By: Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Sr. Associate Editor, ICN Group
(In the past article, we know about factors behind ‘Procrastination’. From today onwards, we will know about the strategies to overcome procrastination.)
Strategies to overcome procrastination
NOIDA: You have to understand in clear terms that procrastination is a choice in pursuit of always finding easy ways and your tendency to procrastinate difficult or unpleasant tasks for a later date is heavily detrimental to your progress towards achieving your goals. Following strategies may help you overcome tendency to postpone taking up the unpleasant tasks:-
- List the benefits and disadvantages of doing or not doing this particular task –Weigh the possible benefits and disadvantages of doing or not doing this particular task. Just writing on paper may relieve you from internal pressure and it will help you to properly prioritise.
- Adopt the important-urgent approach and decide the priority
- Do it first in the morning – If you have to do it yourself for any reason, give it first priority to be worked upon early morning. If the task is unpleasant or cumbersome, it will be easier to complete when you are fresh. Moreover, you will be filled with the satisfaction of doing this work in the first session of the day itself and will be mentally free for remaining part of day from the pressure of finishing this task. I strongly recommend that you read ‘Eat That Frog’ by Brian Tracy, where he highlights the importance of attending the most unpleasant task in the morning itself.
- Break it down into small pieces – Henry Ford, the founder of General Motors spent much time to examine the overwhelming task of creating an assembly line for automobile and broke it down in sequential steps. In an interview, once he stated that “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.” This virtually applies to any task, just like I used it in writing this book.
- Switch between two boring tasks – If you are working on two unpleasant or boring tasks, regularly switch between the two. This will reduce boredom in both the tasks.
- Delegate – Delegate or outsource, wherever possible. Sometimes, some tasks may seem unpleasant to you but others can do it with pleasure. At home, if you don’t like to go out to pay the bills, outsource any person or agency to do it on your behalf. Ask any person in your family, who is comfortable with internet to make online payments. If you procrastinate on payments of your regular insurance premiums, you can instruct your bank by way of issuing ECS mandate for doing the job on your behalf on a particular date. It is free.
Remember, you have to convince yourself that adopting the easy way and not coming out of comfort zone will not take you to anywhere in life. You can live a mediocre life but for achieving success of your dreams, you must have to inculcate a positive habit of attending the unpleasant tasks.
(In the next article, I will share about the strategy to overcome procrastination when the task appears so overwhelming. I believe that you are enjoying the journey towards the future of your dreams with me. If yes, please stay tuned. Happy G.O.P.T.A.)
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Creator & copyright holder of the concept G.O.P.T.A.© is an Author, Certified NLP Lifestyle Trainer, Strategic Interventionist, Corporate Trainer & Motivational Speaker ( http://bit.ly/Signature-Workshops-Sanjay-Kumar-Agarwal ) and recipient of Honorary Doctorate of Excellence (Management) by prestigious Young Scientist University, California, USA. He is Founder of ‘International GOPTA NLP Academy’ and is popularly known among his fans & followers across the globe as ‘Time and Goal Guru’.
