Nov 17
Why You Procrastinate and How to Stop: 5 Secrets to Getting Things Done
If you routinely put off important things you know you need to do, there are a a few reasons why:
- your goals are not concrete
- your goals are too far in the future
- your goals seem unattainable
- you feel overwhelmed
- you suffer from depression and/or anxiety
- you’re being a perfectionist
- you have a fear of failure
- you have ADHD
- you’re attempting to do more than you can handle
- you are lazy
Putting things off increases your stress. It taxes your physical and mental health. You feel bad about yourself when the household chores and work assignments are piling up as you binge watch another show. Procrastinating can make you look stupid when you produce sloppy, half-assed work because you waited until the last minute to complete an assignment. Your peers and superiors will see you as incompetent when, in reality, you just don’t know how to motivate yourself.
Worse yet, procrastination is expensive. Late fees, compound interest, fines, and missed opportunities add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars per year. Multiplied over decades, you’re looking at a life changing amount of money that you simply gave away, receiving nothing in return but frustration and a lowered sense of self worth.
That exasperated feeling when you get dinged with a $40 late fee because you put off a credit card payment, the underwhelmed look on your supervisor’s face after your thrown together, crappy presentation, the hot feeling on your face when you fail at something easy because you didn’t even try, is shame. It’s painful. It sucks. That’s why you’re here.
You are FED UP with continually procrastinating, under performing, looking stupid, and paying ridiculous late fees you’re finally ready to change. The good news is, you’re here now, learning new skills that will help you change your old habits. Once you’ve decided it’s time, it’s easy to design a plan to outsmart yourself and get important things done.
Speak to a medical professional if you feel that depression or anxiety is weighing you down and keeping you from getting things done. I’m not a medical expert, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that you will feel better about yourself once you take command of your life and start accomplishing the tasks you want to do. Overcoming procrastination will improve your mood and your life. Below are five tools I use to stop putting things off and get shit done.
- Start ridiculously small. One of the reasons people procrastinate, is that they feel overwhelmed by the amount of work involved in the task at hand.
Let’s say your aim is to write a book. You sit down at a blank laptop screen with the cursor blinking in front of you. The idea of ALL that writing, researching, proofreading, and editing will seem intimidating. Your brain can’t handle the enormity of the task and so shuts down. In that split second, it seems easier to pick up your phone and procrastinate by scrolling Instagram, rather than somehow pull a 10,000 word novel out of thin air. In this instance, the key to overcoming procrastination is to set a series of small, achievable goals.
Rather than try to write an entire book, sketch out a rough outline of the topics you want to cover. Commit to sitting down to write for as little as 5 minutes a day, or just writing 5 sentences.
It seems ridiculously small, not even worth it. You might be thinking “How the hell am I going to write a book doing one sentence a day?” You’re going to write your book (or lose 50 pounds/ run 3 miles every morning/ any large goal) the same way you’d eat an elephant: one bite at a time.
The secret is that you’re training your brain to concentrate on your desired goal at a specified time every day. For best results, you should be biting that elephant every single day, at least during the workweek. It will become habit, another part of your daily routine that you do every day, just like brushing your teeth and walking the dog. Make the micro-goal small enough that it’s easy. You’re getting your brain hooked on the burst of dopamine that comes from achievement.
The sneakiest park of this hack is that the mini-goal is a total scam. Once you’re sitting down writing (start saving, or start running) , the juices start flowing. It will be almost impossible for you to write for only 5 minutes. If your goal was to run, you’ve already got your shoes on. The endorphins start flowing, and you’re off to the races. You’ll begin to easily eclipse your goal. You’ll start to enjoy it. You’re on your way.
Stanford behavior science professor and researcher BJ Fogg pioneered this study of small steps. You can learn more about his work here: www.bjfogg.com
Put your goals right in front of your face. This can be as elaborate as creating a vision board, or simple as ripping a page out of a magazine and taping it to your bathroom mirror. Your brain responds to visual stimuli. Big, colorful images will excite you into going after the goals you want. Whether it’s material possessions, a muscular physique, or international travel, put an image of EXACTLY what you want into your consciousness every day.
The point is to envision yourself achieving the thing you want, and letting that vision fuel your passion to get there. I’m not talking about lighting incense and passively waiting for The Universe to fulfill your wishes. You can try that. While you’re waiting, get out there and get the ball rolling for yourself.
Don’t mess up twice. You’re going to screw up. Even with the best laid plans in place, after you’ve implemented all the advice here, and are tackling your goals like a man with his hair on fire, you’re likely to miss a mark at some point.
You need to put in a long night at work. A traffic snarl gets you home hours later than usual. You might get sick. The key is to be flexible with yourself. Acknowledge you’re a busy adult with a lot going on. Congratulate yourself on your progress so far. Then commit to nailing your mini-goal next time. Messing up once can happen. Slacking off two days in a row, especially for someone prone to procrastinating, is dangerous. One day off becomes two, two days off becomes a week, then you’re back on the couch wondering why you can never seem to get anything done.
Get out in front of this by doing whatever it takes to not fall off twice, and I mean whatever it takes. If it’s snowing the next day when you lace up your Nikes, run that block in the snow. If you have to miss a meal to hit your savings goal, or you have to write your 5 minutes after a 16 hour day- stop at nothing. You are rewiring your brain for success. Imagine how good it will feel once you’re done.
Outsource tasks you aren’t good at. No one is good at everything. The division of labor is a basic economic principle, and a way to make life easier so you can focus on the important stuff. You should be outsourcing everything you’re not good at, or don’t want to do. This includes dog walking, yard work, laundry, whatever.
There is someone would love to clean your house. Let them do it to free up your time to write that novel we talked about in point #1.
If your goal is something personal like getting in shape, you can outsource tasks associated with your fitness goals to free up your time. Examples include meal prep, or hiring a personal trainer who will already know what exercises you need to do to achieve the physique you want, saving you time and effort of doing that research yourself, in addition to saving time doing things that don’t work.
Get someone else to do it. Your time is valuable and better spent building toward your big dreams. It’s worth the money.
Eighty percent is better than nothing. Don’t hold yourself back waiting to get everything perfect. While you’re waiting for perfection, the clock is ticking. Some jerk with more guts than you is killing it with a half-baked plan that he’s actually implementing.
He’s going for it, getting feedback in the real world, and adjusting as he goes, while you sit on your hands waiting for everything to be perfect.
Just like you heard in college, “C’s get degrees”. Get something done. Get it out there. Adjust as you go. Enjoying eighty percent of your goal (losing 80% of the weight you want, starting a business that earns 80% of your income goal) is better than nothing.
That’s all I got. Set some goals and get after it.
