The concept of Micro-Procrastination is fairly new among millennials. We’ve heard many times that millennials have shorter attention spans.

Procrastination is defined as “the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones.”

As we’ve moved into a faster and more connected world, what we do now to procrastinate has evolved into Micro-Procrastination.

Micro-Procrastination is the little things that you do that have nothing to do with your current task.

We have so many small things that we can do on our day-to-day that ends up getting us off-track without even realizing it. Now it’s come to the point where we do this (often unintentionally) just on reflex. You start off working on your computer, only to end up watching a 2 minute YouTube clip or reading a “5 Simple Ways to Avoid Procrastination” article on Forbes.

The issue here is that you’re procrastinating without even noticing. On the surface, you’re just watching a two-minute YouTube video or checking a short text. These few minutes end up stacking up, and without realizing it you’ve lost a whole 1-2+ hours worth of work.

Checking notifications, watching ads, Facebook notifications, checking your email – you can do these things so quickly that you end up interrupting your work flow without noticing it.

Alright, now how do I fix this?

It will take time, discipline, and is something that I struggle with even now, but one way to minimize Micro-Procrastination is by having specified times allocated for certain tasks. For example, after finishing a specific amount of tasks, give yourself that 5-10 minutes to do something else. Another way to do it is to set particular times where you would check all of your emails/notifications, and as soon as that time is over, you move on to the next thing regardless of whether or not you’ve checked everything.

Even while I write this article, I had this reflex that made me want to check my work-email really quick.

Many times you will feel that there just aren’t enough hours in a day to do enough work. By avoiding micro-procrastination, you can actually “add” 1-2 hours worth of work that you would’ve otherwise lost to menial tasks.

“Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and love on the “someday I will” philosophy.” – Denis Waitely

Follow me @Marwanalshafei where I spark rainbows within people’s subconscious and make the world go round n’ round.