Procrastination can be a huge detriment to our personal and professional successes. So why do we procrastinate?
Maybe it’s because you feel like there is never enough time to do ALL of the things, or maybe it’s because you’re overworked and struggling to find your motivation.
While waiting until the last minute to get things done may seem like a great idea at the time, when you finally are able to sit down at your desk to do it….you still don’t want to!
You’ve been thinking about how much you need to do for so long that by the time you start on something new your brain just shuts down and you don’t have the creative ambition left to produce good work. This is why we recommend organizing your to-do list to ensure maximum effectiveness.
“Organizing is not just tidying up, but rather returning things to where they belong.” -Marie Kondo
Here are six tips for organizing and scheduling to help with procrastination.
– Set realistic goals and timeframes ( this means it is time to break up with that never-ending to-do list and try to tackle just 3 things a day)
– Tackle one thing at a time, don’t try to do everything in one day or you will feel overwhelmed
– Do a little every day so that when it comes closer to the end of the week there’s less leftover to finish on any given night.
* Try to “front load” your week and get things done instead of waiting till the end of the week when you are tired and looking forward to the weekend.
– Schedule things in advance even if they’re small tasks: this is just making sure things don’t pile up with all of life’s other surprises.
-Give everything a home.When something has a home, you can see what needs doing next, then getting started becomes easier and more manageable. Letting things build up causes overwhelm. This helps get you through the day, and also stay organized.
-Delegate/Outsource tasks. In many cases, the benefits of outsourcing services are not an optimization strategy – they’re a necessity. Often the only feasible way to grow your business, launch a product, or manage operations is to delegate certain tasks to an outside vendor. This frees up your time to work on the stuff that lights you up and moves your business forward without the constant overwhelm.
Procrastination is okay sometimes, but when it becomes a habit, it is a hard one to break. Too much procrastination can also seriously affect your business, so it’s best to nip this in the bud where possible!