10 Techniques to Vanquish Procrastination Once and For All!
We've all been there.
You have an assignment, a deadline, and ample time. Just as you prepare to buckle down, your workstation transforms into something utterly repulsive.
A month becomes two weeks. Two weeks becomes five days. Five days become one looooooong night. Once again, procrastination has had its way with you. What began as a seemingly insignificant speed bump somehow evolved into an all-consuming monster that feeds off your time and precious peace of mind.
Why do we do this to ourselves? More importantly, is there a way to STOP feeding the procrastination monster?
Believe it or not -- there is!
Stick with me and together we’ll explore some of the root causes of procrastination as well as look at 10 techniques you can start implementing TODAY to eliminate procrastination once and for all! (Or, you know, at least feel like you have a better handle on it)!
So, Let’s start by exploring some of the deeper elements at the root of procrastination.
Where Does This Monster Come From?
Procrastination actually falls under a broader category called "Task Avoidance." The term is pretty straight forward -- Task Avoidance is a type of coping behavior we deploy when we want to, you guessed it, avoid tasks – and its impact can be devastating.
Procrastination increases stress levels and can even impact our physical health. Worst of all, these feelings snowball extremely quickly, leading to more stress, which leads to more procrastination.
So how do we break the cycle?
Like with most problems, we start by naming it! Sometimes we know right away that we are procrastinating, other times the problem can be much more elusive.
If you’re unsure (or maybe in denial) here are some questions to ask yourself;
Do you constantly get up later than you know you should?
Do you constantly feel rushed or that you never have enough time?
Do you constantly feel overwhelmed by stress?
Do you constantly feel like you’re forgetting something important?
Do you constantly imagine completing tasks or dream of your future but actually make little progress toward that future?
Does the idea of sitting down to do work make you anxious?
If you answered yes to ANY of these questions, you may be a PROCRASTINATOR! These are only a few common signs of procrastination. But guess what — there is hope!
After identifying the issue, the next step is exploring the underlying cause, or “function”, of the behavior.
Sometimes the cause is obvious -- the task is boring, uncomfortable… dumb. Other times, the function hides in tricky places. Often, we discover it’s not the task we're really avoiding at all but our own fears, of failure, insecurity, self-doubt, and echoes of toxic voices from our past or present.
If you find yourself avoiding one or more important tasks, take a few minutes to explore what underlying fears or anxieties might be feeding the monster.
Learning to name the roots of our behaviors can help us more accurately identify which areas we can and can't adjust while shaping our strategy to help us conquer the beast once and for all.
So, without wasting more time, let’s jump in!
1. Lay Siege to Distractions
Technology – am I right?!? We love it until we don’t. The worst part is that so much of it exists simply to steel away our time and attention.! This can be especially challenging for those of us whose jobs require constantly plugging in
Utilizing timers, site blockers and screen time settings can be a big help, especially if you have no self-control – like me! If you can, leave unnecessary devises in a separate space. Out of sight, out of mind. IT’s amazing how much more work I am able to get done when I don’t even need to think about my phone!
Boundaries are crucial for productivity and focus. Doing our best to rid out working space from known culprits like phones and TV can set us on the right path from the outset
Cross-platform apps like FocusMe, Freedom, and the StayFocusd extension (for Chrome), are incredibly helpful tools to help diminish the brilliant allure of technology.
2. Going in Deep
After we’ve put our horse-blinders on to handle visual distractions, its time to dive into the Matrix fully.
For this step, we need a solid pair of headphones and the right playlist.
While noise-cancelling headphones aren’t an absolute necessity, they are incredibly helpful for deep focus. However, if higher-quality headphones aren’t an option, even cheap ear buds can do wonders.
Our brains are wired to notice external noises – it’s literally why we have ears. The more we try to tune out these noises ourselves, the more difficult it can become. Pumping a great playlist even through tiny ear buds helps diminish the presence of external noise. Furthermore, music can even calm out hearts and brain waves, literally channeling our bodies into deep-focus mode.
My go-to playlists for deep focus include;
And of course, the legendary Chilled Cow
3. Chunking
You know that expression “The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step?”
Well… you’re going to hate me for saying this but… it’s true.
Writing a book, starting a business, handling finances, hiking a mountain, some tasks are impossible to conceptualize in their entirety especially from the outset. As such, we convince ourselves that it’s better not to begin at all.
However, by breaking a massive task down into smaller, more manageable pieces, we can make progress slowly and efficiently. Back in the fall of 2019. I wrote copy for a book called To Try the Mountain Passes with photographer Andrew Burns. The book included hundreds of interviews with thru-hikers along the PCT. One of the most common refrains I heard in over 200 interviews was some version of “You can’t think about it all at once. You have to just take it step by step, day by day.”
You don’t have to summit the mountain today, but you can make progress, and probably more than you anticipate.
First — make a list of all the tasks you need to accomplish as well as WHEN you need to have them done.
THEN as yourself How can you break bigger tasks into smaller chunks? What steps does each task require? And how long will each of those steps take? What steps can you begin to take right now?
4. Time Blocking
Similar to chunking, time blocking helps give a degree of finitude to seemingly endless tasks. Once you’ve chunked your tasks, assign each chunk a set amount of time.
