People procrastinate for many reasons, it is not one-size-fits-all procrastination.
The goal is to understand the root cause of procrastination in order to turn it around. To achieve this goal, you must ask yourself the following questions:
- How much do you procrastinate, i.e., how often do you put things off, and for how long?
- How much does your procrastination negatively affect you? For example, if it causes you to miss deadlines or if it causes you stress.
With this in mind, let’s look at the four types of procrastination that exist and what to do in each case.
Contents
Types of procrastination and how to avoid it
Depending on how you answered the above questions, you can classify yourself into 4 types of procrastination. Identify which group you belong to and follow our tips to be more productive.
1: The lucky optimist
This is the person who says “I’ll wait an hour before the deadline and get it all done”. The one who waits until the last minute, either because inspiration or haste makes them work better, or because they don’t know how to manage their time.
This strategy works for some (until it stops working). After all, unexpected problems can arise. Sometimes a task turns out to be much more complicated than expected.
Solution: Divide and conquer. Divide what you have to do to accomplish it into parts or tasks and move forward instead of doing it all at once. One step at a time. One task at a time. This is the best way to not wait until the last minute and start generating progress.
2: Overload
Who hasn’t felt overwhelmed by all there is to do? And, faced with this avalanche of things, rushing off to look at Instagram or a little bird that landed in the neighbor’s window?
With too many things to pay attention to, you pay attention to none…and do nothing. To make matters worse, this type of procrastinator is never able to fully relax or work at full capacity.
Solution: Pomodoro to the rescue. Do you know the Pomodoro technique? The only way to reduce anxiety in the face of the enormous amount of things to do is to get moving, which will allow you to move forward. Dividing the day into small 25-minute segments helps reduce anxiety about the number of things to do and get started. The idea is that you do blocks of work non-stop for 25 minutes and then rest 5.
3: The pleasure-seeking avoider
This is a type of procrastinator who runs away from the pain of the number of things to do and goes towards the pleasure of doing the things he likes or feels like doing.
Solution: Keep a to-do list and have multiple workspaces. This will make you more organized, and the tidier you have your workspace the more productive you will be.
4: The perfectionist
Are you one of those who prefer to do everything right or nothing at all? Wrong. The only way to avoid procrastination is to set yourself to do the task even if it’s not perfect. If everything happens in your mind (in a great way) but nothing in reality, it’s no use. You have to take action.
Solution: You are not alone. The only way to move is to take action and to be sure you are doing all your tasks perfectly get apps to help you along the way. If you write in another language or tend to waste a lot of time checking your grammar, apps like spellchecker can be a great ally.
How Rambox can help you stop procrastinating
Rambox can help you be more productive. Depending on what kind of procrastinator you are, Rambox offers different solutions and functionalities:
- The lucky optimist: Rambox integrates task-based apps such as Metatask, Taskade, Tasks, or TasksBoard helping you break down work into smaller, easier-to-do actions.
- Overload: You can integrate Rambox with PomoDoneApp to have your tracker at hand and coordinate it with your to-do list.
- The pleasure avoider: Within Rambox, you can create multiple workspaces according to each project or interest. The good thing is that you can also choose which notification to receive and when from each one, which makes it easier to avoid interruptions and annoying notifications. Plus, when you’re in focus mode, you can block all notifications at once!
- The perfectionist: Rambox already has a spell checker that will help you finish the task without wasting time checking or proofreading twice. Relying on technology is the best way to move forward.
More ideas to overcome procrastination:
- Get organized using Trello for a project, a to-do list app for daily activities, and most importantly Rambox to organize your entire remote work desktop to work easily and optimize time.
- Start with a “quick win”: a small, rewarding, and easy part of the project that only takes a few minutes. This easy win builds momentum.
- Use good noise-canceling headphones and concentration music for support when distractions appear.
Now that you know all the tricks to stop procrastinating and how Rambox can increase your productivity, try Rambox for free. All you have to do is download the program, configure it to your liking, and start enjoying its functionalities. No cards, no cheating, it’s that simple!
