Beating procrastination with a pen and a paper
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Working remotely and isolated during the pandemic brought me back to the time I was a solo entrepreneur with a team exclusively composed of myself. Bad habits also came back, with procrastination among them.
With some practice, I could strictly limit my social media consumption to professional usage only, with the help of some simple tricks.
For instance, the accounts I have on my phone and laptop are my business’s accounts with all notifications turned down, and you know laziness beats curiosity when it comes to logout/login).
While every app I tried out there focused on online distractions, it was not in reality what drove my productivity down, but exhaustion (physical and mental) and anxiety.
The latest was harder to spot for me: An experienced entrepreneur with little to no risk aversion, I was -for some obscure reasons- indeed anxious and thus kept on postponing tasks.
I had been experimenting with something for the past two weeks that is giving tremendous results.
Every morning, I start my work routine with a to-do list on a sheet of paper.
I note the ten tasks that have been around for a while despite their urgency/importance.
In a second column, I note what factors kept the task unachieved. Having this column empty means that no effective roadblock is holding this task from achievement except myself.
I move these tasks to the top of the bucket and split them into hyper-focused subtasks.
Et voila! Turn the “smart monkey” mode on, and execute what’s on my list without overthinking.
Clearing these junk tasks had a terrific effect on my mood, motivation, and my work-life balance overall.
If you like this method and want to try it, I would highly appreciate your feedback, if you are a productivity ninja, your intake would surely be helpful to complete this article :)
