Almost everyone is held down by what some call “the silent killer”. Procrastination strikes everywhere. We all want to avoid the pain or discomfort of doing something we feel is boring, stupid, pointless, hard, complicated, risky, possibly really emotionally painful and so on.
But even though we know that we will have to do it eventually and that we’re just deluding ourselves we still put it of. Often with reasons we know deep down are weak and we really just made up. We get stuck in a vicious circle of doing too little of both what we want and what we don’t want. We get stuck. Here are 7 ways to squash procrastination and move forward.
1. Recognize that there is more pain in procrastinating than not
If you have procrastinated a lot (like me) you might have discovered that:
You procrastinate to avoid doing something that is boring, hard or something like that. You want to avoid that pain.
But after having some experience with procrastination you’ll probably realise that procrastination itself causes your more pain than actually just doing what you were supposed to. Realising the true amount of pain in the two choices will make it easier to get things done.
2. Force yourself to do it before you really absolutely have do it…
…and your self-esteem will go up. And the next time you feel like procrastinating remember that you forced yourself, but that you felt better when it was done. There was a nice reward when you were done. Whenever you feel like procrastinating remember this to get you to start moving forward.
3. Create a flow
Instead of doing nothing, begin with doing something. Clean your desk, take out the garbage, wash the dishes. Just stack a couple of simple actions to create a flow, a momentum. When you’re in the flow, in that forward motion, getting started with what you have to do will be much easier. Also, cleaning up can get you too feel more motivated. A messy work-environment seems to often reinforce procrastination.
4. Get some leverage
Sometimes we procrastinate on things that aren’t just dull tasks in the office or school. Maybe you are stuck, not able to take the next step fearing some deep personal pain. If you are thinking about changing jobs or career or taking a next step in a relationship you are probably focusing on what could go wrong. Instead, get some leverage to both push and pull yourself forward.
How to: Take a pen and a piece of paper. Write down as many things as you can come up with that you will miss out on, not just now but the next few years if you don’t take this step now. Really dig down into yourself and feel that pain that you will feel not just tomorrow but in a year and the next five or ten years.
Then write down all positive and wonderful things you will experience if you take this decision and move forward to where you want to go. Think about them and write down all those things you will experience and feel, not just in the next few days but in one year, in two, in five years or ten. Get the stick and the carrot to work for you. And put the problem in a longer time perspective to really give it an emotional punch.
5. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time…
Don’t look at everything you have to do. One of the common sources of procrastination is feeling overwhelmed. Break it down into smaller tasks. Write them down as a list on a piece of paper. Focus on just getting that one small task or part of the big thing done. Then move on to the next. Take it one step at a time and don’t think about the rest. Before you know it you’ll be half way there.
6. Change your beliefs
The problems that repeatedly put you into a procrastinating state might disappear if you change your view on reality. Examine your beliefs. Ask yourself if you could see things in a more beneficial and effective way for yourself.
Realise you can choose you beliefs about yourself and the world. The past is not the future. You don’t have to hang to limiting beliefs based on past experiences if you don’t want to. You are here right now and you choose and can change your habits.
7. Make a small deal with yourself
Here is an effective one I first heard from Ed Bliss (well, actually now that I think about it I probably first heard it from a teacher back in school about ten years ago. It kinda rings a bell).
Here’s how you go about it: Promise yourself that you’ll work on something for just 5 minutes. After those 5 minutes you can do something else if you want to. But make a note on your schedule when you will come back to the task and work another 5 minutes with it. As Bliss notes, not matter how unpleasant a task may be, you can often talk yourself into working 5 minutes on it.
I’ve found this one to be effective to make a dent in those tasks you have put of for a longer while. After you’re done with those first 5 minutes the next 5 minutes will feel a little easier. And after that the next 5 minutes will feel even easier. Or maybe you raise the bar to 10 minutes of work. Getting some actual work done on that task, if only for 5 minutes, gives you a rush of exhilaration. Making a game out of how much work you can get done in those 5 minutes can also be a small but in its own way fun challenge.
Very nice tips, thank you. I suffer a lot from this! Will try some of these out and see if it helps
Thank you! I hope it helps you out.
Thanks a lot for this article…gonna play the same game with my mind and see it it helps
Thank you, I really like the last tip - the 5 minute deal with oneself. Or even less time increments. I have been struggling with the overwhelmingness of larger tasks, or the vagueness of the word “study”.
Probably I can talk myself into doing a small step of a question, or use some colourful, attractive tools (mind maps
) in my study time to make it less daunting.)
Thank you for another valuable article.
