Things You'll Need:
- Things to occupy yourself
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Step 1
Think of and list alternatives to doing what you needed to do. For instance if you need to write a report, think of other things that you can do to look and keep busy without having to work on that report. You can list things such as clean up your area, send important emails or make phone calls.
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Step 2
Schedule out times that you will do these activities. For example you could set aside time in the morning to clean up and time in the afternoon to send emails and make calls.
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Step 3
Give the appearance of being busy. Leave sites open on your computer or papers on your desk. If someone walks by you can look at the sites or read through your papers. This will help to keep you occupied.
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Step 4
Do a little work related to the activity that you want to put off. For example write an introduction paragraph for your report, that way if anyone asks you can say that you are still working on it. You can also leave this document on your desk or open on your word processor on your computer screen. That way if someone walks by they will see that you have been indeed working on it.
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Step 5
Always leave yourself an "out" or an activity that you need to do if the topic of your procrastination comes up. For example if someone asks if you are done yet you can reply "I am still working on it, but first I need to get this box to the post office before they close for the day, it needs to go out today." There you have it, you have your "out."
