How to overcome procrastination
This is a series of posts focused on different habit hacks.
Look, I know everyone talks about hacks, I get it. But these are simple habits that you can put into place today that will help you become more productive and achieve your goals. So, I figured, why not just call them habit hacks?
So let’s start with a big one...how to overcome procrastination.
This one is so easy, there’s only one step involved:
To overcome procrastination, let yourself procrastinate.
That's it. Seriously.
Let yourself procrastinate, and you’ll overcome procrastination. The key here is to overcome procrastination. Not stop it. Not beat it. Overcome it. Put it to work for you. When you do that - you’ll get more done.
You could stop reading right here, take this advice, and start being more productive.
But after I explain why this works, you’ll be able to apply this knowledge to other habits as well. Keep reading, and I’ll give you a few more specific pointers on how to overcome procrastination below.
Procrastination is a habit that your brain developed to survive. It’s something we all have as part of the lizard brain, to conserve energy. In your case, it might be something your individual brain developed to avoid risk. Who knows.
Your brain had a reason to develop procrastination as a habit. This fact gets in the way when you try to stop procrastinating directly.
When you beat yourself up for procrastinating, that creates negative thoughts and feelings. And those negative thoughts and feelings become habits when you want to be more productive.
It's these negative emotions that stop you from being productive.
So, the answer is simple.
Let yourself procrastinate. Cut out the negative emotions associated with productivity. Then you’ll develop control over the negative feelings you associate with work.
And...you’ll get more done.
And even though overcoming procrastination is really that easy, let me give you three tips to help even more.
- Plan to procrastinate - This is even better than letting yourself procrastinate. Build it right into the schedule. Is there a silly online game you like? A song that’s stuck in your head all day? Or you just want to goof off on youtube for twenty minutes?
Do it. Plan on doing it.
- Praise yourself - Do more than ditch the negative talk. When you find yourself procrastinating, tell yourself it’s a reward for what you’ve already accomplished, even if all you’ve done is sit down at the computer.
- Procrastinate constructively - There’s the harder task you want to avoid, but there are always more relaxing things that need to be done as well. Maybe you need to do a little research on a color scheme for a product you're selling. Or you’ve been meaning to redesign a page on your website and just haven’t given it the time.
There are always tasks that let you take a break from the hard work but still let you be productive. (But let yourself do #1 as well)!
Do these three things: Plan, praise, and procrastinate constructively.
When you let procrastination happen, you get rid of the negative emotions, and you get more done. Then you realize that it’s been the negative thoughts associated with procrastination that have held you back this whole time.
Check out my episode on procrastination if you want to hear about this in more detail.
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