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Writer's picturePoornima Shejal

Procrastination; a Scientific guide on how to stop Procrastination

Updated: Jul 3




Procrastination at work is the practice of delaying things that have to do with the workplace. Procrastination is a common occurrence that can cause major problems for those who engage in it as well as for their companies.



The problems of procrastination at work;


Procrastination at work can take many different shapes.


For instance, a basic example of workplace procrastination is when an employee watches hilarious videos on YouTube or just scrolling Instagram when they should be working on an essential assignment instead. Another instance of procrastination in the office is when a person repeatedly puts off drafting a key report in favour of doing unimportant work-related duties.


Workplace procrastination stems from a rather limited perception of this sort of procrastination, which assumes that it always involves things unrelated to work. Regardless of whether or not it involves these activities, it is still possible to define workplace procrastination just like any procrastination involving work-related duties.

One approach to do this is to delay working on a task that is necessary but seems overwhelming by socializing on easy and trivial work-related tasks.


Workplace procrastination can differ between individuals as much as within individuals. Thus, the following is true:


When doing the same job, several individuals may exhibit varying degrees of procrastination. This can be related to both internal and external factors, such as the degree of support received from coworkers and managers, as well as to people’s overall capacity to self-regulate their behaviour.


When doing the same job, the same person may postpone to different extents at different times. That could also be attributable to both internal and external circumstances, such as the amount of sleep the person got the night before and how helpful their supervisor was on a certain day.



How to quit/stop procrastinating at work;


Find the smallest thing you can do to quit procrastinating at work if you need to do so immediately.


Additionally, you may stop procrastinating at work in the short and long term by using a variety of anti-procrastination tactics.



Enhance your preparation


Specify clear objectives.


Divide your work into convenient, manageable sections.


Establish deadlines and interim benchmarks for yourself.


Find out when you are most productive.



Make your environment better


To make it even easier for you to work, alter your surroundings.


To make starting easier for yourself, alter your surroundings.


To make it more difficult for yourself to postpone, alter your surroundings.



Modify your strategy


Begin with a small step.


The best or worst portion should come first.


Before you delay, add a period of time.


Utilise the Pomodoro method. (25-minute lengthy stretches with 5-minute intervals in between, and a lengthier 30-minute break once each of your four work sets is finished.)



Become more motivated


Make working more enjoyable.


Make working more pleasurable.


Imagine yourself in the future.


Prioritise your goals over your tasks.



Adapt your perspective


Allow yourself to make errors.


Face your phobias.


Develop compassion for yourself.


Improve your own efficacy.


In order to quit procrastinating at work, you should first determine the smallest action you can take to move forward, then change your surroundings to increase the likelihood that you will take that action. Finding the root causes of your procrastination will help you adopt the appropriate anti-procrastination strategies, such as setting specific goals, breaking activities down into manageable steps, and allowing yourself to make mistakes.


We can help you to overcome the procrastination issue through our proven methodologies and techniques. Connect with us to know more.

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