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Keep reading to learn how to avoid this and stop procrastinating and start focusing!
We’ve all had those days when we just can’t seem to motivate ourselves to get work done. We know we need to get it done, but for some reason, we just keep finding reasons to procrastinate. If we’re lucky, we’ll squeeze things in by the deadline. If we’re not so lucky, our procrastination may begin to have a detrimental effect on our lives. Here are some simple tips to help your procrastination problem.
Once you know what the problem is, it is easier to find a solution. Maybe you can’t focus with the television on. Maybe your kids won’t leave you alone in your home office long enough to accomplish anything.
If the television is distracting, turn it off or go to a place in the house where you can’t hear it. If you can’t work without your kids interrupting you, find a way to have some kid-free work time. This can be tricky for stay-at-home moms, but it is not impossible and doesn’t have to be expensive. Coordinate playdates with other moms, get a big chunk of work done while your kids take a nap, ask your spouse for a kid-free afternoon to go work at Starbucks. Be creative!
Want to know a productivity-boosting secret? Turn off your cell phone while you’re working (or at least turn it on silent). How many times have you complained that you “don’t have enough time” or that you “have so much to do” but you somehow spend two hours on Instagram that day? Cell phones are a huge distraction! I get it- your life is on our phones. But when it comes to preventing distractions and getting your work done, you have to step up and do what needs to be done.
We all have different distractions so there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. What it comes down to is taking responsibility for yourself and pulling yourself away from those things that distract you from focusing on your work.
Now that you have your distractions out of the way, it’s time to focus and get down to business. Maintaining focus is vital to getting stuff done. When you are focused you make fewer mistakes and waste less time. This leads to getting more done in less time. Who wouldn’t love that?
What are you working towards? Knowing where you are headed is a key piece in staying focused. Maybe it’s a short-term goal like writing five blog posts by the end of the week. Or maybe it’s a more long-term goal like growing your side hustle to replace your current 9-5 income. Whatever it is you’re working toward, keep that in the front of your mind.
When possible, always try to work during the times of the day that you have the most energy. If you are a night owl, schedule your biggest chunk of work at night (maybe even after the kids go to bed). If you try to work when your body’s energy levels are low you will not be productive and end up wasting your time and energy.
Organizing your day will go a long way in keeping you focused. If you do not have any structure to your day, you will end up aimlessly bouncing around your tasks. Instead of saying you will work from 9-3, break your day down into smaller chunks or time blocks with breaks. For example, schedule 9-10:30 to work on creating content, take a break from 10:30-11:00, schedule 11:00-12:30 to work on social media engagement, take a lunch break from 12:30-1:30, and so on. Your brain needs breaks and thrives when there is structure and order to your workday.
Schedule only one thing to work on during each time block throughout your day. Having a specific plan for your blocks of work time will help you start focusing and be more productive. Knowing how long a specific task takes you is crucial in planning out your time. Most people underestimate how long a task will take and tend to not schedule out enough time. Keep detailed notes of how long it takes you to complete a task once you are focused on it.
Our brains are wonderful and powerful things. Use these techniques to retrain your brain so you can harness its power to stop procrastinating and start focusing!
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