3 Tips to Move Past Procrastination
Do you procrastinate? Don't worry. procrastination gets the best of us all sometimes. However, I have three (3) tips that might help you change they way you view and complete tasks.
First, break large goals into smaller pieces. When you think of a large goal, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. So when you have a larger goal, lets say, graduating from college, you should break that large goal into smaller tasks. This might mean that you have monthly goals or goals you want to meet each semester in order to get to your ultimate goal of graduating from college. For example, lets say that to graduate Emily needs to meet with an advisor each semester, complete an internship, complete a final paper, complete a portfolio, and study "x" amount of hours each week. Overall that might sound like a lot to do. Yet, if Emily will review these tasks and start listing which tasks need to be completed in which semester, the overall goal might feel less daunting. This way, Emily has separated several tasks over several semesters and might be less likely to procrastinate on completing it all.
Second, as soon as you get a task, evaluate it and how long it will take to complete. So, if you have to write a paper ask yourself how long it will take you to complete the paper. If you figure it will take you five weeks, now create a chart listing what you need to do to complete the paper. You will need to visit the library to find sources, read books and articles, have the paper edited, etc. Once you have the tasks written down, now guess how long each task will take. Let's say the visit to the library will take four hours to find all the books and resources you want to use, reading those books and articles will take 20 hours and the editor will need at least 72 hours to review the paper. Then go to your planner or however you keep track of your time and start to plug in a few hours here and a few hours there until you complete the task.
Finally, place a small task on your "to do" list each day. This task should be about 15 minutes, but take no more than 30-minutes. The task should also be something that you can complete during the earlier part of your day. Once you've completed one task, you get into accomplishment mode early in the day. This way, you feel accomplished and are more likely to move on to other tasks. For example, I might start my morning with a task such as reading a short article I save or following up with a person who may have contacted me. Those tasks usually take less than 15 minutes and I feel great being able to check something off my list and move on to larger tasks.
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