Here is an extract from the upcoming book: Stop Procrastination Right Now! Take Back Control using the BIPSOS Productivity System in just 11 Steps
Recognizing procrastination patterns
Now I am going to show you the key practical steps to transform your procrastination into a high level of productivity. This is the promised land of milk and honey, and you will never look back! (Even if you do, I will finish with some techniques to get you back on track again).
First of all you must be able to identify your triggers in different situations. So you need to analyse some common denominators. Does your procrastination tend to occur at a particular time of day – the afternoon slump, for example? Or perhaps when you feel overwhelmed in daily life or your work; worried, feeling low or some other emotional state. It could be as simple as a particular type of task, one that seems complex, perhaps something you don’t feel good at, or just find tedious.
It is quite common, for example, to delay starting creative work in the afternoon; avoid challenging tasks with a lot riding on them; or find it difficult to get back into the groove after a meeting, particularly one which produces a lot of information to digest.
You should start a log to record when and why procrastination occurs. Add the task type (tedious or complex), the time of day, your mood (feeling overwhelmed) and environmental factors. You will probably pinpoint patterns quite quickly. If the tendency is time specific, then you should try to adjust your schedule accordingly. The most obvious thing to do in this case would be to identify your peak energy hours and begin highly-focused tasks when you can accomplish them more easily.
It should be relatively easy to spot these more obvious procrastination behaviours, which ae very common. Frequent distractions include checking emails, scrolling social media, or tidying up unnecessarily.
There is also the tendency to prioritize “busy work” over meaningful tasks. That doesn’t take much brain power does it, so it becomes the easy option. You are fooling yourself into a false sense of productivity while avoiding meaningful work.
The best answer for this is to use the Pomodoro Technique. This involves setting pre-planned 25-minute highly focused work sessions followed by 5-minute breaks. To help with this you could create a to-do list and prioritize just three significant tasks per day. That is not an excuse for completing just three 25-minute sessions a day and feeling pleased with yourself!
