How To Kill Procrastination For Good

How To Kill Procrastination For Good - No Kidding!

December 11, 2007

Procrastination, my friends, is the enemy of our success.

We tend to put off what we consider to be important, and we put it off because we think of it as a daunting task. The root of procrastination, hence, I believe lies in the fear of not being able to complete the important task.

Let’s suppose the most daunting task for you everyday is to produce a blog post. Chances are, you put off writing the post to the last possible moment. And sometimes you don’t even write it.

The worse thing about procrastination is that when you put off a task to a later time, you can’t do anything else in the mean time either!

Why does it happen?

Quite simply, your mind remains occupied by the thoughts of the delayed task, and you give yourself continuous mental torture until you complete the task.

I’ve written about overcoming laziness before, and the best way I could find to do it was “Just do it”.

This, indeed, kills procrastination. But the question still remains: How do you do it? Because when you are procrastinating, you simply can’t “do it”. This is the problem!

I hear you my friends. And here is a good news: you can pull off this feat with only a bit of discipline!

Do the task you’re likely to put off first every morning

Why do we procrastinate? Because we allow ourselves to immerse in other worthless activities and slowly withdraw into a passive mode, where we can not do physical or mental hard work.

The trick to overcome such a condition is to not let this condition overcome you.

Our habits are even more deeply engraved in our minds than the temporary condition of laziness, so it’s just a matter of forming such a habit that can redeem us from the curse of procrastination.

Try this recipe: Do your most important task first every morning, and discipline yourself to do so every morning for at least couple of months.

Ingredients: Discipline, Determination, and a deep desire to succeed.

Since you are a blogger, and I am supposed to be talking to you, here is what you should do: Write a post everyday right after turning on the computer, even before checking your email and stats. If you need some inspiration, OK go check your feed reader. But remember, you are checking your feeds for inspiration, so don’t click away. You’ll be lost in the blogosphere before you realize.

Do it for a couple of months, and I assure you, you’ll develop a habit of writing a post the first thing after turning on your computer. You won’t even remember you used to procrastinate!

Tags: blogging, inspiration, Life Hacks, Productivity, writing

15 comments so far and counting

Aaron StroudDecember 11th, 2007
A few years ago, I decided to stop procrastinating.

I’ve found that every day is a fresh battle where I have to renew my commitment to not procrastinate. I have a variety of strategies, but the key is to drop whatever I’m doing so I can address whatever I’m avoiding.

When I realize I’m procrastinating, but don’t change gears immediately, my mind is using successful creating more excuses to continue procrastinating.
MohsinDecember 11th, 2007
It’s very difficult for me to drop doing what’s causing me to slack, because I literally withdraw into a passive mode. And my mind lazily, yet happily, accepts this condition.

The only way that works for me is what I have already suggested in the post. I start doing my high priority task without giving much attention to the thoughts of procrastination, and only pop my head when I’m finished.

Most of the important tasks we fear we’ll fail at are actually paper monsters.
nickycakesDecember 12th, 2007
I definitely get caught up with procrastination more often than not. I will give this a try.
Karen ZaraDecember 12th, 2007
Thank you, Mohsin! This is so obvious, so easy, so simple… Still I know so many people who just haven’t been able to think about it. *points at herself*

I’m going to try it and then I’ll report the results… hopefully by writing a post right after turning on my computer.
TeejayDecember 12th, 2007
“Procrastination, my friends, is the enemy of our success.” I often have this problem and I have adjusted(mostly) since I try to keep up with daily posts, my work and a lot more stuff.
RobertDecember 13th, 2007
I’m a bad procrastinator. Especially when it comes to school.. I set hour goals (”at 1PM I’ll do my homework”) and then I keep extending them until I convince myself that I can do it tomorrow.

One way that I beat being a procrastinator, and has worked for me is, I have a big white board hanging in my office. Each day I make a list of what needs to be done, and I am able to accomplish those tasks knowing that I can scratch it off my board. I don’t like leaving any unfinished tasks on my board knowing that family/friends can see what a slacker I am.

So far it has worked for me.
Steven BradleyDecember 13th, 2007
This is interesting timing for me. I recently started blogging in the morning instead of at night and the posts have been much easier to write and I find myself getting so much more done during the day.

I think some of it is that morning is a more productive time for me to write. What would take an hour after dinner takes half the time after breakfast.
MohsinDecember 13th, 2007
Karen, that’s excellent! Let us know how you manage it all.

Robert, involving friends and family is a very clever way of getting things done. I’ll give this one a try.

Steven, hmm.. I tend to be more creative around evening. So I don’t write a post the first thing in the morning, but instead do it first thing in my evening session at computer.

In the morning, I do some other less creative but still more daunting tasks.

nickycakes and Teejay, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
SimonneDecember 13th, 2007
Hey, your method works, but checking stats comes always first
evanDecember 16th, 2007
lmao, i came across this page and said “i’ll read it later…”
TPN WEB DESIGN INCDecember 23rd, 2007
Excellent post.
PeteJanuary 9th, 2008
The biggest thing I procrastinate about is adding comments to blogs - I always tell myself that I should become more involved with what I read, but after reading each great post I convince myself I don’t have anything worthwhile to contribute and move onto the next post in my feed reader.

So, thanks to your post, I’m going to get off my butt and become more social.

Thanks for the inspiration.
BassMarch 5th, 2008
Keeping an agenda is a helful way to organize oneself, write things down, (the day before),. how you want to do, what ever you have to do, and in what order you need to do them, and stick to it. The idea of involving family or friends is a good one as well!!!
Thanks for the post
MagnoliaMarch 17th, 2008
I was brewing up a similar post for my own blog this morning. I had reminded myself of a 3 part recipe that was…”Decision, Desire, Deed Accomplished”

That is, rather than focus on how you are feeling about accomplishing something, simply make a decision. Desire follows action, so then the desire to accomplish said decision will soon follow. And finally, the deed will be accomplished.

I tend to get overwhelmed with all that is in front of me. I am a middle aged mom of 3. I homeschool them, run a home and hold down the fort while hubby is doing his duty in the Air Force. He is gone all the time. Essentially, I am a single mom of three for the next two years. In addition, I have launched my blog and have high hopes for success.

On top of this, I am planning a small business in music instruction for the future. Needless to say, I have a lot to do.

When I think of the magnitude of the task, I crumble. I have learned however to keep my focus very narrow and that includes right in front of me in day tight compartments. Anything outside of that and I’m sunk.
MohsinMarch 18th, 2008
Magnoila, you indeed have a lot to do. But as you said, thinking about the formidableness of the task is not what really helps, rather it’s your willingness to take most immediate step is what gets it done.

When I have many projects going on at the same time, I try to forget about the other projects while I concentrate on the task at hand, thus blocking out distractions and keeping myself interested in the most immediate outcome.