Even if you’re busy, it can be all too easy to put off work when it’s tedious, difficult, or something you don’t enjoy. What’s your best advice for overcoming procrastination and getting your work done?
These answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs. YEC members represent nearly every industry, generate billions of dollars in revenue each year, and create tens of thousands of jobs. Learn more at Yec.co.
1. Set a Specific Time to Work
One tip I can give to avoid procrastination is to set a time to start working on any project, whatever it may be. If you make up your mind to start a challenging task at 2 am sharp, you are holding yourself accountable. You stand a better chance of actually starting it than thinking you’ll eventually get it.
– Baruch Labunsky, Rank Secure
2. Take advantage of your most productive hours
While not necessarily the best way to accomplish a task you enjoy doing, it is to set aside a time during your most productive window of the day to accomplish it. Turn off all notifications, put your phone on silent, close your email, close the door and just get it done.
– Zane Stevens, Protea Financial
3. Use the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is one of the best ways to overcome procrastination. Using this technique, you divide your work hours into 30-minute activity sessions. The first 25 minutes of the session are dedicated to working, followed by a 5-minute break as a reward. Here, the duration of an active session is so short that it technically leaves no room for slack.
– Stephanie Wells, Formidable Form
4. Tackle the Task First Thing
I believe we can beat procrastination with mindset. Sooner or later you will have to engage in that difficult task. By shutting it down, you are wasting your mental capacity because being scared also takes energy. Instead of avoiding what you don’t like, face it. I always get the hardest work done first thing in the morning. This makes the rest of the day 10x more productive.
– Solomon Timothy, OneIMS
5. Eliminate Distractions
The best way to beat procrastination is to eliminate distractions. Make sure you are in a distraction-free environment. Turn off notifications, close all unnecessary tabs, find an area that is quiet and conducive to work, and just get started. It can be easy to get caught in a mental loop of wanting to do it later, but sometimes it’s best to just focus and get started on a task.
– Andrew Munro, AffiliateWP
6. Break large tasks into smaller ones
My best advice for avoiding procrastination is to break down large, tedious tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks. For example, if you need to write a 4,000-word blog post, start by creating an outline. Then, you can tackle each section individually, which can make even the most intimidating paper more approachable.
– Kris Kristoff, MonsterInsights
Photo Credit: Unsplash 7. Keep a Running Task List
If you don’t finish a task, move it to the next day on your calendar. If you’re like most people, you get more and more annoyed that the to-do list isn’t getting completed or, worse, keeps growing. When you make these tasks highly visible and organized for yourself, you’re more likely to hold yourself accountable for completing them.
– Andy Karuza, dance dance
8. Include Cloud-Based Task Management Tools
The best way to overcome procrastination is to create a cloud-based to-do list or use a cloud-based project-tracking tool. The cloud is a must so that you always have the most updated version of your catalog on any device (phone, laptop, etc.). There are tons of apps to help with this, such as Any.do, Simplenote, Evernote, and Todo Cloud. They can help both you and your team stay on task even on the toughest of days!
– Shu Saito, Spiropure
9. Do what works for you as often as possible
You can beat procrastination by setting deadlines, creating achievable goals or tasks, breaking work into manageable chunks, keeping a purpose in mind while you work, and rewarding yourself when you reach a goal. The best advice is to find what works for you and use it as often as possible.
– Kristin Kimberly Marquette, Marquette Media, LLC