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Avoid procrastination at work: Career experts explain how you can approach important tasks in a more relaxed manner

2022-06-10T09:29:44.261Z


Avoid procrastination at work: Career experts explain how you can approach important tasks in a more relaxed manner Created: 06/10/2022 11:23 am By: Anne Hund One method can be to set a deadline earlier. That way you don't get stressed when the actual deadline is approaching. © AndreyPopov/Imago/Panthermedia Almost everyone has probably postponed an unpleasant task at work. However, to ensure


Avoid procrastination at work: Career experts explain how you can approach important tasks in a more relaxed manner

Created: 06/10/2022 11:23 am

By: Anne Hund

One method can be to set a deadline earlier.

That way you don't get stressed when the actual deadline is approaching.

© AndreyPopov/Imago/Panthermedia

Almost everyone has probably postponed an unpleasant task at work.

However, to ensure that this doesn't happen more often, you should take a few tips to heart.

Deadline pressure, deadlines, stress:

In working life there are often unpleasant situations that need to be mastered.

However, sometimes the stress comes from putting off tasks that could have been done earlier.

Quite a few are familiar with this phenomenon of

procrastination

, or to put it more simply:

procrastination

.

Procrastination is not a rare phenomenon in working life

The experts at the portal

Karrierebibel

.de explain it as follows: “Behind the unwieldy term procrastination lies a simple avoidance strategy:

Unpleasant tasks are postponed until it is no longer possible – or it is too late

.” The core problem of many “procrastinators” is that they have difficulty setting priorities and suffer from latent feelings of inferiority.

“They erroneously equate success with self-worth.

In order to achieve this feeling, they need frequent and short-term successes,” the article says, among other things.

"But if the tasks seem too big, they are subjectively too far away." That's why they would prefer smaller tasks;

because they in turn promise a faster reward.

This can mean, for example, that – before tackling a larger project – you first answer all e-mails in detail.

Or, for example, prefer to make a few phone calls that are less important at the moment or maybe tidy up the desk first.

And thus ultimately postpones the much more pressing, larger task.

At the end of the day, you may not have even started on the most important project, let alone finished it.

And that in turn can be quite frustrating over time

.

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Of course, there are many different forms of procrastination.

On a small scale, however, at least he should have caught himself doing it again and again that he prefers to postpone an unpleasant task for the time being.

However, to ensure that this does not happen more often, you should take a few tips to heart.

Numerous of them are mentioned on

Karrierebibel.de

– here is an excerpt:

Procrastination: Seven tips on how to counter procrastination

  • 1. “Start now”

    is perhaps the most important piece of advice.

    In this context, the experts on

    Karrierebibel.de

    explain the so-called 72-hour rule as follows: "Anyone who decides to do something must take the first step within 72 hours, otherwise the chance that he or she will ever start the project decreases. to 1 percent.”

  • 2. "Set priorities,"

    is another piece of advice from the experts.

    This is simply a matter of deciding which of your tasks are important and must be completed, and which are less urgent in terms of time.

  • 3.

    .

    "

    Start with the most unpleasant thing:

    As trivial as it may sound, just give it a try.

    With this strategy, you won't even be tempted to distract yourself unnecessarily or to prioritize other tasks.

    Rather, you address the problem directly.

  • 4. "Plan ahead".

    Specifically, the career portal advises, among other things:

    “In the evening, make a note of what you will do the next day and in what order.

    Then please stick to it.” Incidentally, one method can also be to set a deadline for a certain task earlier.

    That way you don't get stressed when the actual deadline is approaching.

  • 5. “Take your time”

    is another tip you should take to heart.

    Because sometimes a larger task is associated with a lot of time.

    And it is precisely this time that you should take for it and plan accordingly.

    This also makes it easier for you to get started with the task.

    You can also read here which mistakes you make at work that cost you an unnecessary amount of time.

  • 5.

    “ Question

    yourself”

    is another piece of advice according to

    Karrierbibel.de

    .

    It's about questioning why you're putting off a task.

    The experts advise: “Write down: what are you putting off?

    Why?

    What triggers stress?

    What could you have done differently?”

  • 7.

    "

    Be specific

    . "

    The more precisely you plan tasks and goals, "the more likely it is to be implemented," say the career experts.

    This can mean, for example, that you set an exact time at which you start a task - and think about how much time you plan for which steps.

    By the way, you shouldn't take on too much and it's better to proceed in small steps.

Would you like more tips on the subject of jobs and careers?

Then follow our news pages on the career portals Xing and LinkedIn.

ahu

Source: merkur

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