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17 Insane (But True) Tips to Turn your Procrastination into Productivity

Procrastination is the fine-drawn art of slowing down stuff unless you can't slow it down anymore.

By Vishnu AravindhanPublished about a year ago 12 min read
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17 Insane (But True) Tips to Turn your Procrastination into Productivity
Photo by Nubelson Fernandes on Unsplash

Hey everyone, in today's article, I'm sharing 17 tips to turn your procrastination into productivity. I hope that if you are a person who has a lot of goals but always fails to achieve them because of procrastination, this article is going to help you. 

Most of the tips mentioned in this article are based on the book called How to Turn Your Procrastination into Productivity, which I read recently on Storytel. If you want to read this book, I highly suggest you do it because it's like a 3-hour audiobook, pretty concise, but I couldn't encompass it all in this article. So if you want to know more about how to turn your procrastination into productivity, please read this book; it's an amazing nonfiction book.

Tip №1

The first thing that this book recommends is if you want to turn your procrastination into productivity, you really, really need to see the bigger picture every time. 

The thing is, when we have projects to do or tasks to complete, we just don't want to do those tasks because it's maybe boring or just not that interesting, or we just are not in the mood for it.

Think why you're doing these tasks; what is the bigger picture? So if it's a college project, the bigger picture is that you'll be getting a degree. If it's a work project, it's probably your salary or the final career goal that you have. 

So whatever the bigger picture is, think about it first, and that will help you a lot in turning your procrastination into productivity because you'll know what exactly you are working for and not just what the work is itself.

Tip №2

The next tip is to divide big tasks into small ones. 

Whatever your big goal is, write down what are the things that you need to do to reach that big goal.

Tip №3

The next tip comes in here, which is a visual map

So a visual map is basically a map that you make about the goals that you want to attain and how you're going to do that. 

So what this book suggests you guys to do is take a page and, at the center, write your big goal, whatever the big goal is; if it's a job, write about what the job is; if it's a college, that you want to get into, write the name of the college; if there's a degree that you want to complete; if there's a syllabus or a portion of your syllabus that you want to complete; if there's a competitive exam that you want to crack, whatever your final goal is, write that in the center.

After that, around that center, you can make a circle if you want to, but if you don't want to, don't. But around that, write the small tasks that you need to complete to get to that goal. 

This is going to help you visualize what are the things you need to do to create that bigger picture, and visualization is so important. 

Just thinking that you want to attain something is just not enough. You really need to be actively taking steps towards it, and this visual map thing will help you a lot in making yourself realize what exactly are the things you need to do so that you don't beat about the bush or waste your time on things that are not going to be productive.

Tip №4

The next tip to improve your productivity is to review your progress periodically. 

No matter what is the goal that you are working towards, every week, review how much you have progressed or every day, even if it's suitable for you, because that's exactly where people fail. 

We think that we are doing stuff, and actually, we end up realizing after months that all this while we were halfheartedly doing chores, and now everything is piled up, and there's really no more time left to do the stuff that you wanted to do perfectly. So you just get it done anyway, and it's always a mess.

So if you want to stop this procrastination, make sure that you review your goals periodically. 

Let's say your goal is to lose a certain amount of weight or let's say that your final goal is to publish 10 YouTube videos. Make sure that every week you see how much you've progressed, and the more you track your progress, you'll understand if you're lagging behind or if you're doing well, and that is going to help you a lot in planning the future and the other tasks that you have around your life. 

This periodically reviewing tip has helped me a lot in attaining the goals that I've set for myself, and I'm so, so grateful for this idea, and I hope that you guys will apply this too.

Tip №5

The next tip is to internalize your goals and put your goals into your subconscious mind. 

If your goal is to be a brilliant student, think that you're a brilliant student. If your goal is to be a millionaire, think that you're a millionaire. 

No matter what your goal is, make sure that you think about it a lot because your subconscious mind is going to help you towards your goal, and your subconscious mind is such a great asset. 

Your subconscious mind is extremely important in making sure that you attain your goals. So make sure that you make use of that and think positively about yourself.

Tip №6

The next step will be to prioritize stuff into Must, Should, and Want. 

Must is the thing that things that you absolutely have to do. You really need to make time for these things, and these things are important. 

The next is Should, which is mildly important things, and the next is Want, which is the things that you want to do, but they are not that important. 

For example, I want a Netflix and chill all day, but can I do that? Not really, or at least not now. But the thing is, if I do that, I'm not going to be productive at all. 

So the point is that you should prioritize whatever is the stuff that you spend your day in; you make sure that you are doing more of the Musts and Shoulds than your Wants; that is the key here.

Tip №7

The next thing you need to learn is to delay short-term gratification for your long-term goals. 

This is one of the things that successful people follow all the time, which is why you will see that millionaires and billionaires are so patient, and patience is one of the keys to success in life. 

Make sure that every week you make active choices regarding what you're doing with your life, how you're spending your time, and make sure it's not too much about what you like currently, but also about what you are going to like in your future and that's how you build the life that you've always wanted to.

Tip №8

The next tip is to avoid setting unrealistic goals. 

The things that will happen is if you set unrealistic goals, you're not going to attain them, and that's going to make you think that, "Okay, you're not good at anything," and it's going to depress you, and you'll end up not even attaining the things that you could have because you're so upset about the fact that you've not attained your impossible goal.

