Avoiding
Procrastination

Wrench in the Gears

Procrastination is a great way to ruin even the best laid plans.  Avoid putting a spanner in your own work.

Self Sabotage

In certain ways, procrastination is the antithesis of self love.  If you care about yourself, prove it with deliberate action.

For those struggling with procrastination:

Let’s start with the best advice up front.

Just get started.

Oh wait.  We’re talking about procrastination.

Getting started is the issue, isn’t it?

Once you get over the hump, Momentum often takes over.  It’s usually the initial step that gives us so much trouble.

So how do you take that first step?

Then, how do you make a Habit of taking the first step?

We know that Motivation alone is not enough.  Even when you feel motivated, it can be difficult to summon the Willpower to do what you know needs to be done.  You can’t discount its value.  But you can’t depend on it either.  So let’s table the motivation discussion for now.

Instead, let’s talk about a few strategies that can help you beat procrastination in both the short and long term.

In the short term, there are a few things you can do to help you get started on that project you’ve been putting off.

First, eliminate Distractions.

If you make the task at hand your only real option, you increase your chances greatly.  Distraction and procrastination are like the dastardly duo of anti-productivity.  They work together to sabotage our best intentions and most well-laid plans.  Remove all alternatives to the work and the work will inevitably get done.

Second, manage your Commitments.

Don’t commit to too many things.  If you do, you’ll probably end up doing the easiest ones first—not the most important.  Furthermore, commit to the smallest piece of the first step.  For example: if you’re trying to write a book, commit to the first sentence instead of the first chapter.  Or, if you’re trying to do fifty push ups commit to doing one push up instead of the whole set.  This is a great way to make any task less intimidating.  You may not end up completing the chapter or doing all fifty push ups, but you’ll almost certainly write more than one sentence and do more than one push up.

Third, learn how to prime yourself for success.

Priming is one of Tony Robbins‘s best concepts.  It basically means prepping yourself for the day or a specific task.  The right priming routine can help you reach and sustain Peak State more easily and reliably.  Affirmations, Visualization, Meditation, and Journaling are all great practices that can help you get into “the zone.”  Find a combination of these (or other Tools of Overachievers) that work for you and add them to your Morning Routine for maximum effect.

When it comes to the long term, you’ll want to program yourself to resist procrastination altogether.  Turn your procrastination habit into a procrastination allergy.

Of course, this is more easily said than done.  Self Brainwashing is not always straightforward.  But it is always rewarding (when done correctly).  Aside from turning the tools listed above into daily Habits, one of the most powerful things you can do to align your actions with your inner desires is to Set Goals.  After all, proper goals are essentially the compass for your Hero’s Journey.  Make sure that compass is calibrated correctly.

You need to know what you’re chasing if you ever want to catch it.

To take things a step further, give yourself something to run from.  Fear Setting is the “stick” to goal setting’s “carrot.”  When used together, they have the potential to make you unstoppable.  Jordan Peterson puts it nicely when he talks about slaying the dragon while it is still young [add to videos and anchor link it].  It requires less effort and you’ll sustain fewer injuries.

You already know that letting your work build up is a losing strategy.  Playing catch up sucks.  You create your own Adversity when you procrastinate.  That makes you your own antagonist.  Don’t do that.  You’ll feel better if you just get it done (or just get started).  So not only will beating procrastination help you reach higher levels of Achievement, it is also good for your mental health.

As Benjamin Franklin put it:

“Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

Another strategy that may help is “precrastination.”  This is the concept of completing tasks as soon as possible, even if requires extra effort or lowers the quality of what you produce.  In essence, it is better to get it done poorly than to not get it done at all.  While it may require you to go back and touch things up, it can all but eliminate the stress of last-minute work.

Finally, scheduling can be a simple yet powerful tool in the fight against putting things off for later.  There are many related Productivity tactics, such as the Pomodoro Technique, Daily Goal Setting, Habit Tracking, or Gamification.  But the most reliable solution may be to pack your schedule so full that you don’t have time to talk yourself out of doing what needs to be done.  Eventually, you might even get to the point that Jocko Willink describes when he says that the only thing you should procrastinate on is taking a break.

You already know the truth:

Procrastination is a dream killer.  And while it may seem like some pernicious outside force, it is ultimately just inside your own head.  Only you can beat it.  Regardless of what plans you devise to beat it, in the end you just have to do the damn thang.  Luckily for you, you can do it.

My Procrastination Posts