Contents
How to stop wasting time and end procrastination
Psychology
It is important to recognize what it is that usually steals our time
Wasting time when we have other things to do is common in our life. Faced with a task that becomes tedious for us, we prefer to “spend time” watching a funny video, watching Instagram or even doing housework so as not to get on with what we really have to do. Although this has always happened to us, it is in recent years that the term “procrastinate” has become popular. This word, whose literal meaning is to postpone or defer, refers to those moments in which we evade our responsibilities by doing other things.
There are many who procrastinate, surely it has happened to all of us at some time. But, like almost everything in life, this also has a remedy. This is stated by Garland Coulson, a popular lecturer who teaches about productivity, in the book “Stop wasting time” (Dome Books), in which the author develops a five-week program to put this bad habit behind once and for another.
“Trying to solve the problem of procrastinating without first understanding why you’re putting it off later is like trying to repair a leaky, leaky roof by putting a bucket on the ground to collect water when it rains,” Coulson explains in the book. Therefore, the first step we must take is find the reason why we are procrastinating people.
What type of procrastinator do you identify with?
The author identifies the five profiles of procrastinators that we can find:
1. The squeamish: They are the people who focus on everything that can go wrong and are worried that they will not be able to finish on time or do a good job. “They spend tons of energy on these imagined problems, and thus they run out of energy to finish the task,” explains the professional.
2. The perfectionist: They are people who need every project to be “perfect,” so they spend a lot of time going over and over the work in an attempt to improve it, and the consequence is that they never get “done” at anything. “This attitude can cause a single project or goal to keep them busy, while other projects and tasks of great importance are left unfinished because they are spending too much time on the first,” says Coulson.
3. The complacent: They are people who seek to help, that is why they always answer yes to everything without assessing how this will affect the planning of their work. “As they accept more and more work and personal requests from other people, they put aside their own tasks. The complacent are overloaded with the work of others simply because they are unable to say no, “says the writer.
4. The hummingbird: Hummingbirds flit from task to task like a hummingbird from flower to flower. They feel busy, but they can’t finish many long-term projects, ”says the author of the book. As a result, these people are often frustrated. They work on a lot of little things, but they can’t really handle longer jobs that involve deep concentration.
5. The sneaky procrastinator: “Most people are not going to see the sneaky procrastinator in action, because he never skips the deadlines. The only reason he’s meeting deadlines is because at the last minute he makes a Herculean effort to finish his job, ”says the expert.
What is it that steals our time?
Another factor to take into account in order to put an end to our habits of wasting time is to recognize what it is that steals our minutes. On the one hand, the cause of our procrastination can be other people, who interrupt us to ask for help or with whom we chat during our working hours. Also, another factor may be the social media and electronic devices– E-mail or text messages are often great distractions. The author speaks of “cannibal tasks”, a type of work “that eat up the time we had set aside to dedicate to other plans”, something common in projects that do not have a closing date and that we are going to extend.
Tips for learning to disconnect
Finally, the author shares some tips to learn to disconnect and, in this way, to be able to concentrate efficiently while we work or perform the tasks that we must do:
– Is better work in blocks of 30 minutes and take breaks of five.
– Do “Clean slate” between each project or task, closing all the navigation tabs or open programs. “We must take a deep breath and shift all attention to the new work,” says Coulson.
– Must take lunch breaks, and accompany them on walks, “preferably outdoors.”
– Choose hobbies that are not related to our work. “There is no use spending all day with the computer and trying to relax depending on it.”
– Allow yourself days of “low connection” in which we can limit the use of the computer.