Oh, good. You’ve finally gotten around to reading this. Admit it: you’ve procrastinated before. Whether you put off laundry day or filing taxes or finishing…
Break it down to small tasks and celebrate each accomplishment with a little happy dance.And Kim C. suggests “Only working on the project or task for 15 minutes. Get however much done you can. Then schedule the next 15-minute block a few hours away. That way you can tackle it in small sections and not feel so overwhelmed by doing it all at once.” That time limit approach is also rooted in science. The point of setting small, specific goals is to help you start a project—not necessarily finish one. AKA, you’ll have to employ other strategies to do that. Remember to focus on how much progress you’ve made on your to-do list instead of how many tasks are left.
A lot of people shy away from routines, systems, and frameworks because they want to have ‘freedom.’ I’m sorry to disappoint you: Freedom is your enemy.In that case, what rewards can you give yourself to get a task done? Money, a coffee break, leave early? What are the penalties you can enforce on yourself for not getting something done? Having a system in place that can keep you accountable goes a long way to keeping you on track.
Become better friends with the future you. To do this, you can create a ‘future memory’ by imagining your future self getting all the work done by a certain time if you start the work now.If you want a low-tech solution, you can send an email to your future self about how you’re currently feeling. It’s not a reminder email, but a reflection on how your current actions can make you better in the future. A tool like Mixmax or FutureMe.org should help do the trick. We could go on and on and on about procrastination and strategies to manage it, but it's starting to feel like we’re helping you procrastinate more. :-) So which strategies do you use to stop procrastinating, Ninjas? Comment below and then get off to work!
