4 Tips to Overcome Procrastination for Efficient Work

Procrastination is a behavior tendency that habitually put off planned tasks even when the consequences are expected to be harmful. It’s usually caused by the failure in self-regulation, and can lead to a negative impact on people’s physical and mental health. In severe cases, it may even result anxiety and depression.

Unfortunately, we’re biologically hardwired to procrastinate. Research shows we possess a limited amount of willpower that drains throughout the day, regardless of what we do. Therefore, the most effective way to boost our productivity seems like devoting the limited willpower to truly important events and focusing on what really matters. For this purpose, here are some useful tips you can have a try:

1. Break the Complex Task into Small Tasks

People tend to choose goals that seem easier to achieve. So when facing with a complex task, you might feel daunted, intimidated or even hopeless, which can simply lead to a desire to “give up” and a completely loss of confidence and positive energy.

In this case, the first priority is to break the complex task into smaller and manageable tasks, and then progressively achieve your goal. Once you have created a list detailing the process you need to go through, you can start working in your own way.

2. Add Auto Reminders on Due Date in Excel

 Without time limitation, it’s easy for us to procrastinate indefinitely. When there is a task with deadline, you should make a daily work plan according to the actual situation and your work efficiency. In some special cases, the schedule can even be subdivided into periods.

Since our memories are not always reliable, you may need something to remind you of the due date. Other than the calendar, notebook, and memo on your phone, adding due date reminders in Excel is also very practical when you are working on computer and processing data with Excel spreadsheet. It can inform you in a customized way when the due date comes around, without the support of any third-party software.

3. Reward Yourself after Completing Each Task

People’s attitude towards a task comes mainly from their judgment of its value, and the “value” here is related to the reward after completing the task. So once you have completed a task, even just a small one, it is important to reward yourself for the efforts.

Give yourself the opportunity to indulge in something that you find fun and enjoyable, whether its playing game or watching shows. Certainly the rewards must be modest, too much gratification can send you back into a cycle of procrastination.

4. Organize Your Desk and Drawer

Only a clean and tidy office environment can lay a solid foundation for efficient work. Cluttered desk and drawer will consume a lot of energy to clean up, thus give way to laziness and might further form Procrastination.

Keep only essentials on the desk, tidy up the tangled wires, put things back in place and make it a habit to clean up regularly, etc. Through external factors to produce a positive impact on people and eliminate any excuses that might lead to procrastination.

Procrastinating could easily be the sweetest thing in the world, if deadlines does not exist, but the reality is always a mountain of work and the accompanying mental stress.

The best time to plant a tree is ten years ago, and the second-best is now. It’s time for a lifestyle change, and just try those tips above to start living your life more fully.