How To Stop Being A Procrastinator At Work

For whatever reason, you’ve started becoming a procrastinator at work. Your motivation seems to have disappeared. You want to make a change for the better.

You may have things that you know have to be done, but you’re ignoring them all until the very last second.

Although your drive to get things done is lacking, you’re looking to make a change. Most likely, your boss and co-workers see that something isn’t quite right with your work performance lately.

You have accepted that you need to stop being a procrastinator at work and up your game if you’re going to shine. Your performance is what will get you the next promotion, bonus, or pay increase.

Let’s go through some tips to help you change your current path and get you on the right track.

Creating a To-Do List – The Key to Stop Being a Procrastinator at Work

If you aren’t creating a to-do list at work, you are missing out on a key component to success.

I create a to-do list every single day. Please do not consider this childish or think that you’re too good for a to-do list.

Do not think that you can keep everything you have going on in your head.

You can’t. If you can – You are not a normal person and have superhuman abilities.

The average person has so many things going on that it’s nearly impossible to remember everything you have on your plate in a single day. Even when you do not have many things on your list, you may be slacking off because you know you are capable of completing these simple tasks in a very short period of time.

You have to get into the mindset of wanting to finish everything so you can legit have free time.

You will feel so much better when your agenda is clear and there’s nothing hovering over you. You’re impacting others with your inability to get things done.

Your to-do list can be digital or on paper (although I strongly suggest utilizing pen and paper). You need your tasks spelled out somewhere and the place doesn’t matter as long as you are able to cross the list off one by one and keep it handy.

This is the one task that you must do in order to stop being a procrastinator at work. If there’s one thing you take away from this article, please take away the need to create a to-do list.

I’ve used a few different types of to-do lists. Currently, I have one hand written on a notepad on my desk. I have another digital to-do list. I have a personal to-do list that I keep in the notes section of my phone.

Your success and career advancement depend on you remembering what you are supposed to be doing each and every day. The sense of accomplishment felt when striking through an item on the list is remarkable.

Every morning, I start with a list. Some of the items from yesterday may carry over onto the list. Do the same. Write down everything you need to accomplish, even the items that aren’t due for weeks.

Adding Time Expectations on Your To-Do List

Now that you have a list of to-do items, set time expectations for yourself. Holding yourself accountable will help keep you from being that procrastinator at work once again.

Give yourself more than enough time for each task. If you believe something will take 30 minutes, give it 35 or 40 just to make sure. When you finish something early, make the decision to give yourself an additional break or proceed on to the next item on your list. More often than not, I use the free time to skim through emails and then check my phone.

Here’s an example of what your daily to-do list should look like with times:

• 9:00 – 9:15 Check all emails and respond as necessary (timing for this may vary depending on how many emails you receive in a day)
• 9:15 – 9:40 Write a specific email to accounting regarding budget
• 9:40 – 10:05 Start brainstorming presentation ideas
• 10:05 – 10:15 – Break/Breather
• 10:15 – 10:45 Meet with Marketing
• 10:45 – 11:00 Review Agenda for Afternoon Meeting
• 11:00 – 11:30 Lunch

Keeping yourself on track is important. You’re setting yourself up for success by holding yourself accountable.

There may be things you have to squeeze in. I purposely try to give myself more time than needed for most tasks. When I can sit down and concentrate on just one thing at a time, I get so much more done.

If I have a massive break in my schedule between tasks, I have a list off to the side with things I could do if I find myself with these valuable extra minutes.

Reward yourself as you scratch things off. There may be instances when you run out of time and you need to tack it on later in the day – that’s ok!

Break Up Large Projects

For larger projects, you should break them up into smaller sections so you feel some sense of accomplishment as you work your way through it.

For example, you have a PowerPoint presentation that you are working on. It’s a rather large project with multiple pages and data to be gathered. You have roughly three weeks to get it done.

You definitely do not want to wait until right before it’s due to start working on it. In addition, you know you can’t finish it all in one day and it feels overwhelming as the date draws near.

I break these types of projects up. Let’s say on today’ to-do list, I’m going to write “Presentation – Layout” with a time slot of 30 minutes. Basically, I’m only going to work on getting the PowerPoint set up, layout created, and file saved.

Tomorrow, I’ll work on Page One for 15 minutes – as the first page should not take me a long time at all. The next day, I’ll write in Page Two on my to-do list for 30 minutes, as Page Two will take me a little longer.

This will give you the excitement of scratching smaller sections off your to-do list. Plus, you aren’t waiting until the last minute to get the whole thing done and jeopardizing the quality of your presentation.

Distractions

You’ve been doing something else other than work over the past few days, weeks, or months that you’ve been a procrastinator at work.

Have you been on your phone, playing games, or shopping on your work computer?

Whatever you have been doing, make sure you’re limiting it. You need to refocus. Put your phone away while you’re completing your to-do list. Delete bookmarks that are temptations. Reward yourself with a couple of minutes on your phone after you strike through something on your list.

Actually, I suggest having these “distractions” be on your to-do list. Everyone needs a bit of time for something they enjoy! Give yourself 15, 20, 30 minutes of “me” time to do whatever the heck it is you want to do. Then get back on task.

Make sure your working area does not have distractions that cause you to constantly get off task.

TeamStage has a fantastic article on Workplace Distractions Statistics: Problems and Solutions you should check out for so many tips.

Share Your New Lack of Being a Procrastinator at Work

Let your boss or coworkers know what you’re working on. It will help keep you accountable. When you finish with that big presentation you’ve been working on a week before it was due, let them take a look at it.

If you find yourself without anything to-do, ask others if you can help with something.

Be the person in the office that gets it done for others. Take on a new project that you are passionate about.

I don’t believe anyone wants to be known as the procrastinator at work. You can flip this around and become the go-to person. Start by getting everything on your list done. The next step is to reach out to others and see what you you can help them tackle.

When you get to the level of helping others, you are now completely looked at differently.

You can start marketing yourself as the organized go-to person that everyone looks up to. This is setting yourself up for the next big promotion, increase, and/or bonus.

Final Thoughts on How to Stop Being a Procrastinator at Work

Remember to reward yourself for both large and small accomplishments.

Keeping yourself busy will help prevent you from falling back into the old habit of being a procrastinator at work.

One last suggestion for those that are still struggling… Write down what motivates you to do well at work and reference it when you are feeling down. This may be something like:

• “I want to receive a promotion”
• “I love what I do and want to keep doing it”
• “This gets me one step closer to where I want to be in a year”
• “I’m doing this for my family”
• “I want to make $20,000 more by the end of this year”

I suggest surrounding yourself with inspirational people and material. For the material, check out Rich AF by Vivian Tu. It gave me some work motivation when I didn’t even know I needed it.

Keep your eye on the target – You can succeed!