Have you ever stopped and looked at the analog clock? Well, odds are the clock near you, on your smartphone, computer, tablet, smartwatch, is not showing in analog format. That is with the hour, minute, and second hands ticking and ticking as time goes by. Your clock is probably showing in digital format; numbers separated by flashing colons.
The tragedy of the digital clock is that, unlike the analog clock, we cannot have a bird’s eye view of the entire 24 hours within a day. Then gauge how many hours in the day we have to achieve our day’s goals.
Be that as it may, there is one thing you get to appreciate about the analog clock view. That is how the clockwork never rests. It is always moving come rain or shine, day or night, good weather or bad weather. Unless there are some technical problems, the clockwork will always be ticking without any excuses.
Entrepreneur working like Clockwork
As an entrepreneur, sometimes the things holding us back are ourselves. Our self-destructive habits like being undisciplined, procrastinating, failure to do research before embarking on an endeavor among other things.
Today, we are going to explore how you, as an entrepreneur, can fight and overcome procrastination. You know, you have been saying you will do A, B, C, but never actually getting down to doing it. Yet time, just like clockwork is ticking away; you know time is one resource that is highly limited, and you should spend yours wisely.
How to fight off Procrastination
The following are tips on how you can overcome the habit of procrastination.
Write down a List of Tasks
When you want to drive from point A to point B, you always have in mind the route you are going to take; it may be subconsciously or consciously that you pull up a Map app on your phone or car’s dashboard.
You should have the same approach to tackling tasks at hand. The first thing you need to do is sit down, and deliberately come up with a holistic list of all the pending tasks. Write everything down.
It might be tempting to come up with an unmanageable list; you include everything, even things you really don’t need to address. Avoid such pitfalls, as they will wear you out by leading to burnout. Start off with a manageable list, and then as you grow into the habit of finishing the task and checking off the list. You can add more.
Put Important Tasks First in the List
In your list, have the critical tasks at the top of the list. That way, you will not find yourself spending time on something that could wait or has less serious ramifications if delayed while leaving critical tasks undone.
Tasks that add significant value to your business should always be a priority. Don’t start with less important tasks that when you get to the really important tasks, you are struggling with burnout.
Break the Tasks into small portions
When a detailed project is hanging over your head, most people find themselves procrastinating embarking on the task. However, when the task is broken down to smaller portions, the individual portion seems less daunting and all of a sudden procrastination evaporates away.
Adopt the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique has been found to work well with a wide range of types of entrepreneurs across several industries. The technique proposes working in blocks of 25 minutes, then taking a 5 minutes break.
After four rounds of 25 minutes work and 5 minutes break, you can take a 30 minutes break. This approach to executing work has been found to instill discipline and better time management.
Reward yourself per Milestone completed
We all have things we like binging on; it could be movies, recreational reading, a video game, or anything else. If you are not disciplined enough, such hobbies could eat into the time you should be doing your work.
Instead of letting your hobbies be your distraction, you can use them as rewards to encourage you to push on and complete your task. For every completed task, you can reward yourself by engaging in the hobby that you so much love.
However, caution ought to be taken while rewarding yourself with the hobby. As it could get too exciting that you continue with it beyond the time allocated. That the next task gets compromised because you could not take yourself away from your hobby.
Outsource some of your tasks
Naturally, people find executing some task thrilling while other boring or daunting. Trying to execute both contributes to procrastination. You should look around for someone you can outsource those tasks you find daunting, and only focus on those you enjoy doing.
Doing so, naturally cures the habit of procrastination and makes workflow smoothly and on time. There are various freelancing platforms where you can get qualified and experienced freelancers to whom you can outsource the tasks. They also charge pocket-friendly prices compared to hiring a full-time employee to help you with the task.
There is Always an App for That
We live in a tech-savvy century, where there is almost always a tech solution to help you with any problem. There is a plethora of apps and tools on the app stores designed to help entrepreneurs execute various operations in a timely and professional manner.
There are apps that will help you structure and organize your work-life. For instance, apps like Trello and Monday helps you manage your task workflow and timelines. Others like Freedom blocks sites that might distract you from getting work done. Sites such as social media that might eat into your work time.
Wrapping up…
As an entrepreneur, you need to learn how to work with the law of inertia. It can work to your benefit, and the opposite is also true. When you are taking a break and indulging in your hobby. There is a tendency to want to prolong it much further, and let it eat into your work-time.
At such a point, the law of inertia works to your disadvantage and you need every effort to break it. That effort might be a notification from an app you have installed on your computer or phone. It could also be caused by being self-aware that time for a certain task is up according to your schedule.
If the task was broken down into smaller portions like discussed above, then you will have more efforts pushing you to complete the task, than effort encouraging you to keep slacking off. As an entrepreneur, it is critical you have more things pushing you to complete the task, than those holding you back.
Related: Entrepreneurship: An opportunity for African Immigrants?
https://afrikagora.com/entrepreneurship-an-opportunity-for-african-immigrants/
