How To Overcome The Website Procrastination Blues

How to Overcome the Website Procrastination Blues Commit to Imperfection. This is mantra #1 for me. The website will not be perfect – not now, not ever. Find a Toe-Hold. I recommend you start with the home page. Pick a theme that feels right (at least for now), and then. Procrastination 11 Ways to Overcome Procrastination Easy tips to stop putting things off. Posted Mar 07, 2017. List the costs of procrastination. This tactic works best when you’re putting off larger tasks. While it’s not worth spending 20 minutes listing the costs of not going for your evening run.

You know what you need to do. But you haven’t done it yet. So you promise yourself you’ll get around to it tomorrow. You know what they say about tomorrow though…tomorrow never comes.

So that thing, that thing that you really need to do – it doesn’t get done. Yep, procrastination strikes again.

What is procrastination?

Procrastination is nothing more than putting things off.

It’s delaying, avoiding or ignoring something that you think is unpleasant.

You might be putting it off because you think it’s difficult, stressful, challenging, or maybe you think it’s just plain boring.

Basically, it’s avoiding something now, on the pretence that you are going to do it later.

Tim Urban explains procrastination wonderfully in his entertaining and insightful TED talk.

The most common way you avoid something unpleasant is by doing something else. It’s usually something you think is more enjoyable.

You replace what you need to do, with something you want to do. So you still feel like you are doing ‘something’ it’s just that the ‘something’ is not the thing you really need to be doing.

You might trick yourself into believing that the task you are doing now, is not actually procrastinating because it’s something that actually needs to get done!

Like cleaning. You might convince yourself that you shouldn’t sit down and do your taxes because it’s really important that you clean your oven – right now. And the linen closet really needs sorting too!

That’s not just ordinary procrastinating – it’s procrasti-cleaning!

I know I’ve been guilty of it many times. It’s easy to fall into the procrasti-cleaning trap because it’s so easy to justify.

So, how can you overcome procrastination? How can you move from avoiding to accomplishing?

It all comes down to getting started.

The first step is always the hardest. And it can be painful to do the hard thing. That’s why you put it off.

The irony is you procrastinate because you want to avoid unpleasant feelings, but the more you procrastinate the worse you feel.

Avoiding something doesn’t stop the unpleasant feelings – it just creates more unpleasant feelings. Feelings like guilt, frustration, panic, disappointment and regret.

7 Strategies to help you stop procrastinating and get started

1. Focus on your future-self.

It’s often easier to think about ourselves in the present moment – our present-self, and what our present-self wants to do, rather than our future-self.

It’s easy to lack the motivation to get started if you can’t see the consequences of procrastination in your immediate future. The further away you are from something, the easier it is to postpone the tasks you need to do to get there.

So when you find yourself putting off something yet again, think about your future-self. Think about how pleased your future-self will be once you’ve completed the task. Or how relieved they will be to have finally put it behind you!

2. Write down what you need to do & allocate time to do it

Seeing what you need to do in black and white makes it harder to ignore.

When you know that between the hours of 10 and 11 am you are going to work on your task it’s harder to argue with yourself about whether now is the right time to get started, or whether you should wait till you ‘feel like it’.

Trust me, you will never ‘feel like it’.

Tip: Allocate time to do it when your energy is highest

We all have times of the day when our energy levels are highest. For many people it’s the first thing in the morning, for others it’s in the evening. If you’re an early bird, schedule time to do the task early in the day. If you schedule it for when your energy is at it’s lowest you’ll be much more likely to try and convince yourself that it can wait another day.

While you’re at it, schedule time for a reward for when you’ve completed the task!

3. Give yourself a deadline

While there’s no limit to the things we can procrastinate about, the consequences of procrastination are worse for things that don’t have a deadline.

As Tim Urban explains above in his TED talk, the panic monster only appears and spurs you into action when there is a deadline, and when that deadline is drawing near. When there is no deadline there is no sense of urgency. And without a sense of urgency, you’ll keep procrastinating indefinitely. You’ll feel as though you’ll never fulfil your goals or reach your dreams.

If you need accountability, tell someone else your deadline and ask them to hold you to it.

4. Break it down into manageable chunks

Often the reason we delay starting something is that it seems so large and overwhelming. If it seems like a big mountain to climb, break it down into smaller tasks and just concentrate on starting the first one.

Once you take action, with that small step it will be easier to use the momentum to continue.

Every step, no matter how small, is a step forward.

5. Use a timer

Challenge yourself to work exclusively on your task, for a set amount of time. Even if it’s just for 10 or 15 minutes. You can do anything for 10 minutes, right? Treat it as a game and see how much you can get done.

