How to overcome procrastination
They say "procrastination is the thief of time", and we know that our time might just be the most precious resource we have in our life (you can’t get that shit back!). So when you procrastinate you are literally wasting your life. Procrastination is a habit however and all habits can be removed given the right tools. So here are 5 tips that you can use to remove procrastination from your life.
By the way feel free to checkout this animated video I made that covers these tips here WATCH THIS
1. Motivate yourself to start for 5 minutes
Often when we procrastinate it is just because of the initial inertia of starting. Our brain having created negative associations with the task will do anything to stop us from starting. The brain loves to take the path of least resistance, so you need to trick it by convincing yourself to start for 5 minutes. Once started it is much easier to keep going, this tip will fix 50% of peoples issues with procrastination.
2. Chunk it down
We often make the task huge and daunting in our minds. Chunk that shit down, make it small and manageable. The smaller the task is the more manageable it is for the brain. Small tasks are easy for us to comply with. For example:
•If you need to write a report, start by working on just the introduction
•If you need to do your math homework, just focus on doing the first question
•If you are editing a youtube video, just focus on recording the audio first
Small is manageable, and what’s manageable gets done.
3. Check your thoughts
Change your thoughts from thinking about the negatives of the task to the positives of the consequences of its completion. We often procrastinate because of the mental dialogue in our heads “I don’t wanna”, “this shits so boring”. Change your thoughts to focusing on the potential results of your success. Focus on the upside which might be
•Getting one step closer to your goals
•Possible job promotion if you do it right
•Youtube video could go viral
•High Distinction for doing all your work
Your thoughts are often what impede action, change them to propel your action.
4. Change your environment
Make everything you need for you to do the work available for you. If you need to do some work get you laptop on the desk and clear the room from distractions. If you need to read a book get it within eye shot. If you need to go for a run, have the running shoes next to your bed. Make it stupidly easy for you to do the work by changing your environment.
5. Reward yourself
Have a reward for yourself that you will give to yourself only after completing the task. Human beings are influenced by incentives. What are yours? This will keep you motivated whilst doing the work to complete it. Anyway guys if you use these five tips I doubt that you will have procrastination as a habit.
MyBlackGirl 6y ago
Will read later thanks for posting!
Edit: Thanks everyone this is my highest rated comment of life.
MattyAnon Admin 6y ago
Ah come on.... this was preempted in the title
thediamonddawg 6y ago
This always happens with these kinds of posts.
holbrook2 6y ago
"Lol irony, haha get it guys?"
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bobjoe177 6y ago
Banksy has a quote about this along the lines of "stand up and go outside before you get distracted." I use this one, even if the task I need to do isn't outdoors, it forces me to confront whatever it is I need to deal with first thing in the morning. Also going outside as soon as you wake up is pleasant.
thediamonddawg 6y ago
I agree, I need to do it always.
[deleted] 6y ago
Changing the environment is so important. I can't stand the life in an open space where people (read: middle aged female coworkers and white knights craving for attention) wont stop useless gossips, excessive noise, beyond stupid debates. Plus, isn't commuting for hours weekly to sit on the butt for pre determined hours outdated? Anyways, I can't wait to start working remotely - next month. Will fix a lot of problems.
I only have a limited sample but those I met who work from wherever they want (home, café, gym) seem to have super low levels of stress. Less life stress will get shit done.
thediamonddawg 6y ago
It can be the thing that makes the biggest difference tbh
mental_models 6y ago
Procrastination comes from a weak and unhealthy state of mind. $Always be bigger than your task$. When you have a beta state of mind, and/or a scarcity state of mind = wow the task is bigger than me! Overwhelming! scary/anxiety = AVOIDANCE. Let me just avoid this until absolutely necessary, and if possible fill my current time with dopamine rewarding activities.
Have to look at it in an Alpha/abundance state of mind. This shit will be easy to me. I am acing 100 similar tasks at the moment(plate theory) and I have a great abundance of options.
=Let's get it!
Lastly, 'momentum' is sooo important. Once you've actually started (a 60 second commitment?), your brain starts working for you, rather than against you, almost immediately.
vengefully_yours 6y ago
Kids are so adorable with their tenuous grasp on reality.
It's a good start though, obvious where you are in life. It changes a bit later on. You find yourself doing things you loathe with every fiber of your being, just to survive. You drag yourself to work you hate so you can pay your bills.
We have pushes and pulls on us every day. A push is show up on time or get fired, get fired and lose your job and bills stack up, it pushes you to get shit done even if you hate it. Welcome to adult life. Very different from kid life, you'll find out soon enough.
