5 Cures for Procrastination.

Procrastination is a bigger problem than ever. We waste hours every day, often in insidious ways of which we may not even be aware.

How many of you are procrastinating by reading this article?

At the same time, we complain that we cannot get everything done. We blame being “too busy” for not meeting our obligations when the truth is, we can always find time for things when we want to.

Imagine what you could do with that time if you spend two hours a day mindlessly scrolling through social media or staring off into space in front of the television. How many books you could read, things you could study, relationships you could improve.

With that in mind, here are five ways you can overcome procrastination, starting immediately.

1. Get the unpleasant things out of the way.

One of the key reasons we delay doing something is because it is complex and requires a lot of energy to take those first steps towards completion.

This step requires “grabbing the bull by the horns” and getting the hard stuff out of the way right now. The longer you delay it, the more energy it begins to consume, and before you know it, your whole day/week has been dragged down in an attempt to avoid the inevitable.

The principle here is that of “Delayed Gratification”. Once the tedious, strenuous, challenging activities are done, you can scroll social media, watch TV or do whatever your heart desires.

I have used this principle for many things, from weight loss to writing when I don’t feel like it. Get the tough stuff out of the way and spend the rest of the day enjoying yourself.

2. Don’t wait for motivation.

Motivation is a very misunderstood subject. Many people see it as a necessary precursor to doing anything. They believe that at some point, this feeling will descend on them and then they will aim for the stars.

In truth, it doesn’t work like this. Action is the CAUSE of motivation, and we take action on things every day with no inspiration. An example is brushing your teeth.

The difference between winners and losers is that winners make a start, while losers never advance past the preparation stage, where they attempt to analyse every potential difficulty that may occur.

Winners are not afraid to fail. On the contrary, they welcome it as a learning opportunity. Most winners fail more than losers even try.

Once you take action, you will feel proud of yourself, and this momentum will become the motivation to continue. However, at some point, we all lose motivation, and at that point, discipline and consistency are the keys to long term success.

3. Declutter your physical environment.

If we exist in a chaotic environment, we create that mental state. As Jordan Peterson teaches, the first step towards self-improvement of any kind is to clean your room.

You cannot live in a chaotic environment and expect a clear and creative mindset. Our physical world reflects our internal processes, and we need to make it tidy and conducive to creativity. This reduces the activation energy required to get started on a project and will most likely lift your mood too.

4. Declutter your digital environment.

Important work requires deep focus, sometimes for hours at a time. We cannot afford to be pulled out of that kind of focus by constantly scrolling Facebook or Twitter.

We need to make our digital environment as welcoming and tidy as our physical environment. We want to make our workspace as welcoming and orderly as possible.

5. Confront your distractions.

Regardless of all the points discussed above, we will always have some distractions with which to wrestle.

If we really cannot stop procrastinating, especially in the early stages of kicking the habit, set a time to engage in your distractions, and then show the discipline to stick to it.

So in practice, ideally, we delay our distractions until after the work is done, as mentioned in point 1. However, it may take some time to achieve this, and therefore we have to talk to ourselves like children.

Ok I will let you have 15 minutes now on Facebook but no more! When that time is up I want you to do your homework.

If you stick to the time you have set for yourself, you have achieved a win, and again, that momentum will lead to action, followed by motivation.

Conclusion.

The above points focus on keeping the energy necessary to begin your work at a minimum to improve your chances of taking the first step and making a start.

You do not need to deprive yourself of downtime. Just take it at the correct times and on your terms.

Above all, be honest with yourself about the amount of time you are spending procrastinating, what you would prefer to be doing instead and how to achieve that target.

Starting slow and faltering is fine because beginning at all is the most challenging step.