Top 5 Productivity Hacks for Procrastinators (avoid distractions to get things done)

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In every person’s life, no one is immune to falling victim to procrastination. Everyone puts things off from time to time. So there is always room to increase our productivity once we know how to deal with our tendencies to procrastinate properly.

How to Stop Procrastinating

There are a lot of procrastination solutions, actually. To help you overcome procrastination and become more productive, here are the top five productivity hacks for procrastinators.

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Name It

The first thing that you need to do is notice that you are procrastinating and acknowledge it. It is essential that you do this without judging yourself and without getting overly stressed that you don’t have enough time. The next time you notice you’re procrastinating, just say to yourself “procrastinating,” or “moving on.” This allows you to acknowledge your procrastination so you can move on and stay focused.

Figure Out Where Your Time Goes

When we’re procrastinating, we all use different props to fill our time. To improve your productivity, you’ll need to identify what these are for you. Digital distractions are extremely powerful procrastination temptations that we need to try to resist consciously. To figure out where your time goes, start to write down exactly where your time goes. This would be one of those ways that is really important — time management.

 

Make Time Your Best Friend

Most procrastinators frequently fool themselves when it comes to the passage of time. You might often get to the end of the day and not understand where the day went. If this is something that happens to you, then you need to shift your relationship with time. You’ll need to become aware of how long each task takes you, rather than making a guess.

 

Improve Your Time Estimates

Often, as a procrastinator, you may tend to estimate how long a task will take without factoring in any time for your procrastination. This causes you to take much longer than expected to finish a task. If you know that you tend to procrastinate, factor this into your estimation, so you’re not always falling behind.

 

Meet More Deadlines

Often, the only time we manage to get around to focusing properly on your tasks is when you have a looming deadline. So, if you want to improve your focus and increase your productivity, you might want to start giving yourself more deadlines. The best way to do this is to get in the habit of promising to deliver certain things or goals by a specific time/date.

Even self-professed procrastinators can improve their productivity. With these five productivity hacks, you can start to decrease the amount of time you spend procrastinating and get more done.

 

How to avoid distractions to get things done

Increasing your productivity doesn’t take a magic wand or require you to get an advanced degree in statistics. We get easily distracted even if we wanted to getting things done. If you are struggling with a lack of productivity, you need to take a closer look at your daily habits. Being unproductive is nobody’s fault but your own. Here are some of the top tips to stop procrastinating that are proven helpful as you take actions in your personal life. You can incorporate these tips into your daily life to minimize distractions and get more done. And with that, you’ll know how to combat procrastination and eliminate distractions.

 

Tip #1: Learn to Anticipate Yourself

One thing, when it comes to productivity, you are your own worst enemy. According to a study by the University of California Irvine, office workers are only able to focus on a task for an average of three minutes and five seconds before they become, well, about to be distracted. Surprisingly, 44 percent of those distractions are internal. The good news is that internal disturbances are the only kind that you can control. Learn to know your patterns and plan for these distractions.

 

Tip #2: Send Out Busy Signals

I know, you need to give yourself a break or two. Maybe five minutes will suffice, but more than half of your distractions are external distractions. That comes in the form of email, people, phone calls, and chatter from other offices. There are many important tasks to do, but we always find time to get our phones and happily oblige to put on updates on our social media accounts. If you want to stop these external distractions before they start, you have to give out the right signals. If you utilize instant messenger, set yourself too busy and wear headphones, even if you aren’t listening to music. Providing subtle queues may seem passive aggressive. But thinking about doing this will also save you from annoying distractions.

 

Tip #3: Make Technology Work for You

At times, technology may seem like an enemy, but technology can be your anti-distraction buddy. Turn off your email alerts, create an auto-response to text messages, and set your phone to go to voicemail. Block out chunks of time on your calendar as “busy.” Unless you are dealing with life and death situations at work, your coworkers will be able to manage without you for a few hours.

 

Tip #4: Learn to Say No

If you are already overloaded with work and you feel like you never get anything accomplished, then you need to learn to say no to new requests and projects. You can nicely let people know that you would love to help, but your plate is currently full.

 

Know these distractions and put a stop to procrastination

If you are starting to have more and more unproductive days, it’s time for you to determine your distractions and put a stop to them. By being proactive, silencing technology, and learning to say no, you will find that you will start to become more productive and that will absolutely lead your way to a successful mission of stopping procrastination.