Interrupting the Procrastination Cycle

 I get up in the morning all ready to start writing.  First though, I have to feed the dogs.  My one dog won’t eat unless I’m in the room with her.  Her place of choice is my office, so I sit with her.  While I’m sitting there, I move my research and pile of work to one side. I figure, since I’m waiting for her to finish, I may as well check my email, and then of course, I have to check Facebook.  I notice that the game I play has quite a few gifts sent to it so I have to open them, send some back and harvest some crops.  Then the dog wants out, so I make a cup of tea and let her and the other dogs outside.  I decide to read the paper while I drink my tea outside in my chair in the yard while the dogs play.  Wait, how can I be 11:00am already???  I haven’t written a word!

Procrastination has me again!  Does this happen to you?  How can you help to avoid it so you can get your work done?  Whether you’re in an office, working from home or in a factory, we all procrastinate sometime.  What can we do?

The cycle of procrastination starts with the pressure of being overwhelmed and ends with trying to put everything off until the last minute.  How does the cycle start?

• you start with the feeling of being overwhelmed
• the pressure mounts
• you fear that you’re going to fail at whatever it is you’re avoiding
• you work longer hours to try to catch up
• you feel resentful
• you get tired and lose all motivation
• and then, worse, you procrastinate

First of all, examine the amount of time you spend procrastinating.  How much time do you spend in your email, Facebook, and how much TV do you watch?    How about using a timer to control the time you spend on each one?  If you control the time you spend on them, then you can see how much time you’re actually wasting.

Prioritize with a schedule.  Write down everything you have to do for the week.  If it’s a more difficult task, break it up to more manageable pieces before even starting it. Place your work on one sheet and your personal life on the other.  Use these two lists to make a schedule that you can work from.  Allow enough time to do each thing you need to do.  Be realistic with what you have scheduled.  By writing things down, it will show you what you need to accomplish and the time needed to do it.  You get to cross the tasks off your list and this will give you a feeling of accomplishment. 

When you only allow yourself a certain amount of time to finish a task, it gives you the incentive to complete it.  You stay focused and want to accomplish your goal.  When the time is up, you can see what you’ve finished.  Make sure you schedule in breaks to allow yourself to relax before having to refocus.  If you know your break is coming, it makes you want to accomplish as much as you can before you have to stop.  Don’t expect perfection.  You may be procrastinating in order to make an excuse for a poor performance.  Even an imperfect job finished is better than a delayed perfect job. 

I, personally, am going to make a list of what needs to be done.  I’m going to watch the time I’m online and not working.  I want to be a little more productive, don’t you?

What do you do to stop procrastinating?