Advices from a former procrastinator: how to be more productive and happier with yourself
When I was younger, more often than not, I felt like a failure for not being able to accomplish most of the goals I'd set myself to. I used to procrastinate so much, it was painful to see. But with time I got to learn more about myself and about the human behaviour and this helped me immensely to grow as a person and as a professional. Not that I never procrastinate nowadays, but it is not a frequent habit as it used to be. Some advices I followed to achieve this are:
1. Have concrete goals
Instead of having open ended goals like "study more", "read more", "be more productive", define a concrete goal. That way, not only you can evaluate your progress more precisely, but you also can actually celebrate (or punish =( yourself). If your goal is to study more, let's say you've been studying for half an hour, 3 times a week. Set as a goal to study for 40 minutes, 4 times a week and take notes to track your performance.
2. Take baby steps
There are few things more demotivational than failure. And even worse than failing one time, is constant failure. When your goals are too big and you start failing to accomplish them too often, this is probably going to make you feel bad and more prone to give it up. So when you set a goal to yourself, always start small. When you accomplish your goal, this is going to give you a self-esteem and motivation boost. For example, instead of setting yourself up to read a whole book per day, establish as a goal reading 1 minute per day.
3. Program your distractions
Do you have the habit of opening Social Media all the time? If you do, it is very likely that this habit is hurting your productivity. So when you are working/ studying for prolonged hours, define your intervals. For example, stop to give a walk, stretch or something else, for 10 minutes at every one and half an hour. This way you are going to program your brain to be less anxious to distract itself, since you know when you are going to stop. It is a lot easier to concentrate on what you are doing this way.
4. Make it easier
The more steps needed to do something, the less likely it is for us to actually do it. For example, if your goal is to jog every morning, leave your clothes next to your bed, so you don't have to find them before going out. If you want it to be easier to study and harder to waste your time on social media, always use social media on incognito mode. This way, your access to it is going to be a little bit harder, while it is going to be easier to access your study material.
I hope this can be helpful!