As we truly get to the centre of the year, our motivation can feel like it’s taken a permanent holiday – a one-way ticket to nothingness! So, team Future Females decided to explore procrastination hacking a little and give you our top tips for beating the mid-year slump!
Let’s start at the beginning, what is procrastination? As we weren’t 100% sure, we consulted trusty Google to find out and found it’s defined as the act of intentionally delaying or postponing something. Now, let’s be honest, haven’t we all intentionally delayed or postponed something? No matter what schedule is put in place or what strategies we have to complete a task, procrastination seems to creep up on us. But why?
Perhaps it’s because people are scared of failing at the task that needs to be completed? Well, that was the answer according to the first google search result of ‘why do we procrastinate’?
Although that may be true, surely it’s not the only reason? So, we dug around and found a few more!
Perhaps, we’re simply not interested in the task?
This is a big one for a lot of us – admin? Ugh! We would rather do something that we like to do over something that we have to do or simply does not pique our interest. Let’s be honest, wouldn’t we all rather do something fun?
We are stressed to the point that we cannot focus.
Have you ever had so many things to do that you simply just don’t start or, if you do, you can’t focus? Yes? Well, you’re preaching to the choir because we’ve definitely struggled with this at least once!
Perfectionism sneaks in.
Do you know that feeling when something cannot be started or finished, because it has to be perfect? We’re all familiar with that so don’t feel ashamed to say that you have, too.
Now that we know the reasons, HOW DO WE STOP?!
Give yourself a reasonable amount of time to complete tasks.
Overwhelming to-do lists often lead to underwhelming results! Don’t overwhelm yourself with a crazy amount of work – know how much time you have and what you need to do so you can set time slots for each thing.
Use a ranking system.
If your to-do list is looking like an application to pass a new bill in court, it’s time to cut it down to basic priorities – start somewhere! Rank your tasks on a scale of 1 – 10. 10 being the most important or interesting and 1 being the least. Finish the tasks ranked the highest first and lowest last, or the other way around – whichever works best for you!
Know why you are doing what you are doing.
There has to be a reason for everything (if not, remind us why you’re doing it?)! Sometimes, when you know the reason for doing something, it’s easier to focus on that than the task itself. Focus on the outcome and what you can gain from it – whether that is a new skill, doing necessary admin, gaining knowledge, etc.
Unfortunately, the tasks that we do not like, or do not want to do, still need to be done. Get out of your head, prioritise what is important, have a to-do list and get your procrastination hacking game on. You’ve got this!