I have read many articles about procrastination, but these tips are simply great! I am going to read this article every day until I finally knock down that evil procrastination
I have read, re-read countless times and I have accomplished something. Not much of significants for anybody else but it is for me. Thank You thats what I want express. I have read so many articles but yours was the best article.
Awesome. My procrastinating problems are so bad, that I just end up not doing the task at all. Thanks for the tips these are actually really good tips that I haven’t heard before.
i read the first 3 sentences, and decided to finish it later.
I think number 1 is the key to it all. Once we realize we’re hurting ourselves it becomes a lot easier to stop.
This looks like an interesting, so I think I will read it later.
I plan on reading this later.
These tips are great! I am notorious for putting things off until the last minute, hopefully these will help. Now if only you could stop procrastinating and install spell-check I wouldn’t have to hear about how to eat an “elefant.”
STEP 7. STOP PATROLLING REDDIT!
Pure Gold!
Thank you!
This piece is so encouraging.
Another thing to add to my todo list… Will it ever end?
I’ve bookmarked this to read later
Very good advice. Thanks!
I love your blog for its positive tips and help! And I especially love this post on procrastination. I suffer from it myself, so these tips are very useful. I linked to it on my blog.
Thanks!
What a great article, I loved all those tips especially the last one, very helpful. There was a good article in last week’s Guardian by Oliver Burkeman on procrastination. His tips were;
1) Motivation follows action - just like your second tip. Don’t wait to feel positive before doing something. Do it first and the feeling will follow.
2) Resistance is a signpost - so what you’re resisting is meaningful and that’s why it’s painful and contains fear. It’s a sign to persevere
3) Schedule leisure, not work - because procrastination is rebellion, plan your leisure activites and only record your work after you’ve done it so you’re not resisting ‘to do’ lists.
Thought these were all helpful too.
I really hope this helps me, been stalling my drivers license 4 ages now…..
Very good tips for helping anyone deal with and overcome procrastination!
very helpful! I’ll plan on following this guide until I stop procrastinating. Setting goals for myself hasn’t been a big problem, but working towards them is what determines a true winner.
Thank you for this!
-jess
Thanks for the tips I will try but I think I have a deeper and more serious case of not only procrastination but panic when I want to start any new task I know I can do it but I lack self confident. I am an engineer and stress is going to make quit the career. Is it worth to help me about it? I hope I get a response.
Thank you for posting this article. I also try hard procrastination as much as humanly possible and this article helps tremendously. My appreciation to you is in the highest sense.
To show you my gratitude I would like to share with you a post I found that also helps with procrastination: http://consciousflex.blogspot.com/2008/01/eliminating-procrastination-forever-in.html
Thank you indeed, please keep up the incredible work in helping others!
For implementing GTD you can use http://www.gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
Again excellent tips from a fantatic blogger!
Rhonda
www.inspirationforchange.com
I wonder how much of my procrastination is SELF PUNISHMENT? or LEARNED? OR NOT SEEING A ROLE MODEL?I wonder if it even matters? I just watched an ivy league graduation and gawked at these parents that must have modeled to most of these graduates a hard work ethIC norm.. NON PROCRASTINATION. A NORMAL POINT OF REFERENCE? . I need to break thru what I saw as normal..and face this demon thought clump…
This article was really helpful. Particularly point 2. I hadn’t thought the positive benefits on my self esteem before. I hope this helps me.
I struggle with procrastination in many areas of my life. I discovered iProcrasitate podcasts too. They are produced by a procrastination research group. Really gives some good insights into the psychology.
http://http-server.carleton.ca/~tpychyl/
I believe this article will really help me. Because of my stuggles with procastination I knew all of the 7 steps but have never been able to put them on paper. Now seeing and having this information on hand I hope it will really help me. Procastination has gotten so bad with me that I was begining to think that I needed help. I wonder if there are any procrastination management classes out there, if so I’m sure there are a lot of serious members. Now the only problem is not to procrastinate following the 7 steps.
I wonder how many of us are procrastinating as we read this? We tend to feel that this sort of procrastination is more justified because we are learning, which I think is true, but it’s important to know when to stop reading about procrastination and start working. I sometimes have problems with that. Anybody else?
damn neat an article…………..
i have A.D.H.D. i often end up procrasting after not being able to focus on one activity properly.i’d be glad if you could let me know more info to avoid procrastinating.
the worry being i’m great with the iq factor but my mind refuses to settle in one place.
I should have been doing homework but I read your article. Good or bad?
I suffered a frontal lobe brain injury years ago and my short
term memory gets hooped from time to time leading me to
procrastinate as I just don’t know where to start. The 5 minute
increment idea is one I can certainly get on board with right
away. They are all super. Thank you so much.