7 Tricks You Need to Fight Procrastination
All the ideas and brainstorming in the world can’t help you if you don’t take action and do something about them. In any process of creation your greatest enemy is always procrastination. If you ever wish to be someone who actually achieves something, rather than one of the many who had all the best ideas, your greatest skill will need to be fighting your own procrastinating mind.
It’s a tough battle, but somebody has got to do it. Since it’s your mind that’s creating all the trouble, you’re volunteered for this skirmish whether you like it or not. Procrastination, writers block, all sorts of other creative blocks, and just plain laziness, they all happen so regularly because, face it, you’re brilliant. You’re so brilliant, that your brain comes up with these perfect and logical excuses for not doing things all the time and you just can’t argue with brilliant and flawless logic.
Be thankful that the world and human life, doesn’t actually function on logic. No sir it doesn’t. Look at a newspaper, any newspaper, and you will see hundreds of examples of brute force winning out over logic, so would it be so wrong to channel some of this barbaric brute force in a positive manner for once and use it to fight all that flawless logic that’s holding you back from world domination? I think not. So here are some fights you need to pick to get going and do wonders:
1] Fight mental inertia
Take the first step, no matter how small.
Your procrastinating brain is like a frozen engine on a cold snowy morning. You might want to get going and get a head start on the day, but it has different plans. Starting problems are often the most difficult to deal with because you start with nothing and you expect to end up with something. That’s a scary thought, so your mind refuses to budge.
One of my favourite ways to deal with this is to destroy the “nothing” state of affairs as soon as possible. If I’m working on a new project, I will create a new folder on the computer for it, and maybe a special text file to hold my notes and musings on the topic. Or, I might just list out all the requirements or aims of the project in my trusty old-fashioned notebook. Viola! Suddenly, you’re not starting from nothing. While it might seem like no actual progress has been made, you’ll be surprised how much easier starting will now seem. Now you have a folder to fill or an outline in a notebook to follow and everything flows from there.
2] Fight the fear of large tasks
Break it down and make a todo list of small steps.
Another aspect that often holds you back is that almost anything of significance you want to do is never simple. Any project or piece of work has a whole bunch of sub-tasks that require to be done. Your mind might be brilliant, but it is also easily confused. Simply trying to itemize the various things to be done in your mind can put you off the whole thing, because you can only hold so many things in your head at any one moment, and you’re not quite sure what to focus on.
This is why human beings invented paper. The best solution to this problem is to break up any large undertaking into its constituent steps. Now break those down even further until you have a long list of very ordinary and easy tasks to accomplish. Start at the beginning and go down the list, and before you know it you will be making great strides towards the completion of what seemed like an impossibly gargantuan job.
3] Fight the clock
If you think you don’t have enough time, give yourself a 10 minute deadline.
There’s never enough time in the day. You have thoroughly convinced yourself of this fact. After all, you aren’t exactly sitting around wondering what to do. There is always something to hold your attention, whether fruitful or otherwise. In this milieu of activity, it’s quite natural to come to the conclusion that there’s not enough time to tackle that much delayed symphony you were composing, because you never have an hour or two at a stretch to exercise your creative muscle. I say that’s rubbish!
One trick that I have found to work wonders in this situation is to give yourself ridiculous time constraints. In other words, if you think you don’t have enough time, give yourself less! You think you can’t work on that short story now because you need to go out in another 20 minutes? Excellent! Now give yourself a 10-minute deadline for writing, write like a mad person, stop, spend the next 10 minutes getting ready, and go out. I guarantee that you will be surprised by how much you got done when you return and look at what you wrote. This sort of forced urgency always works for me, and you will find that some of your best work in any field can come out of this exercise.
4] Fight the infinite research syndrome
Convert research into action by taking notes on paper.
My all time favourite internal logic for procrastination is when you convince yourself that you don’t know enough or have enough information to really get to work yet. So, you sit down to do some research instead. Aah!, the many days and months I have wasted doing research. I remember them fondly. Having the internet with its seemingly bottomless pit of information hasn’t really helped this situation any.
