In a world dominated by social media, emails and incessant phone notifications, it can be difficult to concentrate on the task in hand.
To help tackle the problem (which, let’s face it, most of us experience on a weekly basis), Redditors have shared their top tips for dealing with chronic procrastination.
Here’s hoping you’re not reading this instead of doing work...
”Something that I’ve always kept in the back of my head was to finish whatever is at your feet right now, and then start working your way outward from the hole.
“Get done whatever is important right now and then you’ll be in the groove of things to get more stuff finished. The hardest part about doing stuff in general is literally getting started... once you get going, you’ll remember how easy it was to just do it.
“And when you finally get back on track, stay on top of it. You know you can do it, it’s just the matter of actually DOING IT. Your comfort zone is an awesome place, but just remember that nothing will ever get done there.”
“One big tip I’ve realised over the years is to just tell yourself you’re going to focus for 10 minutes. Get in as much work as you can, uninterrupted, for 10 minutes. If you feel like stopping then, great. Take a half hour, go for a walk, run to the store, watch a few videos or play a game. But more often than not you will be part way through something after 10 minutes of focus and you will want to continue.
“You have to be willing to stop at 10 minutes if you are getting distracted. The goal here is to get you started working.”
“I always try to think about the future when trying to get out of procrastination or how much time I’ve wasted and what I could’ve already done with that time wasted and where I’d be now if I hadn’t procrastinated.”
“Adjust your thoughts and emotions: 1. Stop punishing yourself for procrastinating. 2. Tackle your most important task for 15 minutes. 3. Give yourself a pep talk for motivation. 4. Aim for done over perfect. 5. Promise yourself you’ll get a reward when it’s done.