In a fast paced industry like the DM industry, time management and organizational skills are essential to achieve any sort of success. This brings us to the ninth tip in our time management series.

Tip #9:

AVOIDING PROCRASTINATION

We all have to make ourselves do things that we just don’t want to do. Here are some tips I’ve learned that help me power through the procrastination:

  • Do difficult jobs or tasks at the beginning of the day when you’re at your freshest. Meetings that require a lot of input are also best done in the morning. Look after the recurring tasks in the afternoon (unless, of course, they are due in the morning).
  • Do not postpone important matters that are unpleasant. Jobs rarely get more pleasant by being postponed. Do it now!
  • Stress and fatigue are rarely caused by the things you have done, but by the thought of what you haven’t done.
  • Make a habit of finishing the main job of the day before you go home.
  • The biggest thief of time is not decision making, but decision avoidance. Getting something done right away versus waiting “until later” can substantially increase the amount of active time available to you.

Training yourself to stop procrastinating is not an easy endeavor. However, if you follow the above tips diligently, you will find that eventually (perhaps sooner that you expect) you will become much more proactive and suffer a lot less work stress.

If you have some good tips of your own, please feel free to share them with us.

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