Five Tips to “Unprocrastinate”
What is procrastination?
Procrastination is unnecessarily putting off tasks that need to be done. Do we all procrastinate? Generally speaking, yes. However, for some, procrastination happens because a person may not know where to start or how to break a large project into small tasks. When this happens, the overwhelm of identifying the necessary steps becomes bigger than the project. Therefore the tasks get done at the last minute when it is absolutely necessary to stay in school or keep a job.
Unfortunately, I am far too familiar with procrastination. In college, I almost always waited until the night before to write a paper or complete a project. Six years of college spent delaying the inevitable caused me tons of stress because sitting down and writing the paper was just “too big”. Strangely it worked for me as I never received less than a B+ in my 6 years of undergraduate and graduate work. However, the suffering it caused me during the days and weeks leading up to the due date was far worse than the grade I received.
The research part was relatively easy and enjoyable for me and I completed it almost immediately. Usually, I could bang out an outline without difficulty. But sitting down and writing the words that would be my final turn-in was so overwhelming for me that I put it off until I couldn’t anymore. I never did get my sh*t together in college so that I actually completed my work without panic, but I managed to find ways to help myself after school was long gone and my livelihood now relied on not waiting till the final hour to complete something big.
How to “Unprocrastinate”:
Here are things that helped me reduce my procrastinating ways (I say reduce because I still haven’t completely eliminated it but using these techniques has proven helpful):
Have an accountability buddy
I have found many accountability partners in my quest to get things done in a timely fashion. Some accountability partners included friends, coaches I paid for, and business associates. During the completion of a weekly online course, a friend and I checked in several times a week to help us stay on task with the homework needed in between sessions. A life coach I employed texted me a few times a week to make sure I was following through with tasks I said I would complete in our coaching sessions. With all of the technology and methods of communication we have these days, there are a million ways to check in with someone to help you keep on track. Perhaps you have a friend who is also in need of an accountability buddy and you two can find ways to partner up.
Instead of setting goals, define structures to help with large projects.
According to James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, achieving a goal provides temporary gratification however, setting structures and habits helps us make consistent progress. After reading some of his articles, I decided to put my own structures in place including a habit tracker and creating to-do lists for each project. They worked for me! I set goals to plan my progress as he suggested, however creating structures for developing habits helped me lay a foundation for continued momentum towards my goals. And there’s something so gratifying about checking those boxes each day. One of my coaches color-coded her calendar blocking off specific times for working with clients, learning and business development, exercises, and errands. I’ve tried this and it works when I stick to it although I admit I’m still working on that. Finding those structures that best work for you is a little bit of a trial and error but when you find one or two things that work for your personality, it will make taking those steps towards your goals so much easier.
Break large goals into smaller more manageable pieces.
When you have a lofty goal or large project it can be easy to overwhelm yourself with the hugeness of it all. See my comments on my college days. Take some time at the start of your goal planning to brainstorm all the things that need to be done to make this goal a reality. It doesn’t matter if it is something that will eventually get done or not since tasks are typically fluid. Just spend some time getting it all out of your head and onto paper. Put your list to the side and review it later or the next day. What are 2-5 items you can start with right now? Decide on those items and do them. You will likely find that just getting a few things accomplished will provide you with some momentum to decide on your next steps. Several apps can help with this workflow. Check out this article for the top 10 workflow apps.
Find the amount of work time that works best for you.
Are you familiar with The Pomodoro Technique? It is a system defined in Francesco Cirillo’s book The Pomodoro® Technique to help boost productivity. The goal is to work without distractions for 25 minutes and then do something different for 5 minutes. The concept has you predict your “tomatoes” (aka 25-minute increments) to complete a task. While I haven’t successfully used the prediction method, working for an intentional twenty-five minutes with five minutes of getting up and doing something physical before returning to my next tomato (25 minutes) has worked well for me. However, I found with some of my clients, that 25 minutes wasn’t always the key. Some, especially those diagnosed with ADHD, found that once they set the timer, they were able to work for an hour or more and were far more productive with this. And stopping at the 25-minute mark inhibited their ability to return to the task and get it done. Twenty-five minutes may work for many people but finding your ideal work timer will assist you in creating a more focused time that best suits you. I suggest you set a stopwatch timer when you start a task. When you start getting distracted or feel like it's becoming too much, pay attention to the elapsed time as well as your recovery time. Repeat this over several tasks you may find difficult. You may find that your “tomato” is closer to an hour with a recovery time of 15 minutes. Use the Pomodoro Technique as a start and find the time that works best for your situation with a recovery time that helps refocus your brain so that you can return to the task at hand.
Find your time of day.
Now that you’ve found how much work time is best for you, find the time of day that is best suited to your needs. We all have different times of day when we are most alert and/or productive. I have two times: first thing in the morning and early evening. The tasks that need my undivided attention are typically done during these times and I complete tasks that I could complete without much thought during times when my brain isn’t best focused. It works for me but I know many people that have difficulty in the morning and find they may need to structure their focused time in the afternoon. I have a couple of friends that truly do their best creative work around 2 am. We are all built differently and therefore have ideal times when we are focused and creative. Test this out for yourself. When do you feel most focused? What time of day are you most likely to complete harder tasks? Are there times of day when you complete learning tasks and times when physical chores or errands are easier to handle? When you’re able to find those quality times for the items you want to complete, it will be easier to plan your day and set your intentions for the things needing to be accomplished.
Procrastination is never a fun way of tackling something as it causes so much stress. If you are still reading this, you’re probably here because you procrastinate and are likely prone to the feeling of overwhelm with large tasks. I get it! The anxiety is real. When considering this list try not to allow yourself to go down the rabbit hole of more overwhelm by implementing all the items at once. I am very guilty of reading articles and trying to apply everything at the same time which means nothing ever really sticks. Find one or two tips that you feel will have the most impact and apply them to your daily or weekly routine. Once you’ve found a couple of things that work well and you see some progress, attempt to implement another technique. Many times making one small change can have a huge impact on how we interact with projects.