Procrastination, the action of delaying or postponing something, is an age-old habit.
Legendary poet Kabeer has written a famous ‘doha’ on it in as early as 15 th century.
However, in today’s hectic life which is rife with distractions (such as our phones and social
media), it is an ever increasing phenomenon. Students often find themselves delaying
studies and then rushing last minute to manage. Same is true for many adults. This not only
hinders a healthy learning process but impairs work productivity and quality of work too. In
this article, we discuss some strategies to avoid/manage procrastination better.
1. Break work into smaller, more manageable tasks. Often when faced with a big
workload, we tend to push things off for later. For eg. If you plan to prepare an
elaborate meal but find it daunting to start, you could begin by cutting it down into
smaller parts like chopping of vegetables, buying ingredients beforehand, preparing
part of the recipe in advance etc.
2. Set realistic goals: often when we are unable to complete tasks on time, it
discourages us from taking up further work or starting a new task. Setting deadlines
that are realistic fosters a sense of accomplishment and improves productivity.
Deadlines can help you prioritize your tasks, plan your time, and monitor your
progress. Your goals should also be specific and measurable. Instead of saying I want
to study biology tomorrow, plan that you will study chapter 10 of biology tomorrow
between 10 am to 1 pm. That makes the goal more readily achievable and your
progress easy to track.
3. Reward yourself for progress: completing tasks becomes more enjoyable if we
reward ourselves at the end of it. Rewards could be a favourite snack, some
downtime doing your favourite things like reading, stepping out with friends etc.
4. Don’t wait for motivation! People often wait for motivation to kick in before starting
any activity. But you need to turn things around- often action precedes motivation. If
you want to start exercising but find yourself unmotivated, start by maybe just
wearing your sports shoes today. You might find that the act of simply wearing the
shoes can lead to at least taking a small walk or a jog. You can build up on this by
increasing the time or intensity of exercise gradually.
5. Make tasks more enjoyable for e.g., you could listen to your favourite music while
doing the task, shift your work desk outdoor if possible.
6. Put your phone away! Phones are the biggest source of distraction for people across
all age groups. Make sure you put your phone away in another room or put it on
silent. Notifications are a constant disruption. Also, we often end up spending way
more time on social media than we intend to. So, if you plan to start any activity,
make sure you keep your phone away to avoid inadvertent use.
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