Procrastination is common no matter what age group. Kids procrastinate doing assignments, teenagers procrastinating chores, and adults procrastinate work. 

There are many different situations people procrastinate in, and to different extents. Procrastination can lead to serious consequences, whether it be in social situations, in work, mental health, etc. 

However, there are various ways to stop procrastinating and fulfill your tasks:

1. Schedule, make goals, use time-management platforms

Scheduling your tasks in different ways, such as mentally being cautious, making to-do lists, project planning help keep in track tasks that need to be completed.

Setting specific deadlines for work or levels within work also helps. Pushing yourself to complete a certain amount of work within a given time and slowly finishing the entire task with mini-deadlines, or even big ones, may increase motivation to complete tasks on time. 

Additionally, there are different task and time management apps that help, like Trello and Toggl, or the Reminders app on the iPhone.  

2. Promise yourself a reward

Most people tend to work better when they have an incentive at the end of their task. It’s like when a child works hard for their test in return for some sort of gift from their parents, such as a gold star, chocolate, a trip to the park, etc. 

The same applies to adults, for example, with a job promotion, people usually tend to gift themselves a new phone, a vacation, etc, for their hard work. 

Within your means, set a reward for yourself after you complete your tasks, whether it’s a few hours of Netflix, a slice of cake, or a new set of earphones. This will definitely help push you to work harder, as once you’ve completed your task, you can “claim” your reward. 

3. Have someone hold you accountable

Whether its your mom, your friend, your teacher, there are always people in life that will somehow let you know if you’re heading in the wrong direction, in their opinion. 

In this situation, once you are aware of your procrastination, you can ask a loved one to help you out by keeping you in check. Whether it’s bugging you, or frequently checking up on how much work is completed, your close ones can help remind you that you have tasks to complete. 

Peer pressure works! This is why people form online study groups, to hold each other accountable. 

4. Lessen distractions

The most common reason as to why people procrastinate is due to surroundings that tempt them into abandoning their task at hand. 

Whether it be Netflix, someone’s company, social media, or reading, many people are often distracted by something or the other that ends up keeping their task at hand to the last minute. 

Once you identify your distractions, minimize them. Turn your phone off, log out of Netflix, isolate yourself from other people while working. Make sure you are as far away from your distractions as possible!

5. Understand yourself and what works for you 

A lot of people fail to realize that completing tasks is not a one-size-fits-all step, and that catering it around to your individual personality and preferences may help the best, rather than what generally works for most people.

For example, if most people work better at a library or a coffee shop, but you work better at home, then there’s no harm sticking to that. If you are a morning person that is more productive in the morning, then try to schedule your task hours in the morning rather than other times of the day.

Work out and understand what fits you as an individual the most in terms of productivity and complete your tasks accordingly, allowing less procrastination and more efficiency. 

There you have it. Different ways at making sure you're the most effecient you can be, with no longer the cycle of procrastination!

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Source: Mindtools