Beating procrastination in your small business

Procrastination is often described as the art of putting off until tomorrow what you should be doing today. Unfortunately it can be a big obstacle to business success. Here’s how to beat it.

10 top tips

1. Prune your ‘to do’ list

‘To do’ lists aren’t always useful. Sometimes they make the situation worse. Many people feel daunted when faced with a long list of things they ‘must’ do. They become demoralised and end up doing nothing. So cut your list down to the bare essentials.

2. Share the load

Delegation is one of the hardest things for business owners to do, but it’s vital. Learn to give up some control and put faith in your employees. And consider offloading routine tasks to service companies. You should save your energy for the big items.

3. Break it down

Nobody can concentrate for hours at a time on a single task. Break big jobs down. You could try the Pomodoro technique of doing 25-minute sprints, for example. This is part of good time management for small business owners.

4. Disconnect yourself

As anyone with a deadline knows, an internet connection can be the enemy of productive work. When you really have to concentrate, set aside some time – an hour or a whole day – then go offline to work without distraction.

5. Don’t wait for the perfect moment

Do something now, even if you feel you’re not in the right mood. Making a start on a task is often the biggest step. It’ll be easier to come back and continue it, rather than starting from scratch later. It will help put you in the right frame of mind, too.

6. Schedule your work sensibly

Use your natural rhythms to your advantage. Schedule big jobs for the morning if you’re an early bird, or evenings if you’re a night owl. And try to avoid doing heavy tasks in mid-afternoon. Most people suffer a physiological lull at this time, making them less productive.

7. Sandwich your tasks

If there’s something you really don’t want to do, schedule it between two tasks that you enjoy. The first enjoyable task will set your frame of mind, and the later one will give you something to look forward to. If all your tasks are tough, try time-travelling – a mental technique where you imagine how good it’ll feel when you’re done.

8. Create the right working environment

If you have a home office, make sure it’s in a separate room and keep fixed working hours. When you separate business and pleasure you’re less likely to drift from one to the other.

9. Get a computer to do it

You’ll be surprised how many mundane tasks can be automated. Let technology streamline dreaded jobs, such as:

• invoicing
• inventory management
• expense reporting

10. Reward success

Give yourself something when you complete a tedious task. Whether it’s a mental pat on the back or a more tangible reward, this is important. It’ll help you feel good about beating procrastination. That will make it easier to achieve next time.

• This article is from Xero’s Small Business Guides. To read the full article click HERE.