🌼How To Cure Procrastination (Forever)

🌼How To Cure Procrastination (Forever)

I know how it feels.

You wake up, determined to start that passion project you’ve been putting off.

You sit at the computer and open a Word document.

Nothing.

Your mind is blank and you’re bored out of your skin.

You open YouTube in a new tab and tell yourself, “I’ll start after a little break”.

An hour goes by, you’ve filled it all with useless YouTube content that doesn’t serve you.

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You switch over to the Word document.

Still can’t think of anything.

You decide to come back to it later after you feel “refreshed”.

You go for a long walk where you talk yourself into a state of unstoppable motivation.

You march home, open your computer back up.

You’re finally ready to work.

The Word doc is open, you write a few words.

Then you stop.

Nothing else is coming to mind.

You can feel your brain starting to moan.

Your stomach starts to rumble.

It’s the exact sign you need to quit what you’re doing and have a meal.

You eat your delicious food.

Problem is, now you feel groggy.

You don’t have the energy to do any more work.

So what do you do?

Easy.

Sit on the couch and watch your favourite TV show.

By the time you’re done, it’s already starting to get late.

You look at your watch and wonder where the day went.

It’s suddenly time for bed.

You go to sleep and repeat the same torturous process again tomorrow.

Now, what I’ve described is a procrastination ritual I’ve had to endure.

It sucks.

You know you could be doing better, but instead you’re just wasting your time.

If you can relate to anything I described above, I feel your pain.

The good news is, curing procrastination is actually quite simple.

In this article, I’m going to cover 5 practical steps you can take to finally get some work done.

Let’s get into it.

1. Set An Achievable Goal

 

This isn’t an outlandish goal.

This is a reasonable goal you have zero chance of failing.

For instance, if you want to write a book — don’t make that your goal.

The objective will feel too big and difficult.

But if you decide to write one page everyday, that’s achievable.

In fact, it’s so easy even the worst writers in the world could do it.

It’s important to have the big goal in mind, just don’t focus on it too much.

You need to focus on the process while understanding what you’re moving towards.

2. Break The Goal Down Into Daily Tasks

I mentioned this in the previous section.

When wanting to write a book, focus on writing one page everyday.

This same principle applies to everything in life.

If you want to have a million YouTube subscribers, break down the goal.

You can’t control having 1 million subscribers.

In fact, if that’s all you focus on you’ll probably give up.

It’s just too big a goal and you’re simply too far away from it.

But instead, if you aim to record and upload 1 video everyday, you give yourself a much better chance at building an audience.

The key to this is very straightforward.

Take your goal, then break it down into tasks you can complete daily.

As each task gets complete, you are slowly but surely moving towards your goal.

Many people fail with this because they just don’t have the patience.

They want the million subscribers now instead of 5 years from now.

Life just doesn’t work like that.

The bigger your goal, the more patience you will need.

3. Create A Daily Schedule

Now that you’ve broken down your goals, it’s important you stick to them.

Admittedly, I’m not the best at this.

I haven’t optimised my days to do the same tasks at the exact same times.

However, I know that many high performers have their days planned out entirely.

With that said, I still roughly complete my daily tasks at the same time.

I wake up in the morning, normally around 9 or 10, and go for a walk.

When I come back, I start writing my article (the one you’re reading right now!).

The times may change, but the routine stays the same.

Moving forward I will have a lot more structure to my days, especially when I move to Istanbul and will have more responsibilities.

But for now, I just want to be honest with you.

If possible, set specific times for when you want to do your daily tasks and stick to it.

We’re used to this kind of structure because we all went to school.

All of your school days were planned out, it’s time to do the same for your life.

4. Remove All Distractions

I know how tempting it can be to check your phone when your mind goes blank.

I understand how strong the allure of the other tabs on your computer are.

But here’s the thing, these are distractions keeping you from doing your work.

I usually don’t keep my phone in my office, although right now my phone is next to me.

With that said, I haven’t checked it.

Not once.

My willpower has been built up to withstand the fiercest temptations (except sugar).

But if you struggle with your phone and are heavily addicted, keep it away from you.

Leave it in a different room.

If you struggle with other tabs being open, close them.

I currently have a few tabs open but none of them have taken me away from my task, I’m still writing this incredible article.

Whatever distracts you the most, eliminate it.

It’s not helping you.

It’s just taking your focus away from the thing that matters most to you.

If you want to get super tactical, install some plugins on Chrome.

I did this for a while, but honestly, your best bet is to train your willpower over time.

Whatever you do though, don’t let distractions kill your focus.

This also applies to your physical environment.

Believe it or not, a messy workspace is also a big distraction for many people.

Don’t work in a rubbish tip.

Keep your office as minimalistic as possible.

It’ll help you focus on your daily tasks.

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5. Time Yourself

Transparency, I don’t do this anymore.

But I have experimented with it in the past and I think it’s worth including.

When I was writing high converting sales copy, I used to use Eugene Schwartz’s time management technique.

I’d set a timer for 33 minutes and 33 seconds, then sit at my desk.

During this time I could only do 2 things:

Sit.

Or write.

After a while, sitting becomes incredibly boring.

So I’d start to write.

Then, as soon as the timer started beeping, I would stop instantly.

Doesn’t matter if I was in the middle of finishing a word, I would stop.

A 5 minute break would commence, before another wave of 33 minutes and 33 seconds.

Like I said, I tried this for a bit and found it fun.

But in all honesty, I don’t think any of these techniques are necessary.

If you’re a beginner and desperately want to cure your procrastionation, do it.

I’m just at the point where I don’t need to set time blocks of focused work.

I just do it.

And you will too.

But when starting out, it helps to have time management tricks to help you.

I’ll be the first to admit it, Eugene Schwartz is far more successful than I am right now.

Maybe if I kept using the little time management hacks I’d get more done.

I’m just letting you know that I haven’t used these tricks in a while.

If I get back to them, I’ll let you know.

The most important point to time management is this:

Set a time for you to complete a deep work session.

This is simply a block where you do nothing else other than your main task.

Most people will only be able to manage 30 minutes of pure focused work.

The elite of the elite can do up to 4 hours.

If you’re new to this, don’t be arrogant.

You can’t do 4 hours.

Neither can I.

You need to develop this muscle over time.

Start with 30 minutes, then gradually increase the length of your deep work periods.

I hope this helps you.

I know how it feels to be a professional procrastinator.

It’s terrible.

If this can help you get out of a rut, I’ll be delighted.

I believe in you.

All the best,

-Godfrey

Contributed by Godfrey The Great

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