How to Stop Procrastinating?

The ironic thing about this is… Even I, the writer of this article, have been procrastinating for a while from typing this out. But hey, we all need to learn from someone who procrastinates well and how they managed to get themselves out that gutter, right? Whilst I used my time wisely, (mainly to research how to not procrastinate; from listening to ASMR on Instagram and scrolling through fashion trend on Pinterest) I’ve come up with 4 very easy ways to remember, for when you want to procrastinate from writing up that essay or even applying for jobs, to motivate you on doing what you really should be doing.

• Look at the bigger picture.

“I’ll do it in a minute, I still have time.” Ah the oh-so famous line on how to make yourself stressed at the very last minute. We all tend to seek pleasure over discipline, that’s what we tell ourselves as we decide to watch another movie trailer on YouTube. What we must do is to think of what would be the outcome of finishing this task early? Are we motivated to create more from what we just learned?The bigger picture may seem so small at the beginning, but starting off and creating a rhythm helps build our soft skills and thought-process.

• It’ll always get better.

We often do feel a bit overwhelmed to start something new, therefore leading to procrastinating for hours to even years. What you must tell yourself is “I wanted to do this for a reason” you must always take that step towards your future, if you don’t do it today the you tomorrow won’t. At the end of the day, we all learn from our failures, so if it means you don’t score the goal for the team in the first half, you might end up scoring 5 in the next half, luck will always be by your side.

• Don’t be afraid.

We all get stuck-in-the-rut from time to time, it’s quite a natural thing to bring yourself down, but what you must always remember is that it is you against the world. If you cant prove to yourself that you’re good enough there’s no way in faking it to the world. Being afraid to start something new, or even being a perfectionist and thinking what you’re doing isn’t to the standard is quite daunting to overcome, but when you’re able to stand up to yourself and strive to greatness you know it’ll become a regular thing.

• Giving yourself a workable deadline. 

It would be easier for you to break down the task at hand into manageable timeframes. This way you’re more focused on one task at a time, breaking it down helps mentally achieve the end goal a lot faster as you go through your list and tick things off. Rewarding yourself after you completed a target is an idea also; a bar of chocolate or maybe 10 minutes scrolling through Instagram, just be smart about how you use your time. 

There are plenty more tricks and tips scattered across the internet, you’ll probably make a mood-board on how to not procrastinate whilst procrastinating, don’t get me wrong we’ve all done it. It’s just when something seems so daunting we find a way out, but just try to remember these 4 easy steps to help you achieve that goal you’ve set yourself to become a better you for you.