Overcoming Procrastination

“What may be done at any time will be done at no time.”

Scottish Proverb

Procrastination is about leaving important tasks and instead focusing on low priority tasks. If unchecked, it can significantly affect productivity, motivation and general confidence. The problem with procrastination is that we all suffer from it to an extent. Addressing it is ultimately about bringing it under control so that general productivity is not affected.

There are many reasons behind procrastination and it is not just a matter of being lazy. The roots of it can be traced back to childhood upbringing, educational background, the need for perfection, self-esteem and lack of motivation. As a result, avoiding procrastination requires a more systematic approach than just aiming to have discipline as is usually the approach taken by most people.

To properly address this behavioural issue, we can use a similar approach taken in medicine and use three levels of prevention to address the issue on multiple levels. This is the approach taken in this course. The three-level prevention consists of a primary, secondary and tertiary intervention. Primary intervention is about investing in yourself so that you can become better at dealing with issues, reducing stress, boosting motivation and self-esteem, maintaining a healthy body and goal setting.

Next, secondary intervention aims to address what stops you from engaging in tasks. Are you afraid of failure? Are you concerned about perfection? Do you justify your procrastination? You will learn about techniques that allow you to recognize these fears and then address them directly.

Tertiary prevention is about using time management techniques to boost productivity. Using a variety of tools and ideas you can engineer your environment to systematically force yourself to avoid procrastination and minimise distractions. These are effectively anticipatory techniques that allow you to spot when you procrastinate so you can setup a system that forces you back to a high priority task.

The course is packed with guidelines on procrastination and productivity. Addressing procrastination takes more than just attending a course. The techniques must become habit so that they can be applied to those situations when self-discipline is low. By increasing the awareness of delegates about a large number of techniques on many levels, the course aims to convince the delegates that beating procrastination is easier than they think and equip them with the necessary tools.

In this highly practical course participants will learn:

What Is Procrastination?

• What are the causes of procrastination?
• Why procrastination is unproductive and needs to be addressed?
• Are you more likely to procrastinate in the future and if so how can you prevent it?
• How people view time and how this preference influences their productivity
• How should procrastination be addressed?
• Why is it important to address procrastination on different levels if you want to succeed?

Goal Setting

• How important is goal setting as a way to address procrastination?
• What are ideal goals?
• How to use a systematic approach to goal-setting and define what you want in life and how much attention each area deserves

Self-Tracking

• What is self-tracking?
• How does self-tracking relate to procrastination?
• What tools and techniques can you use for self-tracking?
• What is the future of self-tracking?

Boosting Self-Esteem

• What is self-esteem?
• How does self-esteem relate to procrastination?
• What techniques can help you improve your self-esteem?

Motivation

• What is the importance of motivation for productivity?
• How to maintain a healthy body
• Why a healthy body is critical for productivity?
• What day-to-day techniques can you use to motivate yourself?

Addressing Fears and Justifications

• What stops you from getting on with an important task?
• What justifications do you use to validate your procrastinations habits?
• How can you address these fears and justifications?
• How to manage procrastination and improve your productivity using a number of powerful and established techniques

Anticipatory Techniques

• What tactics and strategies can you use to avoid procrastination?
• How to engineer your environment to increase your productivity
• How to set up personal rules to avoid procrastination
• How to develop productivity boosting habits

“Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.”

Anonymous