Hi, it’s Allison here again. We all know what it’s like to get caught in the procrastination trap. There’s a job that has to be done, but you’re afraid it’s going to be difficult and time consuming, so you put it off till the last minute. Sometimes you’re tired or not feeling motivated to do anything at all.
Other times you’re overwhelmed by small tasks that keep popping up and getting in your way. Or maybe you come into work in the morning and you have no clue what to do that day. You end up spending half the day at the office without getting anything done because you lack a plan. It’s understandable, we’ve all been there, and we’ve all found ourselves procrastinating as a result. The most frustrating thing is that the longer we procrastinate, the more our tasks and worries pile up. Next thing you know, the day is gone, little has been accomplished – and still the work waits. Procrastinating can slow business, upset the boss, create delays, and wreak havoc on your schedule.
Well you know what? It doesn’t have to be like that. I’m going to show you a smart, simple system that can help you eliminate procrastination permanently. With this easy method, you can sharpen your focus, increase your motivation, and get your work done when you need to get it done.
The secret is to start scheduling meetings with yourself. Your daily schedule should always be fully booked. Every morning, spend about 15 minutes determining the day’s schedule. Think of all the tasks that you want to accomplish that day and schedule them in your calendar as if you have a meeting with yourself.
So, for example, you may write in your planner that from 9am to 10, you are working on a presentation. From 10 to 11, you’ll be returning phone calls. 11 to 12, you’re writing code. 12-1, schedule your lunch. And so on. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well it is! If I can do it, so can you.
Now for your anti-procrastination plan to be successful, you need to follow a few guidelines.
1. Don’t schedule more than 6 activities each day. There’s no sense in over-extending yourself or else you’ll get overwhelmed and then the procrastination problem will be back.
2. Give yourself some free time between activities to catch up on emails, finish activities that require more time, and other small assorted tasks.
3. Always schedule the difficult and high priority activities first. This is really important because you want to get the tough jobs out of the way as soon as you can.
4. When you work on an activity, stay focused on the task. Don’t stop to read emails, check Facebook, or anything else. These are things that can wait until you’re done.
5. Take a 10-minute break every hour. Knowing that you will soon have a bit of time to relax and do whatever you want will make it easier for you to concentrate on the scheduled task.
So, there you have it. Follow this system and you will discover that you can quickly and easily kick procrastination out of your life forever. If you want to learn more, I go into detail on this subject in Elementool’s new Project Management Formula program, so I suggest you check it out!