7 | Free From Procrastination
What is procrastination?
Procrastination, or the ‘I’ll do it tomorrow disease’ as I call it, is when you keep postponing or avoiding a task even though you have the time and the resources to get it done. Professional procrastinators have a habit of doing things last minute, which shows, because the finished product is almost always superficial and has no soul. Procrastinators are usually more prone to stress and anger issues, especially as deadlines approach. They have a hard time in their education, relationships and work life.
Causes of procrastination
I don’t think it’s possible to pinpoint the exact cause of procrastination, but I suspect it’s a combination of factors like:
Perfectionism
Lack of Motivation
Poor time management
Self-doubt
Imposter syndrome
Lack of knowledge
Or worst of them all, doing something you don’t like
Being proactive
You shouldn’t have to live your whole life as a procrastinator, there has got to be a way to free yourself from this awful attribute, a lot of people have. So, let’s dig in and look at some of the ways that seem to work quite well.
Organise – whenever you start a task, you need to organise yourself and have all the appropriate resources and know exactly what needs to be done. Being disorganised serves as a colossal mental block. I talked about this in a previous post, click here to read it.
Walk it off – Studies done at Stanford have shown that going for a walk can boost your creativity. No wonder why Einstein, Darwin, Steve Jobs, Beethoven and many others all loved walking so much; Darwin apparently walked for 2 hours every day.
Timing – Determine when you are most productive and aim to get work done at those times. For a procrastinator, these ‘productive times’ are few and far between, so it’s vital that you block out any interruptions. It’s your job to create an environment where nothing can distract you. So that means mobile phones need to be switched off, or on flight mode…in other words, no one should be able to contact you and you shouldn’t be getting anywhere near your emails or social media accounts. It’s only for an hour or so, you’re not going to die!
80/20 principle – You’re 80% done once you’ve completed the vital 20%. There are two ways to look at this:
Completing 20% of the important tasks is responsible for 80% of the results
Completing 80% of the trivial tasks is responsible for 20% of the results.
When you’re baking a cake, don’t waste your time thinking about the cream and the cherry on top, instead, focus your attention on preparing the doe and sorting out the base.
Peck n’ Nip – You’ve delayed it all till the last day and the thought of just how much you need to get through frightens the living daylights out of you. So, what do you do? Whinge and complain, blame the universe and dish out yet another hit-or-miss, substandard piece of work. You could totally avoid this if you could just get yourself to peck (just like birds) at the work and nip away a little bit each time. Spend 30-45 minutes a day and you a can turn things around.
Break it down – The task at hand is huge and your brain is already whispering in your ear, “give up, this one is not for you. Do you even realise how much you need to work for this? OMG! If I were you, I’d just leave it for now”. Classic. What you need to do is break down those ‘huge’ tasks into smaller tasks or sub-tasks. These smaller tasks are going to be less intimidating and a lot easier to get through. When you see that you are making progress, it’s going to motivate you to take on more and eventually get the whole lot done.
Blocking – Most people’s concertation begins to wean off after about 30 minutes. So, what do you do? Follow it with a short break. This is great, a procrastinator can easily work for 30-minutes. If you can aim to do 2 or 3 blocks of it a day, even better! Download a pomodoro app, I recommend Brain Focus Productivity Timer and Forest: Stay Focused. I wrote more on this in my previous post.
Reward yourself – You’re craving pizza? How dare you! You really want some ice-cream? Naughty! You want to order a takeaway tonight? Scandalous! Repeat after me, “I will only order a pizza if I can finish writing another 500 words (or revising for another hour etc)”. Reward yourself, yes, but under specific conditions. I know people who can write a book overnight for a slice. Get the job done, have a reward. Want more rewards? Get more work done. Operant conditioning, baby.
Sleep more (or less) – There is literally no point in_____if you’re tired. Get enough sleep, no one needs your half-hearted engagement. I say ‘enough sleep’ because for many procrastinators, this would actually mean sleeping less. It turns out oversleeping also makes you groggy and lazy. Learn to sleep like a baby and unleash its full power. Click here to read my piece on how to master your sleep.
But why? – Talk to yourself. Have your daily soliloquy (finally used this word!). Ask yourself why you need to do this, what benefit does it have, how is it in your best interest. The answers are hidden within you, but when said aloud, it will motivate you. Just imagine all the positive things, think of the end-goal, visualise the happiness that lies on the other side. These will be driving forces that take you closer to finishing line.
Easy does it – The hardest step is the first step and if the first step is difficult then you’re doomed. I know this kind of contradicts my 4th point but sometimes you just have to go with the easiest first. It’s easy and can be done relatively quickly. Result! Completing multiple easy tasks can bring about the necessary thrust to propel you through the more difficult and cumbersome tasks ahead.
Not to-do list – When you compete tasks, add them to your not to-do list. You will see, at the end of each day, that your to-do list is getting shorter and your not to-do list is getting longer. This is going to convince you that you have the power to get through your entire to-do list.
Say no to perfectionism – We are perfectly imperfect, just accept it. You’re never going to be flawless so have no fear about making mistakes; they are a part of the human disposition and it’s through mistakes that you hone your craft.
Onwards and upwards, 🚀
Enes.