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Six easy steps for beating procrastination
Thursday, 13 July 2006
I should start you know. I really should. It's not going to do itself. But then again, is it worth it? Do I even really want this? What if it's all just a waste of time? Stop it! Stop saying that and just start. But where?
Does the above sound familiar?
Of course it does, these are the types of delaying thoughts we all have from time to time. Almost everyone has some kind of problem with procrastination. Here are some good tips for beating it.
Yes! It's going to hurt!
Most people don't engage in any kind of delaying tactics when it comes to eating something nice that's sitting in front of them. Nor do they procrastinate about watching a new episode of their favorite TV series.
Understanding why we procrastinate about some things and not others goes a long way towards solving the problem. And the reason we delay some actions is that we know they'll hurt. Maybe only a little, but pain will be involved.
And nobody likes pain.
It's really a problem of desiring the reward, but not wanting to go through the suffering of getting it. We want to have a clean kitchen, but washing the dishes is an unpleasant job. We want top marks in that assignment, but learning about new things is confusing and scary. We want to improve our health, but exercising is just going to highlight how weak and unfit we are.
No strategy to overcome procrastination is likely to work if it ignores the elephant in the room - people avoid doing things that hurt. So of course we're tempted to delay.
But often the pleasure of the reward outweighs the pain of obtaining it. Framing the problem in this way is a good start: "Yes, I know that it's going to be unpleasant, but the pleasure I'll receive when it's over will make it worth it".
Focus on the huge enjoyment of having the task done, and how comparatively small the pain between you and it really is.
Building up tolerance to pain
The big difference between those who manage to overcome pain-avoiding delay tactics, and those who don't is all down to ability to tolerate unpleasant feelings. There's a mental wall inside us all that blocks us from doing painful things. But it's a wall that can be pushed back.
Anybody can build a level of tolerance to pain simply by training themselves. Just commit to a routine of increasing your endurance levels a bit at a time. This is a life-long commitment, but you can tackle it week by week if that sounds too scary.
The trick is to start small. You wouldn't expect to walk into the gym and immediately be able to bench-press 300 pounds - and likewise you shouldn't start building your tolerance for pain by tackling something huge.
Take on some small and easy tasks that you know are going to be unpleasant, but which have a decent reward. Do a chore around the house that's been bothering you. Call someone you've been meaning to but have been a little nervous about. Finish some other minor task.
Gradually build up your tolerance for the kind of pain procrastination causes you to avoid - by consciously and deliberately exposing yourself to it, if only for a short period.
Take a broken-windows approach
The aim of taking on small but unpleasant tasks is what I call a broken-windows approach to procrastination. It applies the broken-windows theory of crime prevention.
Basically this theory states that the best way to reduce major crime is to concentrate on preventing minor crimes - such as graffiti, littering and vandalism. If you see a broken window that's been vandalized, fix it and arrest the culprit. The idea is that if criminals see minor crimes being tolerated, they'll assume they can get away with major ones as well.
Many people believe using this method helped reduce crime in New York City from the epidemic levels it reached during the 1980s. Like all political theories, it's controversial, but still a useful and interesting idea.
The broken-windows approach to procrastination is that if you tolerate delaying tactics on minor tasks, you're unlikely to be able to tackle major tasks. It's a self-discipline method where you let your mind and body see that you mean business. If you're able to take care of petty chores - keeping your desk tidy, cleaning up after a meal, taking out the garbage - then you'll be better equipped to take on bigger problems.
Try it - it really does work.
When there's something small you know you should act to fix, force yourself to do it right now. Don't wait even five minutes.
If you have a nagging voice inside your head giving you a bunch of reasons not to, just ignore it and act anyway. Don't bother arguing with yourself, just get on with completing the task. It's so small it's not worth fighting over.
Turn all tasks into small tasks
Once you've trained yourself to tolerate the unpleasantness of small obstacles, it's a simple step up to being able to take on big jobs. You already know how to do small things without procrastinating, so make everything small.
Rather than concentrating on training for a marathon, focus on running twice around the block. Instead of having to study for four upcoming exams, simply read one chapter of the set text. You get the idea.
Make sure that the small thing you undertake is actually useful, and not just more delaying.
Don't plan too much, just do it
Don't spend ages organizing your big tasks into a number of steps in a list. That will just get you concentrating on how big, scary and painful it all is. Just focus on what tiny little thing has to be done next. Have a small win.
Don't agonize over what to do first, just choose something useful and easy. Often the path to major achievement isn't clear at the beginning anyway. We learn as we walk along it.
The truth is that few big things are ever accomplished all at once. It's just a number of small obstacles overcome adding up to one fat win.
Bill Gates didn't just will Microsoft into being. He did thousands of little day-to-day things that all added up to a big victory. He probably had no idea what the final outcome was going to be except for some abstract goal like "a computer on every desktop". He didn't sit down and plan out every step and either should you.
Obviously some level of planning is usually useful. My point is not to get too hung up on it and use it as an excuse not to get started.
Just get on with completing the next thing.
Don't be afraid of wasted effort
One other obstacle that sometimes prevents people from using this strategy is the fear of wasted effort. They think if they don't organize everything and plan excessively, then they might do something wrong. Worse, if they start, they might be exposing themselves to pain for nothing.
This is an easy fear to talk yourself out of, because almost nothing we put effort into achieving is ever completely wasted. Even failed enterprises have value. Because it's from failure that we often learn the most. If you try and fail, at the very least you'll have learned something. It's often worth doing just for that.
Of course you may get something else even better - you may succeed. Good luck!
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