How to Overcome Procrastination
Have you ever experienced a lack of concentration and found yourself making a thousand excuses before starting to work on important tasks? Instead, you end up multitasking, checking emails, messages on your phone, and doing other things, while leaving the important work pending. Well, this is probably my main personal challenge, and since I started working on improving it, I want to share what has helped me to shift away from this pattern.
What can I do to be more productive and get important tasks done?
First:
Identify the priority tasks for the day and the secondary ones. Start by working on the top priorities and most important tasks before moving on to the secondary ones. If you finish them and have time left, you can work on the rest, but the main tasks should be completed first.
Second:
Don’t overload yourself with a long list of important tasks for the day. Be realistic and understand that you won’t be able to accomplish everything within the available time. Set a maximum of 2-3 tasks, and if you find that you can accomplish them faster by focusing more, you can add more in the future.
Third:
Unless absolutely necessary to have for the chosen task, put your phone aside! Constantly checking for messages or social media posts generates dopamine, which gradually decreases your concentration, making you crave constant dopamine input in your brain. It becomes addictive. The less you seek dopamine rushes, the less you will need them.
I once heard this explanation, and it made a lot of sense:
Imagine that your dopamine level is like the water level in a swimming pool. When you scroll through social media, it creates a tsunami, i.e. a peak wave of dopamine, however after the water level starts to drop. Over time, your baseline dopamine level decreases. On the other hand, if you experience fewer dopamine peaks throughout the day, such as achieving your goals, eating healthy, etc., it’s like having constant but smaller waves in your pool, and your dopamine levels will remain stable. In the long run, you will notice a significant difference.
We also experience dopamine surges through food. If you eat a donut, it’s like a tsunami, but if you have a plate of vegetables with a nice piece of meat that you enjoy without causing anxiety, it’s a small wave that won’t drain your dopamine levels. Therefore, keep your phone in another room, preferably in airplane mode, or limit your calls to avoid distractions.
Fourth:
Clean your workspace. Organizing your thoughts is important, but so is having a tidy workspace. If your desk is cluttered with disorganized papers, your mind won’t be able to organize itself because every time you see external chaos, it creates internal chaos. Before starting to work, organize your desk and discard any unnecessary papers. You can use a file organizer for urgent items you need to look at and file away those you don’t currently need for work. However be mindful to not use tidying as another way to avoid the important work!
Fifth:
Just as you keep your phone away, you should also avoid other distractions, such as constant email notifications or interruptions from your family for trivial matters. Let them know it’s a work period and ask not to disturb you unless absolutely necessary.
Sixth:
Create a goal calendar for weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual objectives to keep track of your progress and ensure that you’re accomplishing your goals. Otherwise, you might confuse secondary objectives with primary ones and end up not getting anywhere.
Seventh:
Adopt healthy habits that enhance mood and focus. Expose yourself to the light of dawn, meditate before starting the day, spend time in nature, and exercise if possible in the morning. This will keep your brain active and healthy, enabling you to process information at 100% and make the most of everything you do. Also, maintaining healthy lifestyle habits such as an anti-inflammatory diet is essential.
Eighth:
Identify your peak productivity hours; they’re not the same for everyone! So, listen to your body, observe when it’s easier for you to concentrate, and organize your day based on the times when you can make the most of your brainpower!