![\"procrastination1\"](\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/procrastination1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/h3>\nContrary to popular belief procrastination is not the result of laziness and disorganisation, but is the result of negative thoughts that takes over your mood. Once these feelings have set in and hijacked your mood, it is extremely difficult to get yourself to work. People who are in a negative mood tend to delay doing jobs and tasks until they’re in a better mood. This is where the viscous circle starts. Because you’ve already decided that you’re in the wrong mood to work, you busy yourself with pointless tasks and distractions. Then the guilt sets in that you’re wasting time which in turn only makes your negative thoughts and mood worse, and so on.<\/p>\n The way to overcome procrastination is as simple as escaping the viscous circle of negative thoughts. You need to employ strategies to take control of your mood, one that in conducive to getting things done.<\/p>\n Remove your obstacles.<\/strong>\u00a0Before you get started on a task make sure all potential obstacles are removed. Disconnect from the internet and close off your emails for the duration of the task. If your work involves being online then consider using an App such as StayFocused<\/a> which blocks all non-work related websites for pre-determined hours in a day.<\/p>\n Start straight away<\/strong>. Often just starting is the hardest thing to do. Give yourself an exact time where you have to dive in no matter what. Once you’ve taken that first step, you mood lifts immediately avoiding the dangerous procrastination circle.<\/p>\n Make bitesize tasks.<\/strong>\u00a0If a task is huge and daunting, we often avoid starting. If you can cut it up into easily achievable tasks it is far less intimidating and easy to complete.<\/p>\n Work space.<\/strong>\u00a0Working in the right environment is probably the most important tool to avoid procrastination. Remove yourself from the distractions of children, animals, television, laundry, noise space… If you’re working from home it is vital to create a space that is dedicated to work away from family life. If you’re in the office you need to escape the distractions. Be disciplined.<\/p>\n Be Realistic.<\/strong>\u00a0Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic targets. Also allow yourself to celebrate the small wins. There is nothing better than checking something off your to-do list. But if you don’t finish everything you assigned for the day, don’t beat yourself up about it. The feeling of failure will only trigger the procrastination circle.<\/p>\n Take control of your self-talk.<\/strong>\u00a0If you spend your time thinking “I must not procrastinate, I will not procrastinate,\u201d the chances are that you will end up procrastinating. It is a self-fulfilling circle. Instead you should think about that you need to do and how great it will feel to get those things done. This way you’re concentrating on a positive action that will help break the procrastination circle.<\/p>\n Remember procrastination is rooted in your emotions. So in order to break the viscous circle yo need to take control of why you’re feeling this way and develop strategies to avoid falling in the pot-holes of procrastination. Your productivity will thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everybody suffers from dreaded procrastination, that feeling that you’d rather do anything other that what you need to do. The exact opposite of how you’d image someone who is highly productive. Those who can\u00a0effortlessly set their mind to the task in hand and get more done in an hour sitting in a train-station cafe that Continued \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[302,75],"tags":[303,174],"class_list":["post-903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-productivity","category-tips","tag-procrastination","tag-productivity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Overcoming Procrastination<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Why<\/strong>. You have to work our why your mood is stopping you from working. What is your procrastination trying to tell you? Is it something easy like you’re hungry or you need to take a break or is it something more complicated like you are dissatisfied with your job? Whatever the cause, instead of hiding from the situation via procrastination, step back and reflect to work our why you’re procrastinating.<\/p>\nTo Finish<\/h3>\n