¿Alguna vez se les ha esfumado el tiempo entre hojas de Excel, dos tazas de café y una ronda de Instagram Stories que no parecía ser tan amenazante para la jornada laboral?Yo también he estado en esa situación donde me he sentido culpable por portar el título de procrastinador profesional y no es que ahora no lo haga, pero desde hace algunos meses me propuse aprovechar mejor mi tiempo, gestionando mis distracciones que incluyen desde un GIF de gatos hasta un test genérico de Buzzfeed./ Have you ever lost your time between Excel worksheets, two cups of coffee and a round of Instagram Stories that didn’t seem so threatening to your workday? I’ve also been in that situation where I felt guilty for carrying the professional procrastinator title and it is not that I do not do it now, but for some months I decided to take better advantage of my time, managing my distractions that include a GIF of cats and a generic Buzzfeed test.
Aquí algunos consejos fáciles de cumplir que me han ayudado a sacarle más partido a mi día en los últimos meses, definitivamente un propósito para seguir puliendo en este año nuevo:/ Here are some easy-to-follow tips that have helped me to take better advantage of my time in recent months in order to stop being a procrastinator, definitely a resolution to continue mastering this new year:
🕐 1. PRIORIZE 🕐
El minimalismo puede ser algo más que un concepto para aplicar al diseño y a la decoración y hace poco decidí incorporar este principio a mis redes sociales. Reducir al mínimo y a lo esencial. Sigue sólo lo que te gusta, mantén lo que te aporta creatividad o diversión y elimina lo demás para disfrutar más tu feed o timeline (y de paso ahorrarte algunos minutos entre el contenido que te provoca menos emoción que un trámite burocrático). Otro tip es cancelar todas esas suscripciones a newsletters que consiguieron tu e-mail de forma misteriosa./ Minimalism can be something more than a concept to apply to design and decoration and recently I decided to incorporate this principle into my social media. Minimize to the essentials. Follow only what you like, keep what provides you creativity or fun and eliminate everything else to have a better experience with your feed or timeline (and in the process save a few minutes avoiding the content that cause you less excitement than a bureaucratic process). Another tip is to cancel all those subscriptions to newsletters that got your e-mail in a mysterious way.
🙇🏻 2. BE CONSCIOUS 🙇🏻
Sé consciente de lo valioso que es tu tiempo y de las consecuencias de dejar algo para última hora, descubriendo aquello que te retrasa cuando tienes una tarea pendiente./ Be aware of how valuable your time is and think about the consequences of leaving something for the last minute, discovering what delays you when you have a pending task.
5️⃣ 3. THE 5-MINUTE RULE 5️⃣
En mi búsqueda por hacer rendir más mi tiempo encontré la regla de los cinco minutos. Antes de rechazar hacer alguna tarea que te molesta piensa en si puede ser ejecutada en menos de 5 minutos y pon manos a la obra. Yo utilizo como cronómetro alguna canción y trato de terminar la misión en ese lapso de tiempo./ In my quest to make myself more productive, I found the five-minute rule. Before rejecting any task that bothers you, think about whether it can be executed in less than 5 minutes and get down to work. I use a song as a stopwatch and I try to finish my mission in that period of time.
💙 4. DO IT WITH LOVE 💙
Muchas veces postergamos una tarea que no nos hace ilusión, reemplazando la obligación por GIFS de gatitos reaccionando ante pepinos. Harvard recomienda unir lo que nos gusta con lo que no. ¿Te da pereza responder esos emails? Hazlo mientras te tomas una taza de café. ¿No quieres limpiar la casa? Pon un podcast divertido o una playlist de gustos culposos./ Many times we postpone a task that does not excite us, replacing the obligation with GIFS of kittens reacting to cucumbers. Harvard recommends uniting what we like with we do not. Are you lazy to answer those emails? Do it while you have a cup of coffee. Do not you want to clean the house? Put a funny podcast or a playlist with guilty pleasures.
📒 5. SCHEDULE 📒
No importa si eres de los que aman las agendas (como yo) o los que prefieren anotar la lista de tareas en una simple hoja de papel, el hacer una lista vuelve todo más formal en lugar de tener las ideas en una nube en la cabeza./ It doesn’t matter if you’re one of those who love agendas (like me) or if you prefer to write the list of tasks on a simple sheet of paper, making a list makes everything more formal instead of having the ideas in a cloud in your head.
Otro tip que también me ha funcionado es incluso programar mis distracciones (como ver Instagram un número limitado de veces al día) para no abusar de mirar el móvil sin motivo./ Another tip that has also worked for me is to even program my distractions (like watching Instagram a limited number of times a day) so as not to abuse looking at the phone for no reason.
