How to Overcome Procrastination

Okay, admit it. You just love to procrastinate, don’t you? If you didn’t enjoy it, then you wouldn’t choose to indulge in it, right? It’s your guilty pleasure, that you just can’t resist. There are of course always more important things to do. But for one reason or another you always end up finding ingenious ways to ignore all that important stuff in favor of procrastination. You of course don’t call it procrastination, you instead call it planning, preparation, rest and recuperation. But the honest truth is, it’s all procrastination. And you will never overcome procrastination unless you admit to your guilty pleasure.

Why do you procrastinate? What’s the actual reason? Procrastination doesn’t all of a sudden come out of nowhere. You procrastinate because of a very specific reason. And that reason often comes in the form of a trigger of some sort that encourages you to choose to indulge in procrastination. To overcome procrastination you need to identify these triggers and put a stop to them. For instance turning on the television, grabbing that snack from the fridge, or responding to that text message are examples of typical triggers. But just as there are triggers for procrastination, there are also triggers that inspire motivation. What are they for you?

To overcome procrastination you need to get very clear about what it is you want. In other words, what is your goal? What would you like to achieve in this instance? What is your objective for this project or task you are working on? Knowing what you want will help keep you focused on what needs to get done. However, knowing what you want typically won’t be enough to avoid procrastination. You also need to outline the reasons why you want to achieve these things. Why are these things important? How are they relevant to your life? What will accomplishing this project or task allow you to do? What’s the value in all of this?

The reasons you outlined within the previous step will only take you so far. Yes, they will inspire you to take proactive action toward your goal, but to overcome procrastination you need a little more leverage. That leverage comes in the form of pain mixed in with pleasure. You clearly already understand the value of what you’re doing. That’s the pleasure part. Now consider for a moment the consequences of procrastination and how that will impact your life in the short-term and long-term. What will you potentially miss out on if you choose to procrastinate? What will you be unable to accomplish if you indulge in your procrastination session today?

Now that you have the necessary motivation to push and pull yourself forward toward your goal, it’s time to take a moment to draw up a plan of action. This of course basically means outlining what you will do, how you will do these things, and when exactly you will get started. You must however be very decisive, and prepare this plan of action quickly without turning it into another one of your procrastination indulgence sessions. What can be quite helpful is to create a to-do and a not-to-do list. The to-do list highlights all the things you will focus on. The not-to-do list outlines all the things you will avoid indulging in.

In order to fully cure yourself from procrastination, you need to start working with both urgency and purpose. However, it’s important that you don’t push yourself too far, too quickly. Beating procrastination is a marathon, not a race. To overcome procrastination you need to break old patterns of behavior and establish new habitual patterns that inspire you to take consistent proactive action toward your goal. Working in 25 minutes spurts and then resting for 5 minutes is a good way to start a good productive cycle. However, rest only when you’re done with each cycle, not when you’re feeling tired. That is the key to beating procrastination.