“I must get around to doing up that old car of mine….”
Here are 14 suggestions to help you get a grip of your inner procrastinator, and get the project done….
- Friend to help/remind/nag you – maybe incentivised if you fail – “If I haven’t done it by Friday I’ll pay for lunch”.
- Overstate the future – imagine it going really well (easy to do and great results) if you do it, or turning out really badly (lots of trouble, lots of regret) if you don’t
- No more stress! Realise that it’s giving you stress having it hanging over you.
- Delegate it to someone else who would like to do it, or is paid to do it instead of you. At least that gets it done, and probably works out cheaper in the long run!
- Leave out visible so you can’t escape it, can’t forget it. – that folder on your desk, those running shoes by the front door. It also makes it easy to do it if the stuff is already out for you.
- Enjoy the task (Find a way! Make it a game, buy new equipment, etc)
- Start the day with a tough one – when you come into work, ask yourself what’s the worst job on your list, and do it before you even get a chance to think.
- Plunge in and get started, before you can think of a reason not to
- Energy (fitness and sleep) – make every day the kind of day where you come in to work and think “Right! That job’s been on my list for too long, let’s DO it!”
- Routine – so you don’t notice. For example if you go for a run every morning before breakfast, the first time you’re probably thinking “I must be mad” but after a few days it’s “just what you do”.
- Tell yourself “I’m a do it now person” until it becomes true. Self talk becomes your personality!
- Break it into chunks and then say “I’ll just do the first bit” – fools your inner resistance, gets you at least a first step along the way, and once you’ve started you’ll probably feel like finishing it off.
- Reward yourself – and set a rule like “no coffee or chocolate until I’ve done it”
- Appointment in your diary – feels a long way off so it’s easy to write in, but the day will come. And then when you get there you’ll have a nice chunk of free time reserved to make it easy for you to do the task.
onwards and upwards!
CC
