We all suffer from procrastination, however, there are many ways to stop the habit. Procrastination is a natural process and a way for our brain to protect itself from burnout.
There are many different types of procrastination, but they almost always have the same root causes, which include perfectionism, anxiety, boredom, or the fear of failure.
The first thing you need to do to become more productive and stop procrastination is to be aware of it, and recognise that it is something you are doing.
Only then can you take steps and use the laws I will share with you below to make any change.
So in this article I want to share 4 key productivity laws that will help you stop procrastinating and be more productive.
1. Pareto's 80/20 Law
The Pareto Principle states that "for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (the "vital few")".
This can also be described as 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. This law applies not only to business but also to many other areas too.
Pareto's Principle can be used to identify the tasks that are most important and eliminate the ones that aren't. You can then purely focus on the important tasks that have the highest leverage for you.
When you focus on the 20%, you can then disregard the 80% that would have otherwise caused you headaches, delays, issues, and stress.
You can even go a step further and work out the 20% time in the day where you are most productive and schedule your most important tasks during that time. This way you are using Pareto's Principle in the most efficient manner.
2. Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson's Law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion".
What this means is that if you give yourself a week to complete a project that if done efficiently would only take 4 hours, it's very likely that the 4-hour task will expand across the whole week.
This can also be described as task creep, where without a deadline a task keeps stretching out and becoming more complex over a long period of time.
I remember when I was at university I would leave my assignments right to the last minute, despite us having received them at the beginning of the year I was your typical student plagued by student syndrome!
As I felt I had a whole year to do the assignments I would put them off and procrastinate, right up to the last minute, not only that my anxiety and stress would also build up as it got closer to the deadline.
If you want to use Parkinson's Law to stop procrastinating then you need to first start by identifying your high leverage tasks and then allocating deadlines to them.
Once you have deadlines attached to the task, this will add a sense of urgency to get the tasks completed in the allocated time, rather than letting them drag on.
This way you can reduce the stress and anxiety attached to the task and get it done in good time.
3. Newton’s 1st Law Of Motion
Newton's first law of motion states that "a body in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force"
Newton's Law Of Motion can be used for progress and productivity and means that often all that is required to stop procrastinating is to just start, and let momentum kick in.
Start with small steps at first this will motivate you to keep making progress.
For example, If you are trying to declutter your home, tidy up one drawer at a time instead of declaring war on clutter and feeling overwhelmed from the get-go.
If you're trying to overhaul your health then start small by going to the gym for 5 minutes, and mastering the art of showing up rather than doing an hour long routine which you'll do a few days and then quit!
4. Carlsons’s Law
Many of us have been lead to believe that multi-tasking is a great skill. In fact some people even boast about their multitasking abilities.
Carlson's Law states that "all interrupted work is less effective and takes more time than un-interrupted work".
When you switch from one project to another or one task to another, there is time lost during this switching process.
This context switching causes you to lose focus as well as valuable time that you could otherwise use to blitz through and complete a task (if you had focussed on it).
So if you want to be more productive then stick to one task at a time, and only move on to the next once you have completed one.