How to stop procrastinating is a common question for many people. We all know that there are things we should be doing but for some reason we can’t quite put our fingers on why we always end up doing something else. Does this sound like you?
These are some things people commonly procrastinate on, exercising, sorting out finances, saving money, eating healthy, cleaning out the clutter.
If you re wondering how to stop procrastinating, here are four simple suggestions.
1. Set a Teeny Weeny Task
Break a massive task into pieces. When you look at a large task it can feel overwhelming and the sheer size of it could put you off even beginning to take any action. By chunking the task down to manageable pieces it becomes much easier to take the first step. If you were setting out to write a book and you needed to write over 100,000 words, this would be a daunting task. Instead, why not decide to write 100 words minimum per day. Once the habit is in place you will find that you rarely only write the minimum required.
2. Penalties and Punishments
Just reading those words brings with it a sense of urgency to avoid them. If you have a task that really needs to be done and you really need something to drive you, set consequences for it not being done. Make the consequences big and scary enough that you will want to avoid facing them at all costs. It could be giving your worst enemy $1000 if you fail to follow through, giving up your most prized possession for 3 months, or doing 500 sit ups. It needs to be a penalty that is going to have a real negative impact on your life if you have to pay it. This is a sure fire way to make yourself take action.
3. Go Public
Most people want others to see them as being credible and true to their word. If you really want to know how to stop procrastinating, accountability is one of the best ways to do this. By telling people what you intend to do and committing to them that you will do it by a certain time, you are holding yourself accountable to them. If the task is really crucial, let a lot of people know what you are committing to. Not only will you want to keep your promise to avoid looking like a failure, you will feel like you have a team of supporters behind you encouraging you to succeed.
4. Be Laser Focused
Limiting the amount of items that are on your to do list will go a long way in helping you to stop procrastinating. When there are too many things you are trying to focus on, inevitably they all suffer from a lack of attention. Decide which are your three most important items to accomplish and in which order they need to be completed. Decide the timeframes for completion up front and put the other items on the backburner until the top three are crossed off your list. Repeat the process with any remaining tasks you are procrastinating on, grouping them into batches o three at a time and giving no attention to the rest.
Virtually everyone has procrastinated on something at some stage of their lives so if you find yourself in this boat you are definitely not alone. Once you start questioning how to stop procrastinating you are on the right track to find solutions and then put them into practice. The methods here can be used separately, or combining some of them together to supercharge your results.
So what are you waiting for? Stop searching for how to stop procrastinating as you have already discovered several ways to do it. Commit to one of these and start taking action right now!
