Handling Procrastination At Work

When you have work piled up for the day do you have a habit of telling yourself that you will do a particular task later but instead you keep delaying it further? If this is the case then it means you practice procrastination, which is the act of delaying something. It is a common occurence and almost everyone does it at some point but when it becomes a habit it can act as a reason that creates stress. Procrastination hampers creativity and can negatively impact mental health. Here are ways through which you can handle procrastination and improve productivity at work.

• Break down tasks
  One of the major reasons why people procrastinate at work is because when given a major task, a person can feel that since it is time-consuming and would require a lot of effort, it needs to be done later. Sometimes the motivation and feeling state associated with the task can prevent a person from engaging with it. Breaking the task into smaller sub-tasks and focusing on one task at a time can be helpful in such a situation.
• Remove distractions from the environment Distractions at work like phones, conversationswith colleagues, notification poppers on screens, can create hindrance in thequality of time being devoted to working. Distractions break the flow of concentration and take away from the ability to focus. Minimizing these distractions in thework environment and fixing deadlines that are somewhat flexible and take into account contingencies that can arise can help improve the quality of work and timely completion of the same.
• Prioritize tasks 
  When you are given a set of tasks and you must complete them in a stipulated time frame, you must prioritize these tasks based on several factors like deadlines, the amount of time taken to complete the task, and the complexity of the task. Once you have a tentative schedule in place it allows you to direct your attention to the task that is scheduled and not feel overwhelmed with trying to determine where to start and how to go about things.
• Avoid Multitasking 
  When you have a lot to do and you try to do everything at once it leaves you tired and unproductive. A better way to deal with this is first by preparing a plan for your day and second is to aim at doing your best at one thing at a time. Learn to say no when you have too much work already. Otherwise, you will spend a great amount of energy thinking of ways to get the work completed. This will in turn leave you behind in other tasks. There are times when you have too much to do, and the time is less. In such cases, it is best to delegate tasks. For the same, choose the right person to do the task and explain to them why you are delegating the task to them. Provide them with the right instructions and appreciate them for their efforts.
• Reward small achievements 
  Inculcate the practice of rewarding yourself whenever you have achieved an important target or a goal. This will give you something to look forward to every time you attain your goal. This way performing work-related tasks would not feel monotonous and less interesting, which are some of the main reasons why we procrastinate. Rewarding oneself for small achievements acts as a motivator and boosts performance. These small rewards lead to a realization that you are making efforts in the right direction. It elicits positive emotions and a sense of satisfaction.

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