7 science-based ways to stop procrastination

Before we move on to seven scientifically valid ways to stop procrastination, it is important to understand several basic principles - it will help you achieve success in your endeavor.

Realize that you prokrastiniruete

It is difficult to change your habits if you do not understand that you need it. Therefore, a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, and begin with the phrase "Hello, my name is Jim, and I'm an alcoholic."

Of course, we go that far will not, but for effective change you must first be aware of their strengths and weaknesses.

Alarm bells, showing that you are a procrastinator:

• you all day doing tasks with low priority does not take over the difficult and important tasks;
• read e-mail several times, but do not answer the call and do not decide how to work with them;
• sit down to begin the important task, and five minutes later was run over a cup of coffee;
• the problem for a long time hanging in your do listEven those that you think are important;
• constantly you agree to perform simple tasks, which you are asked to colleagues, rather than to first deal with the important tasks that are already on your list;
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• waiting for "special inspiration" or "right time" to take up an important matter.

Be prepared to change your approach

This brings us to the following principle: you have to be open to change.

Recognize that you prokrastiniruete - a great first step, but it is absolutely useless, unless we begin to change their approach. Tips on how get rid of procrastinationCan be found on the Internet a great many, but do not forget to listen to yourself. If you feel overwhelmed, move towards its goal in small steps. Or do not follow all the advice from our list in a row, and select only those strategies that, in your opinion, will lead to the desired result. This may be a strategy that you have not tried before, or those which are never heard. Or heard, but constantly postponed.

Learn to enjoy the current problems

To stop procrastination, we first need to define itself, what it is.

In a nutshell, procrastination - it is procrastination, which, in theory, should focus on right now. Instead, you start to do something more enjoyable and simple.

If the reason why we put the matter lies in the fact that we do other things pleasant and comfortable, so we need to transform current challenges into a more pleasant and a fascinating experience.

Now we go into the question. As still stop procrastination?

1. Prepare the night before

This simple life hacking - plan your day - can save you from procrastination, besides the preparation takes less than five minutes.

1. Take a piece of paper and a pen.
2. Write down three things that you have done well today, and the three things that you need to deal with tomorrow (be constructive rather than pessimistic).
3. Below, write one now a finished deal, which gave the highest returns. And then record just as important is one thing for tomorrow.

2. find your one thing

one thing - a task or action that may significantly affect the final result or your target.

Studies indicate that the analytical paralysis - the allocation of disproportionate effort on the project analysis phase - the cause of procrastination number one.

But if you focus on one important task and devote an entire day working on it, then the efficiency will increase significantly.

What if you can not decide what business to you now the most important thing? This can help a simple algorithm Tim Ferris (Tim Ferriss):

1. Record 3-5 things that you do not want to perform or for which you are worried. Usually, the problem on which I want to give up, in fact, are the most important.

2. Consider each task and ask yourself:

• "If I perform the task today, I'm pleased with this afternoon?"
• "Should I do this task, even if easier to perform all the other trivial cases from the task list?"

3. Once again, look at the problem, which you answer "yes". Plan as much time as you need to do one of these tasks today. But not more than one.

If you continue to be distracted, inevitably return to the very one case - it will return to you the right mood.

3. Break

Remember, as you begin to learn something new, or run a big project. You will most likely know the feeling of gravity, which usually accompanies it.

Our brains are not naturally able to directly link the results and continuous voltage, especially if we are far from the goal. Often we are faced with internal doubts, and above all it is the fear prevents us from start.

Break into pieces the case and do one at a time.

For example, your goal - to learn a new language in 90 days, and you are even afraid to think about it. But you can break this thing to pieces: each morning to give 60 minutes of language learning and memorizing 30 commonly used words. By the end of this period, you will remember 2700 words.

According to the data RypeIt can be described as 80% of the events, which means that you will reach the initial goal with 2 900 words of any language - fluently speak.

The trick is that you need to think less and to split the case into small steps until you get rid of fear start.

4. Say "no"

New cases and challenges are constantly emerging. Perhaps the chief requires you full report or the client asks for help - the list is endless. But you should be able to say "no" those cases that do not help you move toward your goal.

To effectively manage your time, you should use a known method - Eisenhower matrix.

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an action plan for each sector:

1. Urgent and important. Do this immediately.
2. It is important, but not urgent. Decide when you will do it.
3. Urgent but not important. Delegate.
4. Non-urgent and unimportant. Leave it for later.

In order to maximize the use of most of his time, several hours per day are allocated to the business sector 2.

Work - one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.

Gretchen Rubin (Gretchen Rubin), author of the book "Project" Happiness ""

5. Take care of yourself

The main reason for procrastination - lack of motivation. And in order to increase the level of motivation, simply take care of themselves.

Sleep, healthy food and regular exercise can help you stay healthy. Unfortunately, this simple advice still remains the most difficult to achieve most of the people. According to the publication Medical Daily, lack of sleep and procrastination can become one unending cycle. Due to the development of technology and availability of entertainment, we often put off for later sleep and ultimately did not get enough sleep. This leads to a decrease in motivation and further procrastination, and so it goes again and again ...

Quick solution: during the day do the exercises at least charge - it will prepare your body to rest. And avoid any gadgets for two to three hours before bedtime, not to load down.

6. forgive yourself

Let's face it. We are all human, and we all are imperfect. Therefore, whether or not to reproach myself for procrastination?

At Carleton University study was conducted among the students who passed the exams. As a result, it was found that the ability to forgive yourself for procrastination leads to procrastination at in a similar situation in the future. This is because the connection between self-forgiveness and procrastination mediated adverse effects. Self-forgiveness helps stop procrastination as substitutes for negative emotions.

Next time, when you notice that prokrastiniruete forgive myself for it and move on.

We forgive, not for other people. We forgive to yourself to move on.

7. Just start

The television industry is very popular way to make us continue to watch the show - an unexpected twist at the end. You might remember moments like "Tomorrow you will learn what it was all over."

TV people doing this because they know that we just kills what we have started, but not finished. When we started the business - the show view, the study of language, a new project at work - the problem will not go out of my mind as long as we do not finish it. In psychology, this state is called "effect Zeigarnik".

Procrastination is reinforced before the start of the case, especially if we do not know how or where to start. However, when the task is our perception, attitude towards her changed, and at the end we can even get pleasure from things, which at first feared.

Effect Zeigarnik proves that you need to just start from anywhere, to use his own weakness (or strength) of the natural tendency to bring the follow through.

And you often prokrastiniruete? And how to deal with this condition?