6 Ways To Beat Procrastination

What is Procrastination?

You know when you really need to do *something* but you just keep finding other things to do instead? Like online shopping, booking that restaurant for Friday date night, watering the plants, searching for a book club to join - you know the important things in life!

Procrastination is your brain putting up stop signs in front of the big juicy projects you have on your list because they’re probably hard or scary and our brain is programmed to help us enjoy the fun things in life, not the hard things. 

Researchers reveal that individuals who are master procrastinators see higher levels of stress. Maybe from fear of still having that *thing* on your list or making it out to be a bigger challenge than it actually is. In this post, we’ll aim to arm you with 6 Surefire Ways To Beat Procrastination and work through your to-do list with purpose and power.

Beating procrastination is incredibly important in a coworking environment so you can focus on your individual work without being distracted by the space, people and amenities around you. 

Top Causes Of Procrastination

Understanding what causes procrastination can help you use relevant strategies to overcome it and achieve your full potential. 

While everyone tends to procrastinate occasionally, chronic procrastination can be a different thing altogether. We all put off things for different reasons, it’s normal and in most cases can be the result of too much pressure at work or too many things on your list (so you’re not sure where to start).

Some of the most common reasons to procrastinate:

• Fear of failure (What if I do the thing, and it’s wrong?)
• Low self-esteem (What if I can’t do it?)
• Perfectionism (I don’t want to do it until I know it will be perfect)
• Fear of criticism (I don’t want to do it then have others mock it)
• Depression (I won’t do a good job at it anyway) 
• Avoidance (I’m just going to ignore that one for now) 
• Task aversion (I’ll stick to the easier things for now) 
• Lack of energy (I can’t focus on that today, I’ll do it tomorrow)
• Decision fatigue (I’m not sure if this is the right thing to focus on?) 
• Trouble in focusing (What was I doing?)
• Too much on your list (Was I doing that? OK I’ll add that to tomorrow’s list) 
• Waiting until the last moment (That’s due today? Ok I’ll do it now)
• Difficulty in defining goals (Where does this fit on my priority list?)

Most of us are prone to at least one of these thoughts once a day! When you can start to see a pattern in your thoughts and understand why you are procrastinating, then you can start to beat it or at least take active decisions to combat it. 

Top Ways to Beat Procrastination

Procrastinating doesn’t mean you are lazy. It could mean that you don’t have a clear idea of your priorities or you’re so overwhelmed with items on your to-do list you need some help to get through it all.

Most of the time taking no action can be the result of fear of failure, decision fatigue or having trouble focusing. However, you can only put off things only for a specific time period. Especially if you’re a business owner, freelancer or solopreneur and the work (stops) when you do.

So in order to work effectively, using methods to overcome procrastination will give you back precious hours in your work week! Most importantly, procrastination saps our energy and time and most likely you end up feeling frustrated and drained when you realise how much time you’ve wasted avoiding a task. 

If you wish to minimise the overall stress due to not getting your things done, here are some solutions to try:

Create a Proper Weekly To-do List

Prepare a realistic to-do list and ensure that you have timings around each action item. On this single piece of paper, avoid cramming every single task (because this could lead to overwhelm). Think about the 5 - 10 most important weekly tasks and include timed deadlines as this helps you in being reminded when your task is due. 

You can think of preparing a to-do list every day, week, or even month. It will ultimately depend on the number of tasks you have to complete. We recommend starting with a weekly to-do list which you can easily break down into daily tasks.

Begin with Power Moves

It might appear overwhelming at first but “do the hardest things first”. This is because the hardest task is going to be the one that you had been avoiding all this time! You will feel SO much better knowing that big task that’s been hanging over your head is finally done.
If this task is a big, audacious task it might help to break it up into bitesize tasks that you can work on each day of the week. At the end of the week, you’ll be five steps closer to achieving your goal. 

Most of us are great at preparing the ‘to-do’ list. Even ticking off the easiest tasks of the entire day feels so relieving and better. Every to-do list will have a few of these bigger “Power Moves” on the list, this is where you can really take hold of your week and take control of your procrastination.

Break Down the Entire Workload

When you break down the entire workload into smaller amounts that are manageable, it will stop you from significant procrastinating. When you have multiple deadlines or a complicated project to complete, you might start feeling anxious at the mere idea of the total workload.

Therefore, you can break every step down. Create a proper checklist for every major task. You can break down as many parts as you can. It will help in motivating you and reducing your chances of procrastination. 

When you see everything on your list you can also see who you can delegate certain tasks to and even put a priority list together.

Ensure a Proper Routine

When you have a proper routine for everything you do daily or weekly, it will help you in avoiding procrastination. Therefore, if you observe that you do most things during the morning hours, establish a proper routine for it. 

You can even leverage the benefit of the moments you feel the most energetic to tick off a majority of things on your to-do list. This ensures that your day starts in a productive manner.

Avoid Distractions (To An Extent)

“Put your head down and focus!” - easier said than done!
Distractions are part of our everyday. We’re all attracted to the bright, shiny lights so it’s hard to zone out 100% when our brains aren’t designed for it. When you go into a “getting things done” mode with a healthy respect for the ebbs and flow of the day you won’t get too down on yourself when you do get distracted. You can do simple things, like turn the phone off notifications, close your office door, turn off social media and focus - but will you say NO when someone offers you a coffee, or wants to have a chat? Probably not and that’s ok. 

Put Time In For Play And Fun

Working through that to-do list is not just about the work. Give your brain a rest, put the time in for play, get out for a walk, have a coffee with friends, get some different perspectives and relax. You’ll find that your work flows easier and you’ll procrastinate less when you have some scheduled (and not so scheduled) breaks. 

How Can Coworking Beat Procrastination?

When you have a separate working space – away from home, like in the case of a coworking environment, it can help in separating your personal life from the professional one. It becomes easier to focus on the work you need to get done from your hot desk or private office without the temptation of cleaning the house, Netflix or napping!

Coworking spaces are designed for workers - they have the best of both worlds; spaces to refresh, refuel and relax or meet with clients, plus spaces to put your head down and get the work done! 

In fact, a recent coworking study showed that 64% of people sharing an office with a coworker have improved on completing their tasks on time, and 68% say they are better focused.

Talk to us today about touring one of our Canberra coworking sites; JAGA Allara Street or JAGA Swanson Court and seeing what a difference JAGA can make to your worklife.