So make sure that you're giving yourself feasible goals, goals that you can easily reach, and make sure that you are not too hard on yourself because you are your biggest asset. 

If you are not taking care of yourself and your mental health when you are going towards your goals of being productive, it's no use, so make sure you do that.

Tip №9

The next tip is to reject perfectionism. 

There are so many people who just are waiting for the perfect time, the perfect thing, that they don't end up doing the stuff itself.

Tip №10

The next tip is going to be sort of in line with this one, and that is the right time to actually begin, but actually, there is nothing called the right time. 

The right time is sort of like an excuse that we keep giving ourselves for not being able to attain the goals that we used to have for ourselves. 

For example, we keep saying that we don't have time to do this business that we always wanted to do. We keep saying that we don't have time to read this book that we have always wanted to. We always keep saying that just there's no time to incorporate new habits and good things into our life.

But the truth is, if something is important, you are going to make time for it no matter what. 

So if you're not doing that, you're probably not prioritizing it, and if you're not prioritizing it, maybe you should think about if it's really your goal.

Make sure that you begin right now; the moment something strikes you use the five-second rule and five, four, three, two, one, and do it or try to do it. 

If it's something that you can't do within five seconds, it's cool, but at least work towards it. Don't keep thinking or delaying it just because you think that this is not the right time and some other time will be. It will never be the right time unless you think that it's the right time.

Tip №11

The next step will be to get a goal buddy. 

If someone in your life has the same goals as you or someone is there in your life who motivates you a lot, you can tell them about the goals that you have and to just keep you accountable. 

This helps a lot because there's someone else too, who knows about your goals, you know about theirs, and you just feel so positive, and your environment is everything. 

If you have someone procrastinating around you, you're probably going to procrastinate too, but if you are in touch with someone who is productive, who's working very hard, that's going to come into you as well, and take that energy because that is so precious.

So make sure that when you're working, you remove distractions that you have. Now distractions can mean electronic objects, but if you work with electronic devices, maybe that's not a good idea. 

In that case, you can block off the Internet or apps that are going to distract you, and there are other types of distractions too. 

For example, I have pets; sometimes, my pets do distract me because I really need to get work done.

So when I work, I usually keep my door closed because that keeps them away if I don't see them, I don't want to cuddle with them, and that helps a lot. 

Now those of you who have pets can relate; those of you who don't, you can't probably. 

But I'm pretty sure that the phone is not the only distraction in your life. Identify your distractions and remove them when you are working so that you are at your productive best.

Tip №12

The next will be this matrix that I want you guys to learn about, and I'm going to explain it a little bit. So this is Stephen Covey's time management matrix, where you can divide the tasks that you have to do into four quadrants.

  • Quadrant one is for the things that are important and urgent. Do them as soon as you can.
  • The second quadrant is the important things that you need to do, but not the urgent ones.
  • The third is the things that are urgent but not that important.
  • The fourth is the not-important and not even urgent tasks.

This is going to help you so much in achieving your long-term goals because now you know what is the time to do which task, and yeah, I hope that this helps.

Tip №13

The next will be David Allen's two-minute rule. By the way, this book is also available on Storytel, so if you want to, you can read it. 

The two-minute rule basically says that if there's something that you have to do that takes less than two minutes, do it right now. Don't delay it any further; do it right now.

Tip №14

The next tip is to develop keystone habits that are going to hold together all the other habits of your life. 

There are so many habits that you need to incorporate in your life so that you are at your productive best, and you might think that "Okay, you can't do this right now," but everything happens slowly; try to incorporate habits that are going to turn your procrastination into productivity.

Now, this can look like very different things to very different people. Some say that meditation helps them. Some say exercising helps them. Some say that good food helps them (healthy foods). 

Now it totally depends on you, but make sure you have some keystone habits that you stick to in your life so that you can be at your productive best.

Tip №15

Avoid multitasking; it actually slows down your time because you are going to end up taking even more time in all the tasks that you're doing than you originally would have if you focused on only one. 

Now, it kind of differs from person to person. I can multitask usually, but only when something doesn't need my complete focus. 

So if I'm doing some random chore, I can listen to an audiobook while doing that or listen to a song while doing that. But if I'm doing like studying or stuff, I can't do something alongside that. 

So yeah, it really depends. Multitasking looks different for different people, so make sure you know what works for you.

Tip №16

The next tip will be to make time to read. 

Make sure that you read a lot. Reading develops your mind, increases patience, and it is going to help you with productivity. 

Also, good music is something that can help you turn any task from boring to extremely interesting. 

Sometimes I use certain music for certain tasks. So if it's yoga or something, I like beat music. If I'm studying, I like music that doesn't have any lyrics. 

It really depends from person to person, but I hope that it's going to help you because music is so amazing.

Tip №17

Lastly, make sure that you make use of power naps

Don't exhaust yourself. Power naps are so helpful. I have like two naps in a day, and after every nap, I feel very rejuvenated. 

So make sure that you don't overdo yourself. Do things at your pace, and you'll be fine.

Conclusion

Procrastination is the biggest enemy of productivity. There are so many dreams that are not attained just because of this one very, very pathetic habit. But I know that after reading this article, you're going to be working towards it.

Thanks for Reading!

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