Procrastination and how to avoid it: 5 tips for your business

One of the biggest enemies of success is procrastination, because objectives are not achieved on their own: you have to complete a series of steps to reach any goal.
Therefore, you should know how to avoid procrastination in your business.
In this article we will show you exactly what procrastination is (we know, it doesn’t sound very good… and it’s not a good thing), what disadvantages it has for your center and what you get by leaving aside this unproductive attitude.
But that’s not the best part: we also provide you with 5 very effective steps that will help you get rid of it without much difficulty and, if that wasn’t enough, you will discover a TIMP CRM tool with which you can say goodbye to procrastination forever .
That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
Let’s not delay any longer and let’s get started.  

What is procrastination?

Yes, it is a somewhat difficult word to read, as unattractive as the consequences of putting it into practice.
Because procrastinating is nothing more than continually putting off an obligation or task.
This act is also known as procrastination or postponing.
As a consequence of procrastination, these obligations are pushed further and further into a corner, until they definitely remain undone, hindering processes that are often essential for the smooth running of a business, and sometimes directly preventing projects from moving forward.
And the worst thing is that most of the time obligations are not postponed due to lack of time, but because we do not know how to manage the negative emotions that a certain task awakens in us: we may find it tiresome to carry it out, or we may not fully understand the purpose of carrying out a certain activity.
Thus, we find that sometimes it is the laziness that awakens a certain action that leads someone to postpone its realization.
Other times it is insecurity or fear of not being up to the task that makes a person never get down to work.

How to avoid procrastination in your business in 5 steps

Below we give you 5 simple steps to get rid of procrastination in your facility:

1. Tackle the hardest part first

This is like eating: on a plate, what do you leave for the end, what you like the least or what you enjoy the most?
If you are one of those people who always finish your plate, you probably start by eating what doesn’t appeal to you and finish with what you like the most.
This way you make sure you finish everything.
At work, the most effective thing to do is to get rid of what costs the most and then move on to what is a piece of cake.
Do it this way: be courageous and patient and attack first those tasks you don’t feel like doing.
Once you’ve got them out of the way, you’ll see that the rest is a piece of cake.
What a break!

2. Set yourself deadlines

Both you and your team should set deadlines for completing tasks, especially the more difficult or tedious ones.
This will introduce a priority component that will motivate you to fulfill those obligations.

3. Divide and conquer

If a task resists you because it is difficult or too laborious, the solution may be to break it into mini-tasks that are easier to take on.
As they say: after 1, 2.
Little by little you will complete each step until the activity is completed without too much difficulty.

4. Don’t get distracted

In today’s world, even in companies, distractions often come from the hand of those tools that make our lives easier: cell phones, tablets, Internet… Avoid letting all this distract you from your goals and you’ll look at your smartphone screen when you’ve accomplished everything else.

5. A reward for each achievement

If after accomplishing a task that you don’t feel like doing, you give yourself a reward or reward your team for doing it, you will feel that the effort will have been worth it.
And most importantly, you’ll be establishing a habit that will improve your productivity.
These rewards can be something as simple but rewarding as a break to take a look at your cell phone or a special lunch where you can exchange a few laughs and enjoy a good snack.

  At TIMP we know how important it is to carry out any task – big or small – and to do it within the set deadline.
That’s why our integrated CRM includes a section called “Tasks” with which you can define actions to be performed, set deadlines for each one and assign them to the staff members of your choice.
Oh!
And you can set reminders so that no one forgets to fulfill their obligations.
Isn’t that great?
A little further down we’ll explain how the Tasks section of the TIMP CRM works.  

Disadvantages of procrastination

Now you know how to get rid of procrastination, but… do you still think that procrastinating on certain tasks is something without too much importance?
Think again.
Here are some reasons why procrastinating is a very bad idea:

The work accumulates

The most obvious disadvantage of procrastinating in a business is that the work accumulates little by little, but steadily.
In the end, the accumulation of obligations is such that fulfilling them all ends up being a real puzzle.

Failure to meet deadlines

Performing important tasks within the established deadlines is essential for the smooth running of a business.
Therefore, when procrastination occurs, these deadlines are not met and that is when problems start to appear.

Your business ends up looking unserious

If the tasks assigned to the team are not carried out, the company’s objectives are not met, and it is only a matter of time before this problem ends up jumping from the internal sphere of the business to the sphere of customers and suppliers.
If you want your business to present an image of reliability and trustworthiness, you must avoid procrastination at all costs.

You and your team feel bad

It is logical.
You know that these tasks have to be done, but because you are not clear about how to tackle them or you are too lazy to do them, they are always left undone.
And that is a constant hammering in your mind that eventually takes its toll and makes you feel bad.
In addition, when you start to feel the effects of postponing obligations, the feeling of guilt gets worse.  

Advantages of not procrastinating

Fulfilling your obligations has very attractive benefits for you and your staff:

You and your professionals feel better

The same as we have just seen, but in the opposite direction.
You will no longer hear that annoying little voice reminding you that that boring but important task was undone.
Goodbye to remorse!

Work does not pile up and everything flows better

When work is put off, a “snowball” effect occurs, making unfinished tasks more and more complicated, and additional problems arise that make everything more complicated.
On the other hand, if you avoid procrastinating, your workflow runs like clockwork, always on schedule.

You achieve your business objectives

As a consequence of the above, the goals you set for yourself are achieved (at least those that depend entirely on your daily effort and work), and your business grows as expected.

Improved work climate and job satisfaction

As each member of the business fulfills his or her duties , everyone’s work moves forward, leading to greater job satisfaction and a more positive mood among the entire team.

TIMP puts an end to procrastination: task management with our CRM

We told you about it before: TIMP includes a complete CRM with which you can manage your customer base, carry out a complete commercial follow-up of each one and offer them a 100% personalized service, anticipating their needs.
And among all its tools are the Tasks, the best thing there is to put an end to procrastination. Tasks is a section that allows you to create a task in the control panel and assign it to any person in your staff.
To do this, you only have to complete a series of data such as the task title and the details of the task (a short description with the steps to be performed and its purpose).
Then you only have to assign it to whoever you want and set a due date.
Finally, create a reminder so that the program automatically notifies the assigned professionals when the due date is near.
And that’s it.
With this simple procedure, which will only take you half a minute for each task, none of them will be left undone.
Remember to reward your team for their achievements from time to time and the rest will be done.
In the following article you have all the information to start using TIMP Tasks.
Let us know your doubts by chat and we will help you to use this functionality.   With our CRM, procrastination in your business is history!