The practice of procrastination has been shown to cause chronic stress. How to get motivated to stop procrastination? In the end, procrastinators have to deal with the negative ramifications of not finishing their work on time.

Procrastination Elimination – Part 2

How to Get Motivated to Stop Procrastination?

When a procrastinator finally does start working on what they should’ve been working on all along, they carry the added pressure of having to produce quality work, even though the time to complete the task has been depleted by their procrastination.

In this article, we’re going to discuss the different avenues you can take towards motivating yourself to tackle and complete tasks on time – or even early.

Time Yourself – This method of timing yourself when accomplishing tasks has become quite popular recently. It is effective because it’s easy to implement and it helps people stay on track to complete their tasks efficiently.

Timing tasks explained

When there is something you need to accomplish, time yourself – usually 20 to 30 minutes is ideal. During that 20 to 30 minutes, focus on working consistently without paying attention to anything else.

Once the 20 to 30 minutes of continuous work are up, take a five to ten-minute break. After your break, continue working on your task for another 20 to 30 minutes. Over a short amount of time, the task will be completed and you can either move onto the next thing or spend the rest of the time relaxing.

You may determine that 30 minutes is too short of a duration. You can certainly customize it to fit your requirements. If you want, skip your break and then set your timer to work for another 20 to 30 minutes.

Reward Yourself – One of the things that really motivate people well is being rewarded upon completion of a task. Of course, the reward doesn’t have to be expensive. Keep it simple and keep it to something you know you’ll enjoy. Make it meaningful and you’ll truly feel rewarded for avoiding procrastination. Over time, you’ll be able to compile a group of rewards that you know will really motivate you to complete time-consuming and difficult tasks.

Set Punishments – If there is a reward for not procrastinating, logically there should be a punishment for succumbing to procrastination.

Some examples of punishment include:

– No watching TV for the rest of the day

– Avoid Facebook for at least 24 hours

– Donate $25 to a politician you dislike

The goal of implementing these punishments is to get you to you’re your work seriously. Continue to focus on your work, be diligent about it, and you never have to endure your own punishment.

Involve Other People – When you have something that you need to accomplish and you want someone to hold you accountable, tell someone what you’re doing and ask them to check in on you. Choose a person who will be willing to keep track of your progress and will not be afraid to call you out when you miss your deadlines.

Once you have someone in your corner to support you, take their words seriously. Overcoming procrastination is a tough thing and it is imperative to have someone standing behind you in this effort.

Change Your Beliefs and Values About Time – Procrastination directly affects your relationship to time. A good analogy is to think about time as if it were cash. If you waste it on frivolous things, it will be gone quickly and won’t be replenished.

Obviously, you cannot go back and try to recoup all of the hours you wasted in the past on activities that just don’t matter. What you can do is start moving forward with a new attitude about the value of time so that you steward it well in the future. If you find yourself spending a lot of time on unimportant activities, here is your opportunity to make the conscious choice to avoid these activities moving forward.

Regard your time as a limited resource that needs to be stewarded well. We have already discussed what happens when a person misses a deadline or has to scramble at the last minute to get something done. It causes undue stress, frustration, and anger.

Assert Your Right to Use Time Wisely – When dealing with invitations from friends, family, and coworkers, it’s hard to say no. There’s nothing wrong with regular socializing, but when it interferes with your schedule and delays your work, something has to change.

Learn to say “no” to irrelevant invitations. That way you can devote your time to more relevant obligations. Undoubtedly you will get some pushback from people in your circle, however, it’s important that you fully explain why you’re declining their invitation. Be honest about your reasons. People who know you and care about you will understand the reason for your decision.

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If you still run up against push-back or negative response to your invitation decline, cast it off. People who give you a hard time about your decision to procrastinate less are not concerned about you and your success, and frankly, don’t deserve your time.