The problem with research is that it is often a passive activity. You sit there and click like there’s no tomorrow. A world of facts, data and images scroll past your eyes and you accomplish nothing. The way to fight this is to disconnect yourself a little from the mesmerising input. If you’re doing research on the internet, for example, make it an active process and get a little primitive. Keep some paper and a pen handy and don’t just save files, but take notes too. This makes research an active process. Taking notes and using more muscle than your mouse-finger forces you to think about what you are reading and make judgments. Also write down other impressions or notions that come to mind as you do this, and very often you will be excited to get away from this to implement some great idea that suddenly comes to you.
5] Fight distractions
If you convince yourself that you need to sit down, lie down, or watch some TV at a crucial moment, go do something completely different.
At around the half-way mark of any project or task, it is common to feel like taking a nap. Unfortunately, these naps can often last several days, and your half-completed task becomes cold and insipid, and seems impossible to go back to after the break. This is that dreaded fork in the road where some people chose to carry on bravely and the others choose to abandon the journey. This one point in the progress of any task is the single reason why so many people have so many half-completed pet projects that haven’t been touched for months, years, or even decades.
My solution: laundry. Well, I don’t necessarily recommend that you all do laundry. I recognise that some of you are best kept away from delicates and whites for the sake of well groomed people everywhere. When you come to this point of tiredness during a task, resist the urge to sleep, watch TV, or resort to some other form of aimless relaxation. Instead, do something completely different. Do something that is still an activity but something that you can do without too much thought. Water your garden, feed the cat, do the dishes, whatever. I choose to do laundry, because there is always some part of the process that I can take on at any time on any given day — putting clothes into the washing machine, putting them out to dry, putting the dry clothes away and so on. This keeps you active, gives your brain a rest, and you still get the satisfaction of accomplishing something that needed to be done. Once that is done go back to your main task and you will be able to get back into it refreshed and enthusiastic again. And you’ll learn a whole lot more about fabric softener!
6] Fight the finishing fluster
In the last stretch, hold your pleasures at ransom until you complete the task.
After the half-way stumble, the second and just as dangerous obstacle you can face is when you come to the very end of your chosen project or task. I’m sure most of you have had the urge, just before you finish something, to walk away from it for a breather. Don’t get me wrong, breathers are great, and necessary. But there are breathers, and breathers, and some of them can last forever. Here’s the other major reason there are so many incomplete pet projects out there. How many times have you heard yourself say, “It’s almost done, but it just requires some finishing touches?” How long have you been saying this?
Finishing something can become as much of an insurmountable challenge as starting it. The way I have found to get past this hurdle is one that I have heard mentioned by many others — a carrot on a stick. By the end of a long project wouldn’t you love to just sit back and watch that movie you’ve been waiting for for months? Well you can’t! Not until you actually finish anyway. Holding some personal pleasure for ransom until you finish a task works as a great motivator. It might seem brutal and unsavoury, but that evil genius you have inside your head doesn’t deserve anything less that ruthlessness sometimes, and you must be prepared to dish it out for the greater good.
7] Fight fatigue
Once you have finished what you set out to do, give yourself a well deserved reward.
What could be left after the task is done? As a designer, I learnt very early on that in any design, the positive space (the shapes and objects you are designing) is only as important as the negative space (the blank white space that surrounds your design). The same holds true for the process of tackling a task. The time you spend off the project is just as important as the time you spend on the project, and this is especially true for the time right after completion.
Remember those pleasures you were forced to hold for ransom in the end game? Make sure you now indulge in them. Read a book, watch a movie, sky-dive, whatever it is you were looking forward to doing, do it. And while you’re doing that, keep your mind completely free of all thoughts about work, todo lists, and projects. This downtime is not only helpful but essential in resting your brilliant mind before the next battle. The rested and satisfied genius within can lead to all sorts of flashes of brilliance when you start on your next project. But a fatigued and disgruntled genius within becomes an even more stubborn procrastinator. You don’t really want to take on that sort of brutal competition do you? After all, you just can’t argue with brilliant and flawless logic, especially your own.
Samir
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Ironically, I’m reading the Litemind list group project eateries instead of working on the DVD Review I have due.
Time to go with Number 2 – promise myself I just need to finish one section in the next hour and that’s it!
I’m off to write.
Good call Cynthia! Keep those sections of DVD review coming.
It’s ok, we all slip up sometimes … I always promise myself I’ll procrasatinate less tomorrow. Wait, I just realised that I might have invented meta-procrastination!
