Procrastination Woes

Nowadays, there are so many easy ways to be distracted that it's sometimes hard to get our work done.  It always starts with a simple phrase like "I'll start the assignment after I finish one more level on this game/episode of this TV show/cleaning my desk."  A few minutes become an hour (or hours) and next thing you know, you're scrambling to finish because the deadline is in an hour.

This is the Procrastination Trap.

Once you get started doing something, you have the tendency to continue it. Thankfully, this concept works both ways!  Once a person starts an assignment, the person is more likely to finish it.  Of course, overcoming the hurdle of beginning the work is hard when everyone has better things to do.  But if you finish the work well in advance of the deadline think of how stress-free you will be.

Last weekend, I was guilty of procrastinating and, on Sunday, I finally looked at what was due this week and realized there were five assignments due: one on Monday, one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday and two on Thursday.  (The funny thing is I also procrastinated on them while working on the blog post on 5 Good Habits to have.)

Needless to say, I decided to start on the assignments and let me say, the method works!  I convinced myself to start by saying to myself that I will let myself take a half hour break for every half hour I put in. I took the first step, found myself finishing Monday's assignment in the first half hour and decided to start Tuesday's.  It was a lot more challenging and I worked on the first half for two hours before taking a break and heading to bed.  It's because of this that I finished all my assignments a day in advance.  When things got too hard, I would even procrastinate by working on another one.  (The best thing is that all office hours are the day before the due date so I can ask when I was having trouble!)

After Wednesday,  I started relaxing and doing whatever I wanted because I finished everything I needed to do for the week.  There is always next week's list of to-dos but a break isn't bad.  I will just start earlier and dispel any procrastination woes before they have a chance to happen. :)

So, next time you have to get something done and find yourself procrastinating, reverse your thinking and take the first step.  It is well worth it.