We all do it.
There’s always that task that we put to one side and ignore – until it builds up and ends up touching the ceiling. It’s a bad habit, especially if you’re working in a busy environment or a professional workplace, but we all do it and it’s time to face the facts and admit to it.
“I can do it tomorrow” or “It’s not that important”, we’ve all used those excuses or similar ones; procrastinating is a ‘thief of time’. You end up forgetting about it and missing deadlines, stressed at work, which then can impact the atmosphere in your workplace, and you could end up spending more time in the office than you should…
“Hi, my name is Debora and I’m a procrastinator”.
I’ve recently been working on a few 200 page workbooks and I found myself skipping over them on my ‘To Do’ list. No, it’s not ‘glamorous’ work and yes, I have made a start on them (finally).
It’s not laziness; they’re just mundane tasks. We all have to man-up and just do them, and with a positive attitude and it’s just as important work as other tasks.Not every job will be 100% fun, creative work that you enjoy – everyone procrastinates! I’ve prepared a few tips for you to try out to help with the… ahem, “addiction”.
- Prepare a ‘To Do’ list with all the tasks you have to do that week, highlighting which ones you will do on which
day (e.g. Monday = pink, Tuesday = green), and do this every Monday. Or you could simply highlight what’s urgent and what is important.
- Managing your time effectively is important – here’s my blog on Time Management and another DPG blog on how to manage tasks, I hope it helps.
- Another thing to help you avoid procrastination are incentives - if you have work that you’re putting off but you get something good out of it (promotion, feedback, recognition, etc.), you’re going to do the work for the ‘treat’.
- A good way to avoid it is also to focus. Turn off your phone, turn off your email notifications and stop daydreaming! The work needs to be done and it’s better to get it over and done with now than stress out over it later.
Hope these tips help you get through the disease that is ‘procrastination’ and help you be more productive at work.
So, will you join me in rehab? Or will you just put it off till tomorrow?
I’d like to hear your thoughts on this topic.
Stay tuned…
Comments
Thanks for sharing the presentation Mike, a few more tips for the procrastinators :-)
I agree, not all the work we have to do is attractive to us but the best solution is to just have a positive mind and, like Nike says, "just do it"!
TDL are the best things in the world! (working world)
They keep you organised and you know what tasks you've already completed which kind of makes you feel better about yourself for completing them = POSITIVE MIND! :-)
Well I hope these tips and resources have helped some people become more productive at work and become more organised :-)
Thanks for sharing Mike
Deb
Great blog Debora and a topic that is close to my heart as someone who also suffers from the disease of procrastination from time to time. The point around the mundane work is really important on a couple of fronts
- Some (most) work is not glamorous but is still massively important as you point out.
- I think linked to this and as you progress in your career it's important you've experienced different tasks as I'm a big believer in not asking someone to do something that you can't / haven't done yourself. This is important for credibility / trust and to lead and inspire.
In terms of the actual procrastination you've shared some good tips and I think a to-do-list can both help and hinder as sometimes by looking at your TDL it can feel overwhelming so you again look for other things to do.
I came across this slideshare that has some really nice visuals and similar points - worth checking out