The Pomodoro technique is a very popular and extremely effective time management technique where you use a timer to work on a task in 25 minutes chunks with 5 minute breaks in-between. Not only will it help you beat procrastination, but it’ll also help you stay focused and be more productive as well!

6. Minimize distractions

Distractions make it so easy to procrastinate. There always something else more interesting, or seemingly more urgent, vying for your attention.

If technology is your biggest distraction keep your phone out of arms reach. Put it in a drawer, or in another room.

Do you have a ton of tabs open on your computer? Close them all down, except the one you are working on.

If you find yourself distracted by chores or other things that you can see need doing, move yourself to another location. Go to another room or another part of the house.

Or get out of the house completely. Try working in a library or a coffee shop.

7. Ditch perfectionism

Perfectionism can stop you from doing many things, including getting started.

Do you put off starting because you feel you are not quite ready? Perhaps you convince yourself that you just need to do a little more planning, or a bit more research? Do you feel like there’s no point getting started if you can’t do it properly?

That’s perfectionism raising its ugly head. If perfectionism is holding you back, here are some strategies on how you can ditch perfectionism

Yes, planning is important, but if you want to actually get it done you need to take action. You need to stop planning and start doing.

Don’t wait for the perfect time to start. There will never be a perfect time. Get started now.

Need help beating procrastination?

A great way to overcome procrastination feel more accomplished is to schedule your tasks and to-dos to a specific time each day.

You’ll start your day with a clear view and a positive mindset of what can be accomplished in the time you have available to you.

Subscribe below to receive weekly updates from A Lovely Year, and you’ll get this free printable daily schedule.

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Here are ten tips to overcome procrastination and for overcoming those daunting tasks you’ve been avoiding, according to science:

Start with one.

The key to beating procrastination is focus. We often give ourselves too many things to do and get overwhelmed, which won’t help to overcome procrastination. Start by choosing ONE thing that you have been putting off and commit to completing that task next week.

Start today.

“The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They’re full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.”

Norman Vincent Peale

Once you’ve narrowed it down to a task, you need to take immediate action. Today. If you find it daunting or don’t think you have enough time to complete the task, do the Five-Minute Miracle below.

Five-minute miracle.

This is one of the best techniques for people who struggle with procrastination and wish to overcome procrastination. The five-minute miracle technique involves asking yourself; “Hmm, what action can I take in less than five minutes TODAY to make this progress even a little bit?” Once you have identified a small action, set a timer for five minutes and spend five minutes working on that task. Research shows that once you start something, you are much more likely to finish it. And, this is due to a psychological phenomenon called the Zeigarnik effect, which says that unfinished tasks are more likely to get trapped in your memory. (This is also the reason why our mind gets caught in a loop thinking about all the things we have not yet completed.)

Remember: Small action is still action. Five minutes can make a difference.

Do a power hour.

An hour of energy consists of saving all distractions and working in concentrated periods (I suggest no more than twenty minutes to start) followed by short periods of rest, to take advantage of the optimal performance of your brain and body.

Science has discovered that our brains naturally go through cycles with peaks and valleys. To maximize your performance, you must honor these peaks and valleys by balancing focused and focused time with relaxation and integration.

“To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.”

Sydney Smith

Kill him with kindness.

Research shows that the more you can forgive yourself for past procrastination, the more likely you are to get past your current procrastination and take action. Practice self-pity when you think of your experience procrastinating. So, be kind to yourself to overcome procrastinaiton.

Have a procrastination power song.

Pick a song that energizes you and play it when you want to tackle something you’ve been putting off. Then, the brain likes to have a trigger to create a new habit, and you are more likely to follow it when you feel good about your body.

Get under the hood.

Sometimes it can be helpful to understand exactly why you have put off a specific task. Are you afraid of something? Maybe you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. Complete the sentence; “I am avoiding this task because …” or “I am avoiding this task because I am afraid that …”. And look at what appears. Identifying your fears can help you realize that the monsters in the closet are not as bad as you think.

Let it go.

Most people put too much on their to-do list. One way to stop procrastinating is to decide that you will never do it. What can you remove from your to-do list? Try to cross something off your list simply because you realize you don’t need to do that … ever. Permit yourself to let it go.

Make a bet.

It can be very helpful to have a partner in responsibility. So, a fun way to take this one step further is to gamble with your friend. Choose a day and time within the next week to complete this task, and then tell your friend or colleague; “I will give you $ 10 / I will take you to lunch / I will buy you a coffee / I will see that horrible movie you have wanted to see / etc. if I have not completed this task by next Wednesday at 10:00 am”. Give your partner in charge a date and time within the next week and tell them that to redeem the agreed prize, they must register with you on that designated day and time. If you haven’t completed your homework by then … you owe them what you bet!

Make it fun.