Hay algunos que sugieren cosas más radicales como apps que limitan el tiempo que pasas en Instagram o en Twitter, pero para mí el prohibir las cosas siempre ha sido un aliciente para caer en la tentación./ Some people suggest more radical things like apps that limit the time you spend on Instagram or Twitter, but for me to prohibit things has always been an incentive to fall into temptation.
Al final del día no podremos evitar caer en un vídeo de cotilleo de Youtube o en una conversación sobre el tema de moda en Facebook, lo importante es poco a poco ir puliendo la actividad para fijar nuestra atención en lo que verdaderamente importa./ At the end of the day we can not avoid falling into a Youtube gossip video or participate in a conversation about a trending topic on Twitter, the important thing is to gradually polish the activity to fix our attention on what really matters.
I love the tip about mixing it up a little by joining a task we don’t like with one that we do like. Having a cup of coffee is always a great idea because it can make a tiresome task seem more fun. For example, I don’t like to apply make up (or wear it), so when I do need to wear make up (for some special occasion, like attending a wedding etc) I usually have a cup of coffee while I do it and then I feel better about it. The same goes for doing my hair, I love my hair but getting that perfect hairstyle can take a while so I use coffee as a motivator.
Sometimes joining of two activities we love can also work. I, for example, often listen to audiobooks while I paint. I have some kind of addiction to literature and I really need my daily fix of good literature in order to function. Multitasking can be good as long as we don’t overdo it. There are some books that demand my full attention but most times I combine reading with other activities and it functions just fine. I listened to quite a few audiobooks while I was cooking & cleaning. As long as the book is not too demanding, I find that it doesn’t stop me from doing my daily tasks.
Thanks for stopping by Ivana! I’m glad you liked the tips and thanks also for sharing some of your useful tips with me, as you I like to listen to podcasts or audiobooks while I do a “boring” or a very repetitive task 😉
See you in the upcoming posts and congrats on your blog comeback!
This is so cool and I actually feel like this is written for me LOL haha
I’m also a procrastinator but I do finish my work or else I won’t have a salary. I also do the things that you do – Buzzfeed and Instagram. How they take so much of my time haha
Thank you so much for this creative and very informational post Pablo. This is so helpful especially for younger people with lesser attention spans.
love lots,
Tin
Hey Tin, thanks for stopping by!
Hope you can use some of these advices in your real life. Instagram, Buzzfeed and similar apps/websites are time killers but there are many way to resist the temptation haha, I’m still on the way to avoid them even more in order to be more productive, but one step at time 🙂
Love lots, xx
Yes this can happen to anyone, haha I always think of that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and George have to get down to writing the TV script for their show about nothing and they do everything to avoid sitting down and doing the work. It was hilarious but so true!
Great tips here. That is one thing my professional design training taught me–discipline. No one is going to do the work for you.
Allie of ALLIENYC
http://www.allienyc.com
Thanks always for your kind comments, Allie! Always a pleasure to hear from you and to have your feedback on Hey Fungi 🙂 As you mentioned, no one is going to do the work for you so we must learn that time is our must precious and valuable resource.
Have an awesome week ahead!
Ay Señor, Procrastinar resume mi 2017 :p de todo lo que dijiste creo que necesito conseguir un agenda y ya de a poco seguir con los otros tips, aunque ya de a poco estoy empleando la filosofía del minimalismo todo lo que conlleve menos estrés es bienvenido
these are great tips! I’m definitely going to be taking your advice!
http://www.prettyinleather.net
I’m a professional procastinatior too but I’m so ready to deal with it this year – so thank you for this post babe. I’m going to try the 5 minute rule and also sort out everything that’s not helping me in my life. Like, less subscriptions, social media and youtube and more work. Have a lovely 2018 babe, sending so much love! Xx
http://www.thefashionfolks.com
Glad to hear that you’re taking advantage of these advices 🙂 It is definitely a difficult ability to master but I promise after a month you’ll start seeing some results 😉
The best for the new year for you too!
¡Me encanta! justo en este momento terminé mi plan semanal, tengo mi agenda llena de papelitos, recordatorios y notas para no andar perdiendo el tiempo.
Haré eso del minimalismo de redes sociales, creo que me viene bien hay muchas cosas que ya no me interesan y siguen ahí.
Me fascinan tus fotos <3
Abrazo
Hola Stef!
Creo que es lo mejor que puedes hacer, o al menos es una técnica que a mi me ha funcionado y también me establezco ciertos días o horas para tratar de terminar las cosas a tiempo. Suerte! (Además con la agenda de Bando seguro que te es más sencillo con lo bonita que es jaja).
Lo del minimalismo en las redes sociales parece una tontería pero créeme que unos minutos a la semana si que te va a ahorrar (aplica para FB, TW, IG, Etc, etc. jaja).
