Tips for procrastinators

Remote work is a great opportunity to save time. We don't have to commute to work. We are not distracted by conversations with colleagues. We don't have to go to a restaurant or a canteen for lunch. Meanwhile, many people have problems with proper time management, especially with the home office. Household chores and household members sometimes distract us from work, making us less productive. Take advantage of the opportunities offered by remote work. If you work from home, you are a really lucky person! All it takes is a little organization. Take a moment to consider what you need to improve in your work. Time spent on planning is always a profitable investment!

Deadlines

It's simple and not very innovative, but the easiest method to force yourself to be effective is by creating deadlines.

Working from home, we should set our milestones. Deadlines teach you how to manage your time and how to properly evaluate your work. Over time, you can achieve perfection in estimating the time needed to complete a given project!

Mindful breaks

Don't browse social media during your break - it's too easy to get lost in it and not get back to work on time.

Use simple relaxation techniques (such as practicing proper breathing or short stretching) during breaks. You can listen to relaxing music, prepare a delicious coffee, play with your pet, go for a short walk, or drink a cup of hot tea in peace.

Tough stuff first

A difficult and unpleasant task is ahead of you? Start with it!

Most often, we procrastinate what we fear. An unfinished task blocks us and delays the entire schedule. Always start with tough things! When you manage to do something difficult, there will be no such thing to beat you, and at the very end of the day, when your efficiency drops, you will have more enjoyable things to do.

To-do lists

Create to-do lists in an app, bullet journal, or even on post-its - each day before work.

You probably already use more advanced programs like Asana or Monday, but sometimes all you need is a piece of paper and a pen. Creating our lists every morning is a great ritual during which our brain remembers what we have to do on a given day. Thanks to rewriting and ordering, our thoughts organize into planned actions. You can try creative note-taking methods such as bullet journal, use Evernote, Notion, or casual Reminders.

Pomodoro

25 min work - 5 min break - long break after four 25/5s

You can use the classic Pomodoro method as shown in the above scheme or modify it to your needs. According to Pomodoro, our effectiveness is the best when we take a 5-minute break after every 25 minutes of work (measured exactly with a timer).

After 4 cycles (2 hours in total), we can take a longer, 30 min break. 25 minutes doesn't sound scary - especially since then comes a few minutes of rest.

Useful tools

Procrastination is a huge generational issue. That's why there are many interesting tools designed to help us fight this irritating problem. At the end of our blog post, we'd like to show you some interesting apps for planning and time management:

Apps for planning:

• Moleskine Journey (iOS)
• Actions by Moleskine (Android)
• Microsoft To Do
• Trello

Apps for time management:

• Plantie (iOS)
• Focus Plant (Android)
• Focus Tomato (iOS)

Good luck!