Your procrastination habit could be causing you stress and reducing your personal effectiveness

Do you need the pressure of a deadline to motivate you? Your procrastination habit could be causing you unwanted stress and reducing your effectiveness.

For some people, the pressure of leaving something to the last minute creates an adrenaline rush. If you are addicted to cramming then this could be a bad habit because leaving things to the last minute:

• often creates poorer quality work,
• means that you are unable to review your work and improve upon it, and
• you are unable to manage any unexpected demand on your time, which will affect the quality of your work.

If this sounds like you, then the following can help.

• Be aware of your addiction to cramming. Often by simply become aware of your procrastination habit and the stress and loss of effectiveness that result, can help to overcome procrastination.
• Ask yourself if the task important/urgent? Sometimes important tasks are left until they become urgent, and must get done. For example, staff training is important, but becomes urgent if put off and then the staff and not capable of their jobs. Proactive time management can help you to become more effective.
• Draw up a pro’s and con’s list of the task. Often a task left to the last minute is something that you want to avoid or are not interested in. By drawing up a pro’s and con’s list you can look at the task in a more objective manner.
• Divide and conquer. Break the task into smaller bite-sized pieces that are not so overwhelming. Once you have divided the tasks into smaller pieces, arrange the tasks in a logical sequence. This is quite similar to the development of an action plan for effective goal setting.
• Set a high priority for the task in your to do list. By setting a high priority, the task is more difficult to avoid and will get done in your most productive time.