This helps in a couple ways. First, it takes a task with an indefinite timeline and gives it an ending point. This helps us understand that if the task is unpleasant, we only need to work on it for the pre-selected amount of time.
On the other end, time blocking forces you to focus. Retraining our brain into new habits takes time. However, by only allowing ourselves to devote, say, two hours and only two hours a day to a specific task, we will have our own built in metric for how well we utilize that time.
Once you select a time frame, give it a try for a couple days, then adjust accordingly. You may find that the task requires more time. Usually though, you’ll find that when you genuinely focus, tasks get done much more quickly.
5. Manage expectations
Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought, “It’s not going to be perfect, so I might as well quite before I even start?” Is your hand up? Mine too. In fact, it’s a miracle you’re even reading this right not, TBH!
There’s an adage in the writing community that says, “The only page you can’t edit is a blank one.” The beauty of giving yourself ample time to complete a task is that it gives you space to make ALL the mistakes. If at the root of your avoidance are the ugly troll triplets Anxiety, Perfectionism, and Self-Doubt, then giving yourself space to BE imperfect is the PERFECT solution.
Give yourself time to pump out drafts on drafts on drafts while still having plenty of time to edit, edit, edit.
6. Reframing
On the subject of trolls –its incredible how powerful mindset can be. It can be our best friend or our worst enemy.
What if I told you that the biggest problem with the task at hand has nothing to do with the task itself, but the way we’re looking at it? We tell ourselves its this big, ugly, indestructible monster.
What if all it took was literally changing how we think about it? Make fun of it. Laugh at it. Redefine the task as something interesting or exciting.
See? It’s not so scary, is it? This is a stress technique known as reframing, and it’s a well-known stress-coping skill utilized by mental health professionals.
Redefining stressful tasks in our minds can help us minimize their impact on our emotions. With every step you take toward progress, you lop off part of its body like the black night in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
7. Perspective Shift
There’s another common refrain in writing – “I hate to write. I love to have written.” Isn’t it funny how we train ourselves to hate the pathway toward the thing we truly love?
Similar to reframing is visualization. Sometimes we get so intimidated by the view of the foothills we forget that the goal is the summit. When you’re in the thick of a truly grueling task, don’t forget to stop and remember what the end goal looks like. Think about how great it will feel to be done. Think about how awesome it will be to tell everyone “Boom! I did THAT!!”
Now, I’m not a huge subscriber in the belief that we can make things manifest by visualization alone. We still need to climb the bloody mountain. BUT that’s what it is to be a mountaineer – you follow? Trudging through the difficulties is what defines us. But in order to become the person we want to be, we need a strong vision of exactly who that is.
If you’re in the trenches right now – take a moment to pause and envision the end result. Imagine the most exciting outcome. That future you – that’s who you will become! Keep going and you absolutely will get there!
8. Reward system
Our brains are funny things. If we don't recognize a benefit to a task at hand — we generally won't do it. Fortunately, we have a relatively logical brain that can (usually) override our silly animal brain if we let it. By hijacking our brain’ss pleasure and reward center, we can start reshaping our habits and generate new ones!
How do we do this? Well… treats!
If the task is genuinely unpleasant, try pairing it with a task you DO enjoy.
Say, for instance, you hate doing the dishes but LOVE crime drama podcasts (which I DO!!). Solution — only allow yourself to listen to your favorite podcast while you do the dishes. I do this ALL the time, and for the most part it WORKS!!
Not only can you treat yo’ self while you work, you can even reward yourself once a task is complete! It’s important to remember to match an unpleasant task with a positive reward of equal or greater emotional value! The worse you feel about a task, the more reward you deserve. It’s OK, I said so… and I have a blog!
9. Let it Out and Let it In!
Is this task just the worst? Well… then name it! When something truly bugs us, we don’t do ourselves any favors by denying it.
Now of course we can go overboard with complaining, but when we allow ourselves to say, out loud, that we are unhappy, we actually permit out brain to move past it. In fact, several studies suggest that those who complain — with the hope of achieving a better outcome — tend to be happier over all than those who hold it all in.
So, go ahead — let it out! Tell a trusted friend. Yell into the void. I mean it. Find a place where you won’t bug anyone else and just yell about how much you hate this task. Get it all out. Then go get work done!
10. Regular maintenance
Sometimes we avoid certain tasks for legitimate reasons. We need breaks, we need food, we need water. The best way to avoid these antecedents is to simply create regular habits of self-care.
Keep snacks and water on hand. Schedule in longer and shorter breaks into your day. Exercise. Rest. Play. Maintain consistent boundaries of work time and off time.
The more we can reduce wide pendulum swings and create more consistency, the more control and order we will feel both internally and externally. When the tempo of our lives is fast and sporadic, it gives us a sense of discomfort. But when the rhythm is consistent, it calms us. Falling into healthy rhythms is a great way to stay on task and focused.
As with most things –overcoming procrastination comes down to retraining our brain and our emotions to make new, positive connections and build new habits. It can be difficult at the front end, so the goal isn't to become a pro overnight. The real goal is simply to take those initial steps and gain traction. Often, you'll find that once you truly get into the task, you discover that you actually love it, you just needed to get behind its sometimes daunting exterior.