5 tips on how to avoid procrastination… now, not later.

Let’s admit it… even the most motivated people can become victims of procrastination from time to time. In today’s world, everyone has so much going on around them that occasionally it becomes difficult to stay focused on just one thing at a particular time. An article by the Collared Sheep says that human beings tend to procrastinate not because of laziness, but because we have a tendency to live in the short-term and not the long-term. Now combine that with the tendency many people have to think that “there’s plenty of time” to get something done, and there you have procrastination. Here are 5 tips that the Collared Sheep offers for avoiding procrastination:

1. Rethink your perceptions of time. Avoid just thinking about what is good for you in the present and think about what would be better in the future. If you procrastinate doing a task, the person who’s going to have to deal with it eventually is the future YOU.
2. Make pleasurable associations. Procrastination often arises when we are faced with a task that is unpleasant or that we consider boring. The solution is to stop looking at tasks as boring and start associating them with something pleasant, like the rewards/benefits you will see when it’s completed.
3. Structure your time. Sometimes we put things off because they are overwhelming like a large project that will take a lot of time. If you break the project into smaller tasks, it will make it seem less overwhelming and more do-able.
4. Procrastinate productively. This technique suggested in the Collared Sheep’s post involves making a list of “procrastinating tasks” and working your way down the list. Even though you will still be technically procrastinating from the larger task at hand, at least you’ll still be doing something productive and crossing smaller tasks off your list.
5. Intervene directly. If you know you’re prone to procrastination when say you’re near the television when you’re working from home, then just don’t put yourself in that situation…find a quiet room to work in where that distraction is not present.

Do you have any other tips for avoiding procrastination? Comment below!