Your blog is really beautiful and your style is of writing is unique as well…. I’m glad I found it… stumbled the post!
Pearl, thanks for the stumble and the kind words about this blog. I’m glad you like it and I hope to see you around more often.
Who knew that my blog could win ardent fans in the 80 year-old men demographic! The things you learn from people’s blogs, I tell you. Shocking!
Hi Samir,
Thanks for this list of wonderful steps to killing procrastination.
It is indeed the number one success killer. Taking action is what matters, and you have rightly identified the few key reasons behind procrastination.
One more point I like to add is to ‘Fear your fear’ – many people also fail to start action because they are afraid of committing themselves only to fail later. As such, they keep putting off the goals even though they know the results is what they want to achieve.
Facing our fear is way to get over procrastination also.
BTW Samir,
I also want to let you know that you have my vote!
Good point you make about fear, Lawrence. It is definitely one of the major reasons for procrastination. It’s also a difficult thing to tackle directly because there is no simple piece of actionable advice that will universally help people overcome their fear. Although if anyone has any thoughts or input on this, I’m all ears. Facing your fear is certainly a great first step.
Thanks for the vote. I’m glad you liked this article. I wrote my voting post before I saw your comment here, and, strangely enough, you have my vote too! Great minds think alike.
LOL I didn’t think anyone noticed anymore! I’m just glad to have been accepted by the younger crowd…am learning so much from y’all.. its amazing
stay in touch!
I’ll be honest… I am one of the smarter students, but once I get into a cycle of procrastination, I find it very hard to get out of, even if there are important deadlines or exams coming up. I hope these tips helps, they make good sense anyway.
Najlaa, thanks for dropping by. I can understand your predicament, and as you can see from the other comments here, you are not alone.
The tips I put into this article were not from any greater source than my own personal experience. I simply sat down with the topic in mind and thought of the various tricks I use at various stages of a project to get it done. They may not all work for everyone, but some will, and the others might give you some ideas to find your own similar solutions. Try them out.
These basic tactics were of great help to me when I was at university, and they have been even more useful in all my years as a freelance designer. Procrastination is a tough nut to crack when you’re in a strenuous academic environment (studying Graphic Design certainly was that), but it’s even more of a danger when you are “your own boss” and there’s no one to force schedules on you. That’s when you can really mess things up.
As you say, these tips make sense, and I have certainly gotten great benefit from them. I hope you do too, and hope you realize the full potential of your talents.
Hi Samir – Fantastic article and entry in the writing project!
I particularly struggle with over researching and with finishing fluster. So, I appreciate your suggestions for fighting those bad habits of mine.
Thanks Sheila, glad you liked it.
Research is likely one of the most common stumbling blocks today, and the blame for it’s widespread effect lies clearly on the internet. The web makes it so easy to flit around from one information source to the next, never stopping to actually consider the information or evaluate it, that we tend to get side-tracked or completely lose track of what we set out to search in the first place.
I do hope you found some ideas here to kick that particular habit. I know I struggle with it on a regular basis, and it does require a good degree of vigilance to keep it in check.
hi samir, and congratulations! you were on my list, too. what really won me over was the lovely imagery you had on this list.
thanks for fixing the comments. tried to comment earlier, couldn’t, and was happy to see on litemind that you’ve now repaaired this problem.
Thanks Isabella. Happy to know you liked the imagery, because I have a tendency to spend a great deal of time finding “just the right” illustrations and photos to go with some of my articles.
Sorry for the delay in getting your comment to appear here. For some reason, even after the fixed errors, my site seems to have been convinced that you were a dangerous spammer and were not to be trusted! You aren’t, are you?
Hi Samir,
I wanted to congratulate you for winning the competition. Well done and judging by all the great comments you got here you also won some new readers.
All the best
Thanks Monika, and congratulations to you too on your win.
I’m glad so many people have reacted well to this article, and I’ll be even happier if some of them become regular visitors. You people are a very bright bunch and I would love to have you. Also, this way my sheer laziness about updating this blog sometimes can now be transformed into performance anxiety instead.
I do hope you are also one of new readers I have “won”, and hope to see you around often. Take care.
Great list! It takes a lot of focus and dedication to do any large work or to sustain momentum; however, it is easier than we think as you suggest. I’d like to encourage everyone to believe in their ideas and abilities. I was able to achieve a lot under extremely imperfect circumstances. See Whatever You Do, Think Again.
