The Five Strategies To Avoid Procrastination

My thirteen-year-old son is a funny kid. As he was finishing up his homework, he asked, “Do I have to brush my teeth?”

“I don’t want to brush my teeth…”

I told him that the time he used to argue about brushing his teeth or not, he could have finished brushing his teeth.

He knew it was in his best interest to brush his teeth, especially that he is wearing Invisalign. Not to mention that his father happens to be a dentist.

How often do we ask ourselves the same thing – do we really have to do it? This is such a sneaky way for procrastination to creep up on you. The answer to that question, in most cases, is no. Then why was it something you planned to do?

The kind of procrastination I am focusing on here is about delaying to do something that will move you closer to your goal. This is different from strategic procrastination where you are intentionally not doing certain tasks at the moment to give room to do other tasks – in order to move you closer to your goal. In other words, we are talking about the kind of procrastination that will hinder you from achieving your goal.

To avoid the destructive kind of procrastination, it is important for you to know what your goal is. Take me as an example. As a full-time hematologist and oncologist, my goal at work is to take good care of my patients efficiently, so that I get to spend more time with my family.

What is your goal at work?

Be careful not to have your goal as an excuse to procrastinate. Your goal may be so big and scary for your mind that it is difficult to believe that the set goal is possible to achieve. Setting a goal is not meant to be so scary that it is stopping you from moving forward. It is meant to guide you toward the direction you want to go. If a set goal is too overwhelming, break it down and set smaller goals instead. For example, if you tell a patient to lose fifty pounds, it may sound like an impossible goal. Instead, if you tell a patient to lose one to two pounds a week and do that consistently over six to eight months, it suddenly seems possible. The end goal result is the same – fifty pounds of weight loss.

The goal is a stretch from where you are now, otherwise you are not making progress. Remember your main goal and start with the smaller goals if needed.

Once you fully understand what your goals are, you can figure out what activities are helpful for you to achieve the goals and what activities are not. Delaying the tasks which will move you closer to your goals is what we want to avoid.

Set a time limit for yourself. A sense of urgency may help you focus on doing the very task you want to delay doing. For example, if you have a full schedule of patients to see in your office, and each established patient is scheduled for fifteen minutes, watch the clock and plan to finish seeing the patient, doing the orders and completing that patient’s chart within those fifteen minutes. If there is no sense of urgency, it is easy for you to subconsciously slow down. It is easy for your mind to wander and be distracted.

This brings us to the next strategy – minimize distractions. Whatever you are doing that is not moving you closer to your goal is a distraction. If you are taking out your phone and checking social media while you are typing your notes, it is a distraction. Anything that you choose to attend to other than the very thing that will move you toward your goal is a distraction.

Be proactive about minimizing distractions, such as turning your phone on silent or only checking email messages at set times. Be curious and be creative about finding ways to help you focus on doing what is important. An accountability partner may be someone who can ensure that you are keeping distractions to a minimum.

The fifth strategy is to celebrate. Remind yourself how you will feel after you complete the very thing you want to procrastinate on. Celebrate once you have finished a task. In order for me to take good care of my patients and finish my work on time, it is vital to focus on seeing one patient, completing the orders and the notes. Celebrate after you have taken care of two patients. Celebrate when you have a meaningful discussion with a patient and wrap things up earlier than you anticipated. Celebrate when you are halfway there. Use any reason to celebrate because celebrating is fun. It keeps you light-hearted. It helps you keep things simple. The energy generated by celebration is pleasant and it is easier to utilize this type of energy to go through your day.

The unintentional procrastination will delay you from achieving your goal. To avoid this type of procrastination, it is important to remember your goal. Break down your big goal into smaller goals to allow yourself to believe that it is possible to achieve them. Set a time limit or a deadline to do a certain task to create a sense of urgency. It is very important to minimize distractions – anything that steers you away from the task that will move you closer to your goal. Finally, imagine what it is like to have that task done and celebrate along the way.