lowest and work through as much as you can then. Remember, these are low-value tasks, so be satisfied with your progress and don’t be tempted to push any outstanding (unimportant) email up your priority list.
Follow this routine for a few days and you will start to see the backlog and the overwhelm shift.
Your Home Is A Mess
Living and working in a messy environment can be really de-motivating, so it’s no wonder you’re procrastinating if your home is a mess. From dishes piled up on work surfaces, to stacks of mail, magazines and papers that need sorting and from unmade beds to pet hairs on the furniture, it can be a nightmare to sort out!
Also, if your home is a mess, you’ll no longer be feeling comfortable having people around and the idea that someone could just drop by without an invitation is mortifying!
So, it’s time to get over yourself and your procrastination and make a concerted effort to get that mess under control.
The best way to start is just to start, and the best way to do that (and not get overwhelmed in the process) is to start small.
Choose just one room. Hint, if it’s hard to choose just one room, think about if a visitor happened to drop by, which room would you want to take them into? This is as good a place to start as any.
Once you’ve chosen your room, stand in the doorway with a pen and paper and write down in detail anything that jumps out at you, eg: the living room –
• Pick up dirty dishes and move them to the kitchen.
• Straighten up the cushions on the chairs and sofas – remove any covers that are dirty and put them near or in the washing machine.
• Open windows to get fresh air through.
• Clear any stuff that has accumulated on tables or other surfaces and move them to the room they belong in – don’t do anything else with them, that’s for another day.
• Wipe or polish surfaces
• Vacuum the floor.
Aim for “good enough” at this stage so that your room feels decluttered, tidy and fresh. You can do these tasks in whatever order you want. The important thing is to keep moving. Remember, there’s nothing more attractive to procrastination than inactivity! So stand up and move quickly through your tasks!
Help With Procrastination
As with all efforts to inject some motivation into your life and circumstances, procrastination can be a challenging fellow to dislodge!
But work with the tactics above to see if they help with your procrastination. Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t get as much done as you’d like, but do congratulate yourself for progress and keep building on that forward momentum.
With a little effort and consistency you will see a big difference in your outputs and circumstances quite quickly, so stick with it!
What to do next…
> Read another post – How To Stay Focused and Motivated When Results Are Slow
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