Usiku, thanks for visiting and for your kind words. Your site and your writing is a refreshing change, full of lyricism and hope — beautiful stuff.
I appreciate your bravery in taking on and completing your dream of writing a book. It is a dream shared by many, including myself, and to see someone who has accomplished it rather than simply thinking about it, which is what most of us do, is an inspiration.
My best wishes to you with all your endeavours.
Samir:
Congratulations on winning first place over at Litemind’s Group Writing Project!
Unfortunately I failed to vote even though I participated but I did like your post!
Keep up the good work Samir. You are making big difference.
Stepehen, thanks for dropping by and for your kind words. I’m not quite confident about me making a big difference yet, but we all need to start somewhere, and I try.
Your site has some very intersting material on it, which I will be sure to browse through later. Also, I think Adversity University is simply a great name.
Hope you visit here again.
I stumbled on this site while doing research for a project, seems like some good information. I will make sure to read it through tomorrow. I like.
Thanks for visiting, Trevis. Glad you liked what you saw. My constant endevour is to produce something that is at least interesting. Hope to see you around more often.
Though I like the concepts you express, your approach creates resistance.
When a bird is gliding it does not have its wings at a right angle to the wind rather their wings are parallel to the resistance and therefore float above it.
Martial arts teaches you that it is better to deflect than to block.
Though it may seem like semantics changing “Fight to Overcome” will make for a more powerfully impacting post.
I do agree that at the end of the day action is what defeats procrastination.
Rob, thanks for dropping by, and for your very insightful comment.
You’re right, it’s not just about semantics. The way you face a challenge, and the language and thought process behind your actions changes the way you deal with things. Having said that let us not be too enthusiastic to judge the fight as being automatically the more negative way of dealing with a situation.
I agree with you, a bird in flight does not fight the wind, but soars with it. However, a person stuck in the cycle of procrastination is not a bird in flight. They are a grounded bird, and sometimes perhaps even one that has yet to learn how to fly.
If you’ve ever seen a young bird trying to learn how to fly for the first time, it is rarely an elegant sight. It is a struggle. A struggle against the very real and completely irresistable force of gravity. To learn how to soar, the bird needs to first fight off its state of inertia. It needs to thrust itself against gravity itself. All fights are not negative, and some situations require a fight.
As human beings, we have been given a beautiful range of emotions at our disposal. Aggression is one of them. To blindly consign agression to the “evil” category would be to deny the reality of our existence. Agression is real, as is joy, sorrow, jealousy and the whole spectrum of human emotion. The trick is not to deny the baser insticts, but instead to control them and channel them when appropriate to accomplish higher goals. In my mind, that is the true meaning and the challenge of being human.
Brilliant!
Thank you very much, Samir, for 7 tricks. Very helpull for me. I did today in the office almost all stuff which was pending over a month.
I do enjoyed sense of humor in your writing.
Marina, thanks for dropping by and for making me feel very pleased with my self!
There can’t be a better compliment than to have someone say they found something you wrote useful, and that they achieved dramatic results with it. Of course, I’m assuming here that finishing any pending work in the office is always dramatic … and grand pianos play in the background, and divine light shines down on your desk from the heavens (AKA the boss’s/overlord’s office). I’m not much of the office type, so maybe this is just the hopeless romantic in me talking.
If I ever start one of those multi-million dollar self-help personal-motivation businesses, you can be sure your “testimonial” shall find an important place on miscellaneous book covers, and audio book covers, and workshop posters, and … you get the idea.
I shall end with a virtual toast to our future shared fame … on miscellaneous book covers, and audio book covers, and workshop posters, and I hope to see you around here more often. Does this mean I have to take my own advice and get down to writing more?
Keep in touch,
Samir
i think fighting the clock is the most important one. We tend to forget that we have less time than we think.
Thank you for the list. Just what I need now that I am on University break, with the need to keep motivated on all the projects that I wish to do throughout the holidays.
Hey, thanks a lot for writing this.. theres a lot of good insight into this article I swear that some of the things you mention here are really helpful and insightful. I’ve been struggling with school for the past 2 years and I decided that I need to take control of my habits NOW. Thanks for the help man, I really appreciate it.