Postponing tasks you have to do may be really dangerous for your career or your school marks. "Procrastination is like a credit card: it's a lot of fun until you get the bill” said Christopher Parker, an English actor and a TV presenter. There are some techniques that help me to fight with my built-in laziness.
Distraction free mode
Several editors have a distraction free-mode. It goes full screen, hides all sidebars and toolbars and allows you to focus on the text (or even code!) you have to write. When I have to work, I also turn off my phone notifications and try to block some websites using Block site google chrome add-on (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/block-site/eiimnmioipafcokbfikbljfdeojpcgbh?hl=en)
It might be helpful to block websites that are your productivity killers, like Facebook, reddit or Hacker News. When it comes to Hacker News, a website with links to programming & hacking news, people behind it seem to know procrastination really well, they implemented some anti-procrastination mechanism that lets you block a website for some time to focus on your productivity:
To-do lists
To get my job fully done I have to write it down. Previously I’ve used Google Tasks or some other to-do lists in the cloud. However, after some time I realised that I love to play with features of these apps and it’s a great way (for me) to waste my time configuring integrations, installing mobile apps etc. Then I decided to write down everything but on paper. And I have to tell you that it works - analog to-do lists are really good.
Calendar
After I realised that millionaires don’t use to-do lists (http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2015/07/10/to-do-lists-time-management/) I decided to try to organise my tasks with a calendar. But living with a calendar and being stressed because some meeting lasted longer than it should’ve is not a thing I like. My time management had to be more agile so I went back to to-do lists (I’m not going to be a millionaire :<).
Pomodoro technique
Pomodoro technique, according to the lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730) was invented in the early 90s by a developer Francesco Cirillo. You have to work in short periods of time (usually 25 minutes) with even shorter breaks (5 minutes). If you think that it’s boring you might try to work like this for 3-4 hours per day and compare your results to the other part of the day. I was not convinced when I first heard about Pomodoro but a little experiment showed me that it works.
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| https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140719232001-671295-time-management-techniques-no-one-taught-me-b-schools-pomodoro-technique |
Do you use any time management hacks? Which techniques have you tried? What software do you use? Are you going to try any of the ideas presented by me?
Comments
As it goes about topic how to learn planning- there are a lot of techniques, which helps planning – however none of them is universal. Everyone should use the one which suits him or her well and helps most.
Some people (psychologists) claim that having everything listed for a long time it not so good for our memory. Of course there are some events that we should keep listed somewhere, because we are not able to remember everything in details, but we should not only note and forget, this is also kind of exercise for our brain and memory.
I'll have to try those antiprocrastination plugins someday, maybe they'll limit the time killed by social media?
Thanks for the suggestions :)
Proctrasination is also my problem.
Better than turning off phone notification and using Block side is just To- do list. I noticed it is very good for me. Create and using to- do lists increases my productive.
Last term Natalia S has created articles similar your topic. Then I have known Pomodoro technique. It turned out good change in my life. I’ve started use this technique and I’ ve seen progress in my work.
Facebook's motto is 'move fast and break things' - do you think that it would be possible with the plan set up on the beginning? I agree that short-term plans are needed but you can't plan your business. There are just too many factors that you would have to take into account.
Do you have any problem with procrastination? How you deal with it?
My favourite to-do list is definitely wunderlist, I highly recommend it! Very nice thing about wunderlist is that you can plan task on a particular date. Very nice feature :) Because you can put a lot of tasks without any date, and when it comes that you need to do it in the next, let's say 1 week, you can add dates to your todos and it shows you what you have do "today", "this week" and so on. Besides it you have lists where you can organize your todos (you can make one for school, for private life, for freelance projects, and anything else). And I cannot imagine my life without callendar, I have no idea how you do it :D I like to know what and when should I do, without calendar in app, and another calendar that I put actual things I can't forget about.
According to pomodoro technique I used to use it but now I don't need it anymore :) I just have learned how to cut off distracting stuff without having a timer on :) But it's great at the begining , I loved it!
So you use 2 calendars and todo list? Isn't it overwhelming?
I noticed that Pomodoro can somehow teach you how to organize your time and is not needed later, when you learn to cut off distracting stuff.
I have a huge motivation problem. I cannot force myself to work on something that is not due tomorrow. I browse Facebook and Imgur, look through cookbooks, read and watch series. I think that working in an office is much more effective that being a freelancer and it gives you a lot of free time – you don’t have to constantly worry about your projects and commissions, you just leave it behind at 5 p.m.
I used StayFocusd Chrome add-on and it was pretty useful. It works like the one you write about and it has a designated time for procrastination (not so rigorous!) – you may set if for example for 1 hour a day. I stopped using it when I found a way around it (using incognito mode), but maybe your post will motivate me to start using it again:)
I love to-do lists. I have millions of them and I really like this way of organizing life. I recommend Wunderlist app –you may share lists with others and you have access to all your lists from your computer as well. I have Wunderlist set as my first tab in Chrome. There is an important thing when it comes to lists though – you can’t put too much pressure on yourself because it only makes you less motivated. Some time ago I have read a very interesting article about Ivy Lee method of managing priorities that says that you only put six most important things on your to-do list for each day.
I have to start using Pomodoro technique, I have heard so much good things about it, maybe this is the key:)
My to-do lists I made on yellow paper-sticks and I attach them to a laptop and desk, because when I'm in home I use them mostly. Ticking completed tasks on these lists always gives me a lot of satisfaction.
In my calandar I write the most important tasks and meetings. I prefer traditional calendar than that one I have on my phone.
Pomodoro technique seems to be quite interesting. Meaby I will try it :)
Ivy Lee method is really interesting I will possibly try it soon.
They help to "Track what matters to you", because they say that "Time management is an oxymoron" and give nice quote to support that:
"You don't manage five minutes and end up with six." — David Allen
Also it is very helpful for me to divide some task to a little parts, so you will finished every part faster and it will give you an additional motivation to finish all tasks in time.
On YouTube you have a lot of tutorials that can tell you how not to procrastinate, watching them could be a good start.
I don't use any special apps apart from Habitica (earlier known as HabitRPG, here), and I have sticky notes all around my workplace. :) It's good enough for me. I do share your concern that using scheduler applications can be a waste time because you may spend more time making the list of "to-dos" rather than doing them.
Personally, until now I used paper to-do list but after reading an article about millionaires I will probably change my way of time management :)
I am also interested in pomodoro technique, it can be very helpful in repetitive activities, which after a while get bored.
There's a very interesting article on the topic I remember reading some time ago that happened to help me a lot in understanding the whole process of procrastination -
Please take your time to read through the article even if you feel like that's not something you should be worried about - this could potentially help you understand other people you might end up having to work with.
There are 2 parts of the article, you can find part 1 here:
http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
I kid you not - this is one of the best and most important things I have read on the internet and I strongly recommend you to do so!
Well not. Working hard should be a pleasure. Thanks to it we are "evolving" we develop we progress. That's the only way to show the world that we are not worthless. I want to give something to future generations, leave for the humanity. Like Einstein or Curie- Skłodowska. But there is one problem. I am toooo lazy. So if i will create by own signature in the "World book" i will be very sory that i was so worthless and even though you were even more. So don't let me think this way and become someone famous so i will get my self together and start hard working.
Every day at work I use the TODO list and often I use ditraction free mode in text editors. I also tried pomodoro technique but these way of working doesn't suit me.