20 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Increase Productivity

Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get Things Done

“It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up – that we will begin to live each day to the fullest as if it was the only one we had.” – Elizabeth K Ross.

Procrastination is a non-regularized habit. It takes away the order of life.

It makes you feel guilty and drains your happiness. It pushes away the sweetness of success to the extreme.

Not to procrastinate is to have firm regulations in life – as being flexible and sticking to the commitments. It is your choice whether to choose the near short-term pleasurable moments or the far long-term happiness.

Procrastination arises when the mind gets lost in transient ease moments. Keeping away the procrastination seems that you are buying more immediate hard times. But in long run, it makes you feel worthy and has a meaningful life.

The habit of procrastination is inherent in everyone. It doesn’t hurt to a certain degree. When it accounts for the greater part of our deeds and starts negatively impacting our lives, we need to take action.

I was a good procrastinator in those past days. At that time, I took a year to publish my first book “Why is Kundalini Meditation So Special?” of 10,000 words.

Writing a book is not as easy as I thought. It had lots of work. Proofreading, editing, re-editing, making changes, and keeping the flow of content made me procrastinate often. However, I didn’t outsource them.

I was not a professional writer and when I began to write, got stuck without words oftentimes. I remember similar those days – how hard it was to write a long essay in the exam hall. And my laziness was only concerned with briefing it as much as possible.

Anyhow, the hope of passive income is intended for me to continue further. I realized the negative role of procrastination in my purposes. I tried to lessen its severity.

In the later work “Crack the Hidden Laws of Life” with around 20,000 words, I published it within 3 months in a similar environment with few other commitments.

Those strategies that I implemented from the books I read, other’s experiences, and learning the habits of most successful people helped me to lessen its negative impact in that work. These are the few strategies that worked for me.

1. Every Act can be an Act that Makes You Who You Are. Procrastination is the difference between what you want to and what you really are. Only the undetermined, unmotivated, and incompetent have greater values.
2. Not Procrastinate is a Habit, not a Specific Skill. For few people, the psychological issues may deceive them. The first step is to begin treating it by resolving these barriers. You are responsible for cultivating the habits that make you less procrastinate. The solution for procrastination is to assign the mind to do the ordained things even if in inconsistencies. And, routinely stick to it. The rhythm thus formed is capable of alleviating the tedious tasks in the future. You will get wired in such away. This is the way you develop a new habit that makes you less procrastinate.
3. No Progress – No Motivation – Procrastination – No Progress. Break this Cycle. The path towards success is not always straightforward. There are ups and downs. Don’t become perceptible to the setbacks that make you procrastinate. Break that cycle.
4. Motivation is a Powerful Capsule to Overcome Procrastination. Use it Effectively. Easy access to motivation is to find the little progress in your task and feeling grateful for it. Let the failures won’t demotivate you. If you lose momentum, visualize those moments you got motivated. It can help you to a certain degree.
5. Procrastination Begins with an Excuse. Identify Your Excuses. Realize, the mind often deceives you. Ask your conscience, why do you want to divert from the intended schedule?
6. Breakdown Your Goal into Smaller Sequential Manageable Tasks. Anything under Sun can be Divided into its Finest. The fear of breaking a bundle of sticks at once is a hard part. It can discourage you. The greater achievements are the result of committing to the smaller sequential tasks. Commonly, people see a person’s success in his final task, where they fail to see the rest. Certainly, there are many failures in reaching and making the final task successful.
7. Having Priorities and Deadlines in Life is Good. But don’t Feel the Commitment Only at the Last Moment. Underestimating your skills and time are the aid for procrastination. Analyze your tasks. Break it accordingly to your convenience, even for one hour – half an hour – 15 minutes. Starting early and having the same momentum in the beginning as the end put you in the line of control.
8. The Sense of Urgency Increases the Productivity. Though, it is Not Messing up Things in a Hurry. Indeed, it is an elevated state of mind by putting some constraints and alertness in work. Achieving the greater focus of mind (similar in danger) increases creativity and productivity. Having such a state of mind throughout the task, make the impossible possible. This is the common trait of highly productive people. They cultivate the need for a survival mindset in the competitive environment. Bill Gates’s success relies on making the mind susceptible to the distresses of the losing side, which creates a sense of urgency –noted in the book “The Road Ahead”. (Read also 3 Surefire Ways to Become More Productive in Your Life)
9. Focus Your Actions Towards the Goal Instead of Rewards. It is mind-pleasing to dream about the rewards. If without limitations, it will put you only in daydreaming. It is the biggest contributor to procrastination. It will end in the story of building a castle in the air.
10. Set a Realistic Time To the Tasks. Unrealistic Commitments Lowers Your Faith. Implement better time management strategies. Initially, assigning a task that is certainly hard to achieve perhaps discourages you. Set manageable tasks to accomplish in the allotted time.
11. Identify Your Time Killers. When you become conscious of spending the time, you become aware of the time you spend in between certain matters that could be easily avoided. These are the uncontrolled time that you spend with your emails, phone, and social networks. Be conscious of the time and try to avoid it while on duty. Keep a clock in your work area. It would help you.
12. Respect Your Time. Don’t Expect a Perfect Time. Tomorrow never comes. Shift your task according to favorable conditions. Instead of condemning the bad times and neglecting the responsibilities, assign different things to do. For example, in the case of the power failure, instead of blaming and waiting for it, focus on other significant things related to it.
13. Organize Your Plan.  Be Flexible with the Plan as the Task is Important than the Plan. All days are different. The future is uncertain. You have to be flexible with your plans. Learn to compensate the time spent for the other matters. Things can happen as unpredicted. Strictly stick to your organized duty as far as possible. Or else, it is easy to find the excuse to procrastinate. (Read also 8 Life Lessons from Warren Buffett to have Ultra-Wealthy Mindset)
14. Know Your Productive Times and Stick to it. Your mood, emotions, and mental state are unsteady. Yet, you feel resourceful at particular times in a day. It is better to stick to it. You can accomplish a task in an hour; you can also do it in four hours. It is because you become highly productive at certain times (neglecting the role of procrastination). And, the positive aspect is that it follows the biological rhythm of life.
15. Just Do It, When Mind Says No. Or else, in the long run, the mind finds excuses to say no to everything which invites less stressful activities thereby deteriorating your goal. Take a pause or nap when feeling tired is reasonable.
16. Keep Going, Perfection is Found on the Imperfection. Don’t expect to do the thing perfectly in every shot. The draft of the manuscript is complete crap. Often you may get stuck in life. So, delegate the tasks, analyze them, and improve your problem-solving ability. Not taking action leads to nothing. But taking actions to surprise you with the fact that how you discovered it in the middle of nonsense.
17. Act on it. Take the Necessary Steps. You Conquer the Fear of Procrastination. Procrastination is a temporary act of mind to stay away from the anxieties related to the task. Running away from the fears in return chases you. It only gets worse in time. Adapt the mind to compete with the stresses. Short-term stress is good for you.
18. Learn to Sacrifice. It is the fact that You have to Sacrifice Something to Get Something Worthy. To succeed, an athlete has to sacrifice his few leisure hours for practicing. Unwillingness to sacrifice something results in procrastination. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice everything to get the valuable – ‘enlightenment’.
19. The fear of success; the least but the most. It would be the subconscious obscure trait that might hinder you. Procrastination might be its shield.
20. You are Not Aligned with Your Passion. Everyone hates to do uninteresting things. If it contributes to you nothing, then blaming the procrastination is useless. (Read also 7 Most Effective Mind Control Technique Tips in NLP)