We all do it sometimes. Some of us more often, some of us less. We get to work, we get a coffee, look at our personal e-mails and check the news, even though we know that we have a lot of work to do that day. If this happens too often, and these activities become a routine, it can be a real problem that may impact your work morale and your overall performance.
How should you manage time at work efficiently, do more and stop procrastinating? Try the following tips published by the LinkedIn network.
1. Why do you procrastinate?
Try to understand why you postpone work. Procrastination can be a mere symptom and the solution may lie somewhere else. Do you have too much work? Do you enjoy it? Are you afraid of failure?
2. Rewards
Reward yourself for completing your tasks. However, keep a strict rewarding discipline and come up with rewards that will really make you do your best.
3. Hang around hard-workers
There is nothing more motivating than being among people that are passionate about their work, who do it with zeal and work hard. Surrounded yourself with people whose enthusiasm will stimulate the pace of your work.
4. Remind yourself what you can lose
Keep in mind what bad things can happen if you do not manage to finish the work or if the project is not completed. Keep this “bogey” written on a visible place so that it is in front of you at all times.
5. Know how much procrastination costs you
Have a look at how long time on average you procrastinate every day and what these losses mean in money and time. Think of these numbers if you are in the mood to put off your work again.
6. Task list
Write a list of tasks every day.
7. Get your priorities straight
In order not to lose sight of your targets, you need to define the priorities that you will work hard for. To better understand these priorities, you can write them down.
8. Schedule for individual tasks
Before you start working on a task, determine how much time you can (and are willing to) spend on this particular activity, and then do your best to keep to this time.
9. Breaking tasks down into smaller steps
Divide big projects that scare you by their enormity and tediousness into smaller steps and individual little tasks that you can then overcome more easily.
10. Do not be afraid of making mistakes
People often tend to postpone big projects because they are instinctively afraid that they will not do a good job. Remember that doing nothing is the worst option of all.
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