Procrastination will distract you from the goals you have during the day, resulting in stress and late projects. You don’t want to be the person that derails your business’s efforts to grow, so here are a couple of tips to help keep yourself on track.
Be Honest about Your Procrastination
This step is almost always difficult, because admitting you’re not focused is like admitting defeat for some. However, it’s absolutely necessary to be honest with yourself and others about how unfocused you are. It isn’t about you being a failure, it’s about being more productive. Since that’s your goal, figure out where and how you’re getting distracted. Which projects do you avoid? What do you use to distract yourself? Defining these things is a good place to start.
Keep a Time Journal
How many minutes did you last spend on Facebook? There are a few very good free programs that will track your time for you and take screenshots to see how productive you actually were. What time wasting activities take the most time?
Remember, this isn’t about judging yourself. It’s okay that you’re spending time on these other tasks. You just need to figure out what they are and what your patterns are so you can get back on task when you see these patterns happening.
Strive to Make Change
Now that you know where your problem areas are, it’s time to resolve to make a change. First, make the decision that the task at hand will be finished before you do anything else. Set a goal, and make sure it’s a goal you can meet in your current state. For example, don’t promise yourself that you’ll never let yourself get distracted again from the get-go. Instead, promise yourself that you will begin to recognize the patterns and combat them when they appear.