We all have stuff we keep putting off. Sometimes it is a major project that just scares us. Sometimes it is a simple task that we simply don't like or don't know how to tackle. Procrastination leaves all that stuff hanging over our heads. You can never feel like you've actually done your work for the day when you know you've put off that something yet again. Whether what you procrastinate on is a huge, intimidating project or a small, momentary item, getting started is usually the most difficult part. Here are a few ideas to help you get to that point so you can get it finished and move on with your life!
1. Take on a monthly (or weekly) challenge for that hard-to-start project.
(See previous article.) For writers who procrastinate putting for that great novel,
NaNoWriMo is an organized challenge of this sort. For others, any project can be turned into a challenge for a specific amount of time. It doesn't have to be a month. Dedicate a week to the project, and put forth all the time and energy you can into it, knowing that at the end of the week you can stop, no matter how much is left to do. What usually happens is that you get yourself motivated just by doing. The momentum carries you forward. You can accomplish a lot more than you think in a week. You may completely finish that project that seemed like a year-long commitment. If you don't finish, you will still have a good chunk of it done and can continue toward the goal at a much faster pace.
2. Incorporate it into
your routine. This method works well for those small but just unenjoyable tasks that come up, like cleaning out the refrigerator or dejunking the junk drawer or writing thank you notes. Make the one that you despise and put off a part of your daily routine. Say you hate cleaning out the refrigerator, so you just keep saying you'll do it tomorrow. Meanwhile new life forms have taken over the vegetable drawer and are threatening invasion into the condiments. Before you lose your ketchup to that rabid broccoli, make it your routine to spend 5 minutes working on the refrigerator while your coffee is brewing, or water is boiling for
the night's pasta, or you're talking on the phone to that friend who always repeats her stories... Don't make it into a huge project that requires hours of your day. Make it part of your day and it will get done.
3. Eliminate the reason for procrastination. First, of course, you have to know the reason. Why do you procrastinate? Is it just
laziness? Or are you afraid of failing? Are you unsure where to start? Do you have no idea how to complete the project you're putting off? Are you afraid of someone's response, so you don't make the phone call? Maybe you don't know what to say, so you never have that difficult conversation you really need to have. Or you don't buy new clothes that you need because you really hate the way that extra 10 pounds makes you look. Instead of trying to force yourself to do something that you are not yet equipped to do, tackle the reason behind the procrastination. If you're lazy, start reading about
the power of diligence and hard work ; start making yourself do something a little extra, a little more difficult than you like every day. Soon those efforts of getting rid of laziness will become habits. If you're afraid or dealing with
other emotional issues that keep you procrastinating, try writing about it or talking with someone you trust. Getting the feelings and uncertainty in the open helps you know whether they are serious or not. Sometimes just stating your fear lets you see that it is silly to let it keep you back in the corner. If you don't know where to start on your project or relationship problem or work issue, read on to the next suggestion.
4. Get help. The world of people you interact with is rich with resources. Your family, your friends, your co-workers, your peers, your social group, your church friends, employees at the stores you frequent: they all have ideas, skills, and experiences that can help you. You simply have to ask. If the thing you are putting off is beyond the help of people you know, try searching the internet. You can find lots of information from people who have dealt with it. The phone book is another source of help. There are counselors, therapists, weight-loss consultants, professional organizers, life coaches, writing instructors, tutors, interior designers, personal shoppers, and a plethora of other professional people offering many services.
5. Break it down. This applies especially to those big projects you put off. You want to redecorate your bathroom. It's hideous. It has peach tile and yellow linoleum and water stains on the ceiling and a shower curtain with faded images of rubber ducks. It is the opposite of a spa-like, serene setting. But the idea of tackling all of the problems just overwhelms you. You don't have the money, the time, the knowledge, or the energy to take it all on. So you keep taking your hot baths with your eyes closed do you don't have to look at it. Instead of seeing the project as a whole, break it down into its many, much smaller parts. One week (maybe this week?) you will go to the hardware store, buy a gallon of paint and some brushes, and then come home, remove the towel hooks, put an old sheet on the floor, and paint the walls. It will take you a couple of hours to get one coat on, probably. Next week, you can apply the next coat, go out and buy new towel hooks and a small, framed print you love, and come home and hang them up. The week after that you could put new hardware on your medicine cabinet. Treat it as many smaller projects that you can take on, and soon the entire project will be finished.
6. Set deadlines and rewards. Set a date by which a particular task must be done and put it on your calendar in big, bold letters. Next to it put down the reward. Make it something you really like but don't get very often. The key is this: you only get the reward if you complete the task by the deadline. No cheating.
7. Do it now. That's right. Get up from your chair and go do it! It's not that big of a deal and you will be finished with it. Then you can come back, sit down, and read the rest of the article in peace with a little smirk of satisfaction on your face. I'm not kidding. Get up! Go do it! Now!
8. Don't do it. If you've been putting something off for a long time, and the world hasn't crumbled around you, maybe you can just decide not to do it and then quit feeling bad because you haven't. Do you really have to complete those half-finished craft projects? No. You don't. You don't like them, you don't have to do them. Give the supplies away to someone who will use and enjoy them. Now you have
less material and mental clutter to deal with.
9. Make a public commitment. Use your
blog or webpage, send an email to all your friends (
or to me), call a few of your closest buddies, make an announcement at your next social gathering... find a way to make a public commitment to do/complete whatever it is you've been procrastinating on. Make it even more motivational by promising something to the group if you don't complete it as promised. (You buy dinner for the friends if you don't do it by a certain date.) They'll remember the commitment if there's something in it for them, and you'll remember to do it if it will cost you to forget!
10. Delegate it. There are many students with little money who are capable of lots of household projects you may not want to do yourself. Hire one to plant your perennials or paint your front porch or organize your files or set up your new computer or load your iPod. Highschool and college students are great resources. Pay fairly and explain clearly what you want done and you're likely to end up with an anti-procrastination partner who can help you in many different projects.
11. Partner it. There are two different ways to partner something you've procrastinated on. First, you can find another person who will agree to be your partner in getting the item completed, and then you in turn help your partner do something that he or she has procrastinated on. If you find someone who is procrastinating on the same thing, like going to the gym regularly or reading more books, you can tackle it together. Join an aerobics class together, or join a book club together and have monthly meetings to talk about the book you've just read. Alternately, you can partner something by "attaching" it to another activity you enjoy. You like shopping but you hate returning phone calls. Go to the mall, sit in the parking lot in your car and return 2 or 3 phone calls. Then go shopping.
12. Plan a day for it. Sometimes the best method is the head-on, no-holds-barred, life-or-death duel approach. So clear a day in your calendar. Get your supplies ahead of time. Turn the phone off and the good music on and get to work. Do as much as you can, as well as you can, as quickly as you can. At the end of the day, stop, clean up, and go do something you enjoy.
It includes over 300 pages of 30-minute meals, dinners for one, kosher meals, vegetarian meals, appetizers, and holiday meals. Click on the image at right to go to the Give Away. All you have to do is leave a comment! Drawing on Friday, Feb. 27!
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