Abrazos!
Loving your tips! I definitely struggle with procrastination sometimes. I try to set my priorities and use Pomodoro technique. I find it the most helpful way for me to do the work and take occasional breaks 🙂
-Leta | The Nerdy Me
Thanks for sharing your opinion with me, Leta. Promise I’ll look out for the Pomodoro technique 😉
I need to use the minute rule more often !
Such great advices.
I need to be more active this year.
xx,
Margot
https://troughthepasturesofthesky.com/
Iba leyendo y diciendo qué bien si me aplico todo Já, hasta que he llegado al punto de los 5 minutos. Y oye, que me lo voy a plantear eh porque no veas. Y yo sin agenda no puedo vivir porque vamos hago tantas cosas que sino, no podría con mi vida ajjaa. Un abrazo querido
http://caritrini.blogspot.com.es
Great tips on how to stop procrastinating – I especially like your five-minute rule, what a fantastic idea! It is so easy and tempting nowadays to waste time on the internet so this is really great advice, perfect for the new year!
Your blog is literally my favourite at the moment, I literally adore everything you post. I bet it takes you absolutely forever to type out your post in both English and Spanish, but I also kind of love it because I’m learning Spanish and it’s great to be able to read a blog in both languages.
Anyway, I can say that I’m pretty much a pro at procrastination, especially since starting university. I always end up Googling something and then ending up an hour later looking at memes, and it’s to detrimental to getting stuff done. Making something a priority is one of the key ways to make sure I get something done, especially if I know the consequences of looking at Instagram instead.
I’ve never really heard of the five minute rule, but it makes so much sense that I’m kind of surprised it’s not something lectures tell us prior to exams and the like. It makes sense, and is something I will definitely try next time I find myself procrastinating.
Amy;
Little Moon Elephant
Hey Amy, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your kind comment, it made my day and it is definitely a motivation to keep pushing my creativity to create more content for the blog. Drafting and translation is kinda complicated sometimes but I’m happy to know that this is helping you to improve your Spanish
Honestly, sometimes I lost so many time on Internet and then… I don’t work! It doesn’t happen everytime, but somedays I don’t do anything! Even today I read someone saying that left Facebook, was going to remove the email from newsletters and stop watching news, because she was feeling that all of those things were making her loosing her way! 🙂
Kiss*
http://www.fine-alchemy.blogspot.com
Thanks for your comment and feedback Ana! So glad you stopped by the blog 🙂
Pablo, cuánta razón! jajajaj me declaro una también 🙁 pierdo el tiempo todo el tiempo jajaja así tal cual pero este año igual me propuse mejorar la cosa porque sino no haré nada y después me andaré quejando. Por ej aplico lo que tu dices: colocar música, doblar mi ropa, lavar el servicio, pongo serie y ordeno y así porque es lo que me da mas flojera pero debo hacerlo jajaja y estoy aplicando lo mismo respecto a mi tiempo de estudio, y así… ya veremos a mitad de año como vamos!
Un beso!!!
No te preocupes Clau, creo que es uno de los problemas más notables de nuestra generación pero supongo que a mi mamá también se le iba el tiempo entre la radio, la televisión y otras cosas jaja, pero siempre estamos a tiempo de ponernos manos a la obra 😀
No te prometo que estos tips hacen milagros pero sin duda a mi me han ayudado muchísimo, al final las cosas no se hacen solas pero estoy seguro que podrás superar esta manía jaja
Besos y mucha suerte!
Hey Fungi!
These are some lovely ideas. I think with time I’ve gotten really good at managing it more well and spending it on things I really enjoy doing. If I don’t enjoy it as much, I just turn up the music and get going. Also, like you said it’s really good to prioritize things and even make lists…
Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend! Talk to you soon!
http://www.fashionradi.com
Thanks for stopping by and share your feedback with me Radi! Glad to hear that you’re good at time management, actually one of the most hard abilities to master nowadays I would say, so cheers on that!
Great post!!
I am often confused by lots of task, but I’ll try again!
It is very nice idea using five scone music for a task!
Thank you, Fungi <3
akiko
Hey Akiko! Thanks for stopping by and let me know if the 5 minutes technique is useful for you 😉
Este post, maravilloso como todos y cada uno de tus post, me ha enamorado! Soy procastinadora de profesión, así que me tomare más de un consejo de los que das…!
Gracias Pablo! Grandes palabras, llenas de tu bella creatividad!
Un abrazo,
Paz
Gracias Paz, me alegra tanto que el post te haya dejado algo bueno, además creo que todos los tips son más o menos fáciles de seguir y te juro que funcionan (no hacen milagros, pero si una diferencia).
Besos!