A pull is something that isn't a negative reinforced thing, pussy is a pull, nobody is forcing you to fuck that girl so you can sleep indoors. Getting stronger is a pull, so is building or buying a kick ass car, you feel driven to do it, not pushed on pain of bad shit happening.
High school is a pain in the ass, mostly useless information, but it used to be where you learned to think. Now you learn to take a test, rote memorization is not learning not intelligence. Yet you need to finish that bullshit, learn to think outside the box they try so desperately to shove you into, but also how to appease them without expending much effort. Get through it and then your life starts. Realize it's temporary bullshit, you'll get new bullshit later that you loathe. Trust me.
Being an adult means doing the bullshit so you can get to the pulls in your life. You need to get the bullshit done so you can get on with the shit that actually matters to you, not in your mind because honestly you know fuck all about what you need to know. (That doesn't change much either, trust me) The shit that matters is what positively affects you 20+ years from now, not minutia and bullshit that is emphasized for you. Once you handle the bullshit and her it out of the way you can get on with the good stuff.
In 5 years that test won't mean shit, but for the next four some fucktard will decide it's extremely important, humor them and act like its world changing, but realize it's just bullshit.
Learn as much as you can, I don't mean memorize, I mean understand it from every angle. Get the why, how, and where, not just the what. The more you know about everything, the better you'll understand reality. You'll be able to spot bullshit easier, and ask the right questions.
Make no mistake, the push you get as an adult makes high school look like a slight annoyance. You need motivation to do shit on top of what you have no choice about. Cleaning the flat after work so the pizza boxes dont pile up.
What diamonddog wrote is an adequate starter pack, and if you can't get motivated on your own, be prepared for a life that goes nowhere. I simply find it amusing how he attempted to write it with his limited arsenal of experience.
Shaman6624 6y ago
Where does it say OP is still in highschool and since when is discipline so strongly correlated with age. There are also young entrepeneurs and 40+ slobs who never get anything done. Sounds like you're just tired of life.
mental_models 6y ago
High school has kind of evolved into a babysitting activity. Illuminated parents can have a big impact on helping their children get more out of it (actual insight, as well as advanced curriculum/college credits). Not me. I pretty much ran wild. Volatile grades, volatile attendance, aced sports(heavily immersed), then effortlessly aced the SAT. If I learned something, anything new, in HS, it was that the majority is walking around following the rules in a mindless herd, and that in spite of what may be a natural inclination to mindlessly join-in/follow, you could get away with breaking the rules.
[deleted] 6y ago
Calm down it's just a post on the internet
TheScarletScholar 6y ago
This one sounds bitter and smug. Cheer up guy life doesn't last forever, that's what makes it precious.
PreOrgasmGroanLness 6y ago
I am unsure what post are you answering coz it surely isn't OP's post.
thediamonddawg 6y ago
I am not in highschool dudes, ahahahahah.
El_Reconquista 6y ago
The best book I've ever read on this is The Now Habit. Highly recommended.
seserta 6y ago
Very good list. I took me a few months and quite a few Audiobooks to distil these understandings out. Whoever is reading these for the first time - don't wait. Just go for it. I changed from going to bed at 3am all my life to waking up at 5am every single day. Everything just follows after that. You can do this.
A great hack to maintain motivation is the calendar trick.
It's amazing how motivating those crosses can be. It's gotten to a point where I use multiple symbols to track 4 different things I'm doing. For everyday that I have a full set, I get an immense satisfaction. Don't even need a physical reward like food or some other treat.
thediamonddawg 6y ago
The calendar is something I have to try out for sure.
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Rat_of_NIMHrod 6y ago
I use a large physical calendar. It's motivating to look at and see all the little humps I have achieved.
seserta 6y ago
Yup, I know exactly how that feels !
Heinzdoofens 6y ago
5 seconds of bravery at the point of decisionmaking
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FloridaKen 6y ago
I like this, short and to the point.
thediamonddawg 6y ago
I didn't want people to procrastinate on reading it.
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newName543456 6y ago
If you are achieving your goals, you are not really procrastinating. You're just taking advantage of free time after getting shit done. Procrastination is delaying getting that shit done.
Pokeylaw 6y ago
I've been procrastinating studying for my exam in college, I had a month to study but held off until last week. Thank god the exam is being pushed back another week. I got down most if the material but this really put into perspective how much I procrastinate without even knowing.
thediamonddawg 6y ago
Well more often than not procrastination leads to a shittier job. Life is much easier when you just do the work and enjoy and relax afterwards.
Phaeer 6y ago
That is my point - relax afterwards. These posts make it seem that you should always feel bad if you are not doing something productive. Fuck that! The best feeling in the world is laying on couch doing nothing at all, knowing you have done everything you set out to do.