How to stop procrastinating right now
Maybe you’re doing it right now. Procrastinating from something more important than this blog post. But I give you a free pass to read this blog post so you don’t procrastinate as much in the long run. Here are my tips on how to stop procrastinating right now.
Why we procrastinate
The main cause of procrastination is the fear of failure. This is especially true if you haven’t done something in a long time or ever before. Perfectionism is also a big reason you might be holding off. The 100% or nothing mindset is in all of us and dealing with it can be a journey on its own. The third big reason might be that you simply don’t have enough energy and focus at the moment and need to refuel by eating, sleeping or going for a walk. Finding out which of these three points is the reason you procrastinate is the first step.
Technique #1 – Just do it!
This sounds so overly simple but that is actually the key. Most of the time all we need to train ourselves to do is to just get up from the couch or the bed and do it. No excuses that you still need to do this or that. Give yourself no time to resist your own process. That’s how I started procrastinating less. Sure, I still do it, but in most cases I procrastinate because I’m low on energy or having a bad day with my mental health. Other than that this technique of just doing it really helped me. It sure takes a bit of time to train yourself to follow the technique, but it’s worth it.
Technique #2 – Start with the easy things
If you’re organized enough to have a to-do list for your day or your week, you should be able to list them not only by how urgent they are but also by how easy or quick they are to get done. You might use this technique already when cleaning. You start with something easy and fairly quick and that catapults you into a flow. If you have a full inbox, you might want to start by emptying your spam folder, unsubscribing from newsletters and answering the emails that seem like the least fear-inducing.
Technique #3 – Figure out your time management strategy
Testing out which type of time management works for you can be insanely helpful. Some people work really well in time blocks of 90 minutes, others simply go by the 80/20 rule and do the 20% of tasks that produce 80% of the outcome first. Some people use the Pomodoro technique (25min work, 5min break OR 50 min work, 10min break). I wrote a whole blog post with techniques that tend to work for most people HERE.
I also heard that it helps people with ADHD to not work in time increments and instead do things like “I clean the apartment as long as this album plays.” or “I’ll work on editing this as long as this podcast episode plays.”
Do it over and over again
The thing about anything in life that you want to work is: You need to repeat it. Humans are animals of habit. Procrastinating is simply a bad habit for some of us and changing bad habits comes with a lot of repeated work. Don’t forget that sometimes procrastination can be a sign that you need a break, but the time management strategies should help you a lot with adding breaks into your day. Please don’t burn yourself out either. We all strive for a healthy middle ground.
If you don’t only want to turn your procrastination habit around, but also improve your life overall, I have the right thing for you! You can preorder my full workbook guide on getting your life together & keeping it like that HERE and get a free mini-eBook on having a life admin day here:
To check out my full workbook guide on how to get your life together once and for all you can click HERE.
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How to stop procrastinating right now by Rabea
