How do you get started on a task that you have been procrastinating on?

If you mean what kind of push it takes to overcome the resistance that has set in, sometimes it’s putting it alongside an even worse task I’ve been putting off even more.

Most often, though, it is the galvanizing fear of an almost immediate deadline.

If it isn’t a task that comes with deadlines, then I’ll go with a combination of guilt, relative greater or lesser awfulness, and, sometimes, an actual reward on the other side.

I assign myself a deadline that I have to adhere to. For example, if it’s housecleaning, I invite people over so I have to get it done.
I set up an accountability factor.

I break it down into smaller pieces and pick a piece to do. After that’s accomplished, I pat myself on the back, and then I move on to another small piece.

I don’t.

My wife tells me I put the “pro” in procrastinate. Usually there is a critical juncture in time where whatever “it” is cannot be ignored any longer with a good outcome. That’s when it gets dealt with if it is something I don’t want to do. Sometimes I’m more of a “just get this over with” type.

I do as @Hawaii_Jake does. I tell myself, I’m just going to do this much tonight and then take a break. Sometimes I get involved enough that I keep going. If it’s a writing task and I’m going to take a break, I’ll write the first sentence or so of the next bit so that I don’t lose the thrust when I return.

If I have several things to do and one is make me most anxious, I try to get that one done first; then the rest don’t seem so onerous.

I think I could win Gold at the procrastination olympics. I’m a shocker. The only way I can manage it is to do a little often. I try to get started with enough time to finish things, and I do some work on whatever task it is pretty much every day. At the moment I’m working on a paper and the deadline is looming!

As others have said I break the task down into manageable sub tasks and arrange a schedule for getting each bit done. Alternatively I put off until tomorrow – indefinitely.

I tell myself the same thing I tell my grandson – “DO IT! RIGHT NOW!”

Depends what it is and why I’m procrastinating. If it is an emotionally charged reason that is causing me to be afraid, I might take a Xanax if I have one handy. I rarely have them handy. Once every few years I used to ask for ten from my doctor for intensely stressful times. I wish I lived near that doctor now. Another thing I do is talk out what need to do with a friend or my husband.

If I’m procrastinating just because I hate the task, I try to break it into little steps and do what I can to make the chore not so dreadful. Like, cleaning the house I might call a friend while doing the chores so it’s not so lonely and my mind is focused on the conversation.

Nike.
Just DO it.
Call yourself out, and just start DOING it.

Thank you all. My way of getting over the hump was to put this question out there. Just hearing that others struggle with procrastination helped me a lot. I started breaking the GIANT, LOOMING task down into smaller pieces. I started with an easy one, and then I could move on. I was amazed that once I tackled it, the task did not seem so overwhelming.

@marinelife, I find the hardest thing is getting started. I sometimes use a timer and tell myself to work on whatever it is for just 10 minutes. It’s amazing what you can achieve in 10 mins. And usually, once you start , you keep going for longer.

OH, yeah, @Earthbound_Misfit, the timer hing is magic! I’ve been using the few minutes that the microwave is on for this or that task, it’s a great start!

Another thing that might work is setting a day and time to start the task. Time you know you will be free to start. Make the task loom over you instead of just hovering. So the taskis not hanging over your head, but you’re moving towards it.

Pleased you started your task, @marinelife, and even more pleased you found a way to manage it.

Sometimes I just don’t think about it. I just do it. I need to clean my kitchen floor and I know this weekend, I’m just going to get the stuff out to do it, and do it. I also keep in mind that the end result will be pleasing and that will help me get around to it.

With other things, it helps if I have a deadline. When I was in college, every paper I wrote was done at the last minute and every time, I’d say “This is the last time I’m doing a paper at the last minute.”

I was just thinking about this Q. The sun is coming up here, it’s Friday morning, and I was just thinking I hope I do everything I need to do today. I’ve had lingering items every day for weeks now. I feel like I’ve done so much, but never completing everything. Yesterday I had planned to change the address on my driver’s license and my voter’s registration or I won’t be able to vote! Didn’t do it. I will be doing that today.

One thing I know about myself is if I’m tired I choose to sleep over doing other things. If I procrastinate until late at night it won’t get done. I never crammed for exams late at night. All nighters would have probably resulted in me sleeping through the exam.

Doing something I don’t want to do works best during my optimal awake time, between 12–4 in the afternoon, and planning time for getting it done.

@JLeslie: Me too, about doing things late at night. I’m not one to clean the house at night (times I’ve done it are few and far between) and I never studied late into the night for a test. Maybe 11 pm is the latest I’ve studied.

I had a job at Barnes and Noble once where they wanted me to stay until closing, 11 pm. That lasted three days. 11 pm I’m in bed if I’m home and I consider it unofficially my bedtime. I may be watching TV till midnight or later, but my goal is to be in bed at 11.

@jca I tend to be a night owl and I work at night fairly regularly, but it’s not deadline work. It’s if the mood hits me work. Generally, afternoon is best for the news company I work for, because some documents I can’t be online the same time as other administrative staff, and most of them are in Europe. I also don’t pay reporters or invoice companies late at night. I really don’t want to deal with a mistake on an international wire, and I’m more likely to screw up late at night.

I also hate cleaning the kitchen late at night. Dishes will sit until tomorrow if I don’t get them done within a reasonable hour. Plus, if my husband is already asleep the kitchen noise wakes him up where we live now.