Have you ever felt demotivated or exhausted to a point of not accomplishing what you are supposed to finish or work on? 

Regardless of what could be causing that, it is always important for one to accomplish tasks accordingly. Otherwise, you could be prone to procrastination.

Defined as the act of delaying or putting off doing something, procrastination can come with diverse effects at the workplace.

Mathias Nkeeto, an educator says, all in all, it is just important for one to ensure they accomplish their set tasks or reach their goals in life.

He says that despite the impact that comes along with procrastinating, people still find it hard to drop this habit, and continue postponing things anyway.

To procrastinate simply means is to delay doing something until a future time. At work, experts say this habit can jeopardise your work or even prevent you from reaching your goals.

For instance, Nkeeto says the only way out is to aim at completing your tasks on time, be it at the workplace, at home or in life generally.

"Staying productive and completing your tasks on time helps you meet your goals and feel accomplished. At the same time, one can still deliver quality work on time,” he says.

Repercussions

Othaniel Nimbabazi, a youth leader and human-centred designer in Kigali says the most common impact that comes along with procrastinating, especially at the workplace is missing deadlines, which can be a huge setback as far as your work is concerned.

This, he says will not only affect one as an individual but will as well impact the entire organisation.

He further notes that procrastination has also been seen to have long-term negative effects on career, especially if one is fond of this habit.

"What we should understand is that, procrastinating does not only affect your work or career, this is a habit that could as well impact your personal life,” he says.

Meanwhile, studies have established that habitual procrastination can impact one’s reputation and professional connections, making it harder to advance their career. 

Also, it’s also evident that this habit when made a norm, could lead to one missing out on different opportunities, whether a promotion or pay raise, procrastinating on opportunities could have severe consequences to your future.

Studies also reveal that seizing opportunities while they are available should be a motivating factor to reassess one’s time management and work habits.

How to overcome procrastination 

· From different online studies, it has been suggested that the first thing to go about this is by picturing yourself completing the tasks on your list. Visualising the positive and accomplished feeling of meeting your goals and finishing projects can help encourage you to complete them. 

· Think about the goals you want to meet and the steps to get there. These goals can be advancing in your career or earning a raise. Imagine yourself meeting these goals as you push yourself to finish projects and stay on task.

· Focus on the end product, while working on your tasks, you may feel stuck as you attempt to make every segment seem perfect. To keep yourself positive and on task, focus solely on finishing rather than complete perfection.

· Give yourself a break once you've finished so you can return to the project feeling refreshed before making any changes. Your editing and proofreading stage is where you can search for areas that need tweaking to boost the project's quality

· Also, it’s suggested that one has to write each task, and then sort through them based on their priority level, such as listing ones with upcoming deadlines near the top. This makes it easier to input these items into a schedule.

· Many people feel most productive and focused during certain time periods throughout the day. For instance, you may get a boost of energy to finish tasks early in the morning but be less motivated in the afternoon.

· Plan to complete challenging tasks during your productive moments and simpler tasks like responding to emails when you're less productive.