How to Crush Procrastination at Work
by Peter Murphy
Published on this site: April 19th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
The issue of overcoming procrastination at work could be more important
today than ever before. As more tasks become automated due to advances
in technology there is a general expectation, whether it is realistic
or not, that productivity should increase as well.
Everyone seems to have more work than can possibly be done in a
day and this pressure can result in feelings of being overwhelmed
which in turn leads to procrastination at work which can actually
decrease productivity if not properly managed.
Although there are hundreds of reasons why we procrastinate and
put off difficult tasks, one of the most common reasons people procrastinate
is because they are simply overwhelmed by a task which seems too
large in scope to complete.
And so, the natural response is simply to put off ever getting
started. There are four ways to effectively overcome procrastination
in this situation.
- Break your tasks down into multiple and smaller more manageable
units and then focus on each unit moving from one to the next
as each task is completed.
As you complete each unit of work the success will motivate
you to move on to the next one. With this being said, be
careful to not lose sight of the final objective. This leads
to the next tip for beating procrastination at work.
- Do each unit or task one at a time. A woman I know recently
lost her husband. She had never worked a day in her life and due
to the circumstances of her husband's death she was unable to
collect his life insurance policy.
She eventually found a job at a local nursery. She was told the
job would be pulling weeds. Although the wages were not that great,
the job certainly sounded easy enough.
You can imagine the feelings of being overwhelmed as she stood
before a great field as far as she could and was told she was
to pull all of the weeds throughout the field.
She was completely overwhelmed by what appeared to be an
impossible task. While many would have said "There
is no way I am doing this" and quit, she was determined
to succeed and told herself that she would simply begin
by doing one at a time.
This is excellent advice for beating procrastination at work.
You can manage huge work loads if you focuson one at a time.
- Set aside quiet time to work on the particular project so that
you will not be interrupted. Frequent interruptions can easily
cause us to lose focus which then takes time to get back.
For larger more complex projects it is also important to schedule
this quiet time during a period of the day when you are fresh
and thinking clearly.
For many, first thing in the morning is the best time for complex
projects that require analytical thinking or problem-solving,
while the afternoon is a better time to work on more mundane projects.
By incorporating these three techniques into your work day you
will be able to put a stop to procrastination at work caused by
large overwhelming projects.
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently
produced a very popular free report that reveals how to crush procrastination
and sustain lasting motivation. Apply now because it is available
for a limited time only
at: http://www.secretsofmotivation.com/
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