Do you know what procrastination is? There are many definitions, but in simple terms, it's when you postpone something important to do less relevant tasks, or in other words: the art of putting off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Procrastination is totally against your productivity, because that important thing you put off later becomes urgent and then a problem because you no longer have time to do it.

Has it ever happened to you that you have a project to work on and you think, "I'll start in about 5 minutes"? When you realize it, you've wasted two hours because you got distracted by social media, chatting with someone, or in your search for useful information for the project, you got sidetracked and ended up looking at a page of home tips that weren't going to help you at that moment, etc.

Who is stealing your time?

Procrastination feeds on time thieves or devourers (chronophages), meaning any activity, element, or situation that consumes your time without you realizing it. Some may be out of your control, such as when a flight is delayed or when you're constantly called on the phone at work, but the vast majority are within you; you open the door to them and they come in to steal your minutes, hours, or days.

For example, a messy desk leads to many chronophages, a cell phone is a chronophage par excellence, a game, TV, etc.

Tips to stop procrastinating

How to stop procrastinating? By becoming aware of the reasons why you procrastinate and organizing your mind. Here are 10 tips to stop procrastinating and be more productive.

1. Get organized: Dedicate time to organize your activities; you can do it monthly or weekly. Every day, before starting any task, review what you need to do. Planners can help you with this task, as they are an excellent tool for organization.

2. Don't tackle abstract projects: Something that can easily lead you to procrastinate is starting activities that seem endless or don't make much sense. Try to set concrete tasks so you can complete them step by step.

3. Order and hierarchy: Learn to order your activities by hierarchy and establish levels of importance or urgency. Set clear and specific goals.

4. Use tools: Getting organized requires a tool or resource, either physical or digital, so choose one you can customize and feel comfortable with. In this regard, planners, to-do lists, notebooks, and other resources will be useful.

5. Forget huge lists: Break down work into small, specific tasks. Forget endless lists that only paralyze you. Instead, make lists of 5 activities per day that you can actually accomplish.

6. Organize your desk: It's important that your workspace is suitable for you to carry out your activities without distractions.

7. Create strategic routines: Analyze your tasks and processes so you can develop systems that lead to optimizing time. Create routines that your brain feels comfortable with, so you'll be focusing it on what you want and it won't be thinking about procrastinating.

8. Measure your time: Set realistic times for each activity. You must be careful with this, as Parkinson's Law states: "a task expands to fill the time available for its completion," meaning if you don't impose on yourself that a certain project will be done in 30 minutes, it could well take two or three hours.

9. Manage your energy: It's important to work during your best moments, when you have the most energy. Get to know yourself and identify your best mode for doing your tasks. It is recommended that you start with the most difficult task and that you don't organize or manage small actions, just execute them.

10. Detect and avoid distractions: Do an exercise to identify what external or internal distractions you face when carrying out your projects or activities and eliminate those temptations or distractions. For example, for a project that will take two hours, concentrate on it and silence or turn off your cell phone.

Remember that productivity is not about doing more things, but about doing the important things.
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