I am a procrastinator, in fact I have a PHD in procrastination. If any of you want to ever procrastinate on anything and don't know how to do it then come and ask me. I'll show you what to do.
So, how can I stop this procrastination? How can I get things going? Let me think about that and I'll get back to you tomorrow. No, just joking, here are ten ways to nip procrastination in the bud.
1. Think about how good it will be when you have finished the task. It is like when you finish at the gym and you walk outside and you feel great. Sometimes writing these blog posts can be testing but when I finally finish it, I feel good.
2. Break the task up into pieces. I see these blog posts as 12 pieces. An introduction, a closing and 10 ideas. So if I look at it I have done 3 pieces out of 12. That is 25%. That makes me feel good as I am that much closer to the end.
3. Taking the first step is most important. What is that Chinese proverb? "A journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step. I think for me, the sitting down part and thinking about what I am going to write about is difficult. But as soon as I figure it out then the first three or four ideas can flow at quite a rate.
4. Sometimes I like to use music. The music on occasions helps me concentrate or it can be quite inspirational as it reminds me why I am writing these blog posts.
5. I like to use my stopwatch on my iPhone. What does that mean? I divide my time up into 10 minute slots and I do a task for 10 minutes, then I do another task for ten minutes. Sometimes I have three things going on at once (who says guys can't multitask?) and it allows me to get things done instead of concentrating on one thing when I know that if it is going to take me so long then I will procrastinate on it.
6. This is something that I may do subconsciously , I don't know but I believe that you need to reward yourself for doing stuff. However, on the other hand if you don't do anything then you are not allowed to go out tonight and have those beers.
7. I think that I am very lucky. I have a friend who checks my progress and will praise me when I have done good work and give me a good kick up the ass when I become lazy and unengaged in my activity. Your friend is someone that you can use to bounce ideas off and also you can have your friend hold you accountable.
8. This is something that I don't do because a. I'm lazy and b. my schedule is erratic. I don't know what I am going to be doing from day to day but it would be good to be able to schedule in my blog writing time. For example from 8am to 9am I write my blog. I could have done this this morning but this is not applicable for me tomorrow morning as I have an early morning start at work. It would be good to have a routine however.
9. Of course an idea to beat procrastination, I'm not sure if it is good or not is to put the task away for a length of time and do something else productive. By this I don't mean watching TV or checking Facebook, I mean putting that task to one side and doing something else which would start the momentum that allows you to do the task that you have been putting off.
10. In the seduction community, they talk about the 3 second rule where if you see someone you are attracted to, you should obey the 3 second rule and go up to them and say hi. I wonder what the eliminate procrastination rule is. Maybe it is if you think about something to do then you have 3 minutes to start it. That sounds interesting. Maybe I should try it.
I hope these ideas help and if you are like me and struggle to get started then realize that you are not alone. I'm sure 99.99% of people have this problem of the course of their lifetimes. Don't panic, take a deep breathe and focus on what you want to do and achieve. I'm sure that you will get results.
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