How have you beaten procrastination?

Yes by just getting up and doing it and not over thinking a project. Once you start over thinking it you start delaying it. Just get up and start small and each small thing gets bigger.

Excess coffee and incoming deadlines.

This was posted by one of my favourite youtube subscriptions yesterday! He explains exactly how to do what you want to do! In an entertaining way too, he’s one of the most popular youtubers from Britain.

@jaketheripper I present to you… Charlie McDonnell

http://youtu.be/qjIsdbBsE8g

Managing procrastination won’t eliminate this behaviour . However maybe if you could really find out why you procrastinate and how it benefits you can. Doing what needs to get done ASAP or in order of priority or when it becomes so delayed it becomes a major issue are all behaviours we do for a reason. For me I found I procrastinate because of different reasons but the reason that has the biggest impact is when I dont want to ask for help or say I dont understand because I dont want to be seen as “not being able to don my job” or “someone that cant do something on my own”.. Once I saw that, I had to look at “why that was so bad, if it would happen?”. And then I needed to change how I looked at asking for help , clarification or plain saying I couldn’t do what was asked of me. Start there then next you may need to look at how procratinating has a payoff for you.. and yes I mean you get something out the whole process of procrastianting and what comes after that. Whether “what comes next ” is your appearances of helplessness or somoeone else saving the day for you or you just plain fail to succeed… Just a perspective , think about it.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s one thing to procrastinate on say choosing not to dust your ceiling fan for an extra few weeks, but, entirely another to procrastinate on not balancing your checkbook and becoming overdrawn or not scooping the cats litter box till it weighs 60 lbs. and the cats are crapping under your bed.

I only have one really bad procrastination habit, I even named it, procrasta-trash. lol

I HATE wheeling my giant garbage can up my long, steep driveway, so I only put my trash out every other week.

Modest procrastination is no big deal, let it go, but if you are procrastinating on things that can have really detrimental consequences I’d say you might need some therapy to unlock your resistance.

What you resist persists…and this includes trash. ;-)

Let me get back to you on that….

Seriously though, it is best to figure out when you start procrastinating. Also, understand that it happens to most of us – just to varying degrees.

Then you need to figure out why you procrastinate. People procrastinate for many reasons, such as: lack of motivation, disorganization, disliking the task, finding the task too overwhelming, being unsure of your ability to complete the task well, perfectionism, and so much more.

You then need to come up with a plan on how you are going to beat it.

Here are some examples:

- Sometimes, breaking a large task into several smaller tasks can really help. A shopping mall can be a good analogy for this. Larger malls are built with levels, twists, corners, etc.. for a reason. If they were built with all the stores lined up in one straight line ..most people wouldn’t spend as much time there. Seeing a very long line of stores just seems like too much work. So, malls are broken up into smaller chunks to make it seem like the store down at the other end isn’t as far as it really is. Viewing your task this way, in smaller chunks, can be extremely useful.

- Some people find that it helps to not plan out the task and just do it (this can help with perfectionism – just do it – you can always come back and fix/fine tune it after).

- To-Do Lists and schedules can come very useful as well (especially if a person is disorganized) – you can mark or sort them in order of urgency, such as when they need to be completed by. Marking a completed task off the list can give you a visual confirmation that you are getting things done.

- You can also use the 10 minute method, where you make yourself do the task for 10 minutes…usually, you’ll find that you have an easier time sticking with it, once you started, and end up spending more than the allocated 10 minutes. This gives you the motivation to keep that momentum going. It is important to realize that motivation doesn’t exactly precede action. I truly believe that action precedes motivation. The more you get into it, the more motivated you get. This repeats itself until you are done the task.

- Never be too proud or afraid to ask for help in an overwhelming task. This can make it so much more bareable to complete. You will be glad you did when all is said and done.

That is about all I can think of right now. I hope it gives you something to start with. I have had serious procrastination issues in my life. The things I listed above helped me greatly. I hope they make some sense…it can be difficult for me to morph my many thoughts into words :)

I honest to goodness believe that lethargy breeds lethargy. You just have to force yourself to do something, anything, just get moving. Once you get up and start doing, it does become easier. I have a sign on the wall that says “resist inertia!” I love it, yet here I sit playing on fluther. But in my own defense I will say, it is evening here and too dark to do anything outside, so the inertia has set in until morning!

I have a problem with procrastination when it comes to schoolwork. I often leave things until the last minute and end up super stressed. What I’ve tried to do is just suck it up and do it.

I think to myself I really don’t feel like working on that right now. But what do I do instead? I play Solitaire. Not worth it.

I’ve also realized that my work is so much better when I give myself more time. If grades are important to you, you’ll probably notice the same kind of thing.

So yeah, just suck it up and do it.

@rooeytoo

Right..one of the laws of physics, an object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest.

Much harder to re-launch the rocket than to keep it in motion. lol