Obstacles That Hinder Your Ability to Manage Time Better and How to Control Them
Why do you procrastinate?
- Maybe you have something that you do not want to do.
- Maybe you believe that you have plenty of time to complete the task, so you think, “What’s the rush?”
The problem with procrastination
- You may not complete the task on time.
- You may complete the task poorly at the last minute.
- You may become more anxious and stressed out.
Occasionally, I still struggle with procrastination. Sometimes, when I have a deadline, I try to justify my procrastination by telling myself that if I “cut it close,” the time pressure will make me more focused and efficient. Sometimes that tactic works. But here is the problem: What if you end up with multiple tasks that are due on the same day?
How do you beat procrastination?
- Remember, you do not have to complete the entire task at one sitting.
- If you feel as if the task is overwhelming, you can tell yourself that you are going to work on it today for only 15 minutes.
And here is the important point on how to beat procrastination:
- On the same day that you receive a task, you need to complete at least one specific step towards finishing it.
- The next day, you need to complete one more step.
- But be aware of false preparation: You feel so good about starting that you get a false sense that you don’t need much more time to finish the task.
If you procrastinate because of writer’s block, don’t allow yourself to get bogged down by seeking perfection from the start. If you are writing something and face writer’s block, you need to remember the Flowers Paradigm created by Dr. Betty S. Flowers, an English professor at the University of Texas. She said that there are four stages in the writing process. 1. The madman—generates ideas. 2. The architect—generates structure. 3. The carpenter—starts writing content without editing. 4. The judge—edits and re-writes looking for ways to improve the draft. Don’t allow the judge to become involved until after the madman, architect, and carpenter have completed their work. Otherwise, you will block your ability to generate ideas.