I used to be a terrible procrastinator. I would wait the night before a test or paper was due to even start it. I would put off paying bills until the last possible minute. In fact, I don’t think I sent one birthday card on time for almost eight years. But since then, I’ve learned how to be more effective and efficient, more than doubling my productivity and all of a sudden understanding what people mean when they talk about “good time management skills.”
And the formula I found has worked for many of my formerly lazy friends, regardless of their rationale for procrastination.
It all comes down to four things: incentive, scheduling, fractioning and automation.
Instead of giving yourself a pat on the back for doing a job well done when you eventually do something, set up either a negative-action incentive (like the one suggested from the folks at National Novel Writing Month where a donation check you made out to an organization you dislike is mailed out if you don’t complete a task by a certain amount of time) or a positive-response incentive (like buying that new book you wanted to get once you’ve done the task). The problem that you can come across with the incentive method is that you will start rewarding yourself for every small task. Save it for big projects that might seem daunting, like working on a presentation or cleaning out the garage.
The one positive thing that I learned from procrastination is that most tasks that seem daunting take a lot less time than one would think. In fact, most any job can be done in under 72 hours. That’s where scheduling comes in. You can give yourself your own deadlines far in advance and over a shorter period of time. This way, you’ll be able to get tasks out of the way early, and without the feeling of impending doom that comes with procrastination. Also, scheduling refers to making a written list of actionable tasks or creating a timetable that sets aside time for different tasks at preset intervals (like using a planner).
Many projects can be broken down into separate components. By turning a larger task into several smaller ones with fractioning, you will not only find yourself accomplishing more things more rapidly (and reaching more goals and benchmarks, which is a huge personal productivity booster), but you will start noticing redundant or similar tasks and grouping them, cutting down your work time even more.
The final component, automation, allows you to work at your own pace and build up a buffer. Instead of feeling pressured to do certain things at the moment that they are due (like sending emails at certain times, setting up blog posts, etc.), you can usually program in a set time for things to be delivered, leaving you time to complete them at your leisure. This step also includes things like setting up spreadsheets that automatically update with information from other files, cutting down the need to check multiple pages at once.
By using these four different strategies together and making a conscious effort to keep up with them, you’ll never need to complain about there not being enough hours in the day again!
