5 Effective Ways to Eliminate Procrastination for Good

Do you ever find yourself getting in your own way? You have this important task you know you should complete, but for some reason you put it away until the last hour, or worse, you never do it at all. If this resonates with you then you probably have a habit of procrastinating.

Procrastination means delaying or putting off an activity until a later time. This shouldn’t be a problem, as it allows us to accommodate unforeseen events. Yet, when it becomes a repetitive behavior, it can get in the way of your success. And that’s when it becomes a problem.

I used to procrastinate until I realized it was ruining my life. Procrastination disrupts effective time management and can prevent you from accomplishing your goals. This can make you feel unproductive and can have negative effects on your mental health in the long run.

Imagine how successful and fulfilled you could be if you eliminated procrastination from your life. The tips I share in this article will help you achieve that.

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1. Unschedule your Calendar
2. Stick to a Productive Routine
3. Take Counterintuitive action
4. Microtask
5. Embrace Failure

1. Unschedule your Calendar

One common excuse for failing to do an important task is ‘I haven’t got the time for it’.  We may mean it, but this usually fails to justify our failure to get the work done. We each define what takes up the majority of our time. In truth, you are responsible for making time for the tasks you consider as vital to your success.

Are there activities on your calendar that you may consider unproductive? They take up time that should be available for productive work. You can correct this problem by unscheduling your calendar.

First, fill in your daily, weekly, and monthly activities into a date chart. then identify unimportant and trivial activities. Then replace them with microtasks that contribute to your goals. In the long term, you become a more efficient and effective person.

2. Stick to a Productive Routine

When you unschedule your calendar, you define time for work and play. This is a good strategy for defining what you should do, and when you should do it. It also helps you establish some form of balance that works for you.

To sustain your newfound balance, you should stick to a productive routine. This involves streamlining your new unscheduled calendar. You can use project management software to organize tasks, reminders, and flag points. This gives you a productivity boost and eliminates procrastination in no time.

3. Take Counterintuitive Action

Success requires productive action. As a student, a 9-5, or an entrepreneur, attaining success will rely on a repeat set of actions that contribute to the realization of your goals. Yet, many of us fail to reach this point of success because we procrastinate. We know what we should do, yet when the time comes, we put it off with an excuse.

The reasons why we procrastinate include fear and anxiety, distraction, or a desire for perfection. It could also be a lack of motivation or a feeling of boredom with doing the task at hand. What has worked, in my experience, is taking counterintuitive action.

Each time you find yourself feeling uninspired to do something you know you should do; you correct your attitude by immediately doing it. If we had to rely only on inspiration, most of our work would be half-done. So, we must develop the self-control to direct our affairs.

The two-minute rule and Mel Robbin’s 5-second rule are two types of counterintuitive action. They help you reverse-engineer the habit loop of procrastination, by taking productive action in each moment.

4. Microtask

Do your goals and projects ever feel daunting, overwhelming or intimidating? You know what you want, but there’s so much you have to do to arrive at your desired outcome. So, you’d rather not deal with it, until some later time.

Challenging projects have a way of making us feel incompetent. And that’s okay because difficulty creates room for growth, but if we never attack the problem, we may never grow. The best way to deal with daunting projects is to start by micro-tasking.

When you microtask, you break down projects into segments that are easy for you to complete. This way, you can tackle individual tasks within the sphere of your ability. Each completed task is a boost to your ultimate goal.

5. Embrace failure

Your microtasks are set goals! They fit the description of the type of tasks you feel confident about accomplishing. So, wake up with a point to prove, and one primary intention for each day.

There are days when you may fail. And that’s great because failure is also an opportunity to learn. Learn the lessons, and keep going. This way, you let go of your fear and anxiety. You also overcome procrastination and go after your dreams.

Conclusion

When you apply these tips to your everyday life, you can stop procrastination from getting in your way of success.

To overcome procrastination, do one or more of the following:

1. Unschedule your Calendar
2. Stick to a Productive Routine
3. Take Counterintuitive action
4. Microtask
5. Embrace Failure