5 Tips and Techniques To Help Avoid Procrastination

We all procrastinate in some way or other | It might be work, our personal life, or both | You may have your own way of working through it |

5 Tips and Techniques To Help Avoid Procrastination

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just can’t motivate myself to do a task until I’m up against a tight deadline. Like writing Blog posts for instance!

Procrastinating is a common block when it comes to managing our time effectively and staying focused on our work, especially non-client work. The good news is there are several, proven, techniques that can help us overcome distractions and increase our sense of wellbeing as we ‘get things done’.

1 Pomodoro Technique

One effective technique is the Pomodoro Technique, which involves breaking your work into 25-minute intervals called "pomodoros" with short, 5 minute, breaks in between. This helps maintain focus and prevents burnout by allowing you to tackle tasks in manageable chunks. Even with your client appointments blocked in you can still use this technique. A client session might be 2 x 25 minute sections with a 10 minute break and maybe 25 minutes before your next session to complete any notes of paper work.

2 Eliminate or minimise distractions

Another approach is to eliminate or minimise distractions in your workspace. On those days you’ve allocated to admin you could turn off notifications on your phone or computer, close unnecessary tabs or apps, and create a dedicated workspace that is free from clutter. Even when you are working with clients, particularly if you are working online, make sure you have turned of notifications from social media and email.

3 Set clear goals and prioritise your urgent and important tasks

Setting clear goals for your day, week or month and prioritising your urgent and important tasks is also crucial in managing procrastination. By outlining what needs to be accomplished and breaking it down into smaller, actionable chunks, you can stay motivated and avoid feeling overwhelmed.

4 Use Apps and Calendars to help manage your time

Once you’ve identified your ‘chunks’ you can creating a schedule or using productivity apps to help keep you on track. Google Calendar and other calendars have Tasks and allow you to colour code different types of work. Some Apps, once you entered the activity or task you want to do, will remind you. This allows you to allocate specific time slots for different activities, ensuring that important tasks are given the attention they deserve. These can include personal as well as business-related tasks and activities.

5 Recognise your triggers which lead to procrastination

Even though, we as therapists and counsellors may help clients with their procrastination, sometimes we also need to seek help. It's important to recognise any underlying triggers for your procrastination, such as fear of failure or perfectionism. By addressing these issues you can develop ways to overcome them and increase your sense of well being.

By incorporating these techniques into your daily routine, you can effectively manage procrastination and change your self-talk in about how you manage your time and distractions. With practice and perseverance, you'll find yourself becoming more productive and achieving your goals with greater ease.

If you’d like some help you could always work through my course, Designing the Dream, which covers, among other business-related things, how you manage yourself as you grow your therapy practice. If you want more focused support get in touch to discuss how I can help.

To Your Success

P.S. Remember to connect with me on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

P.P.S. This blog has other useful tips about managing your therapy practice

Categories: self-care, self-employment