So, how to beat procrastination? Is it even possible?
You have a deadline approaching, and are aware that you need to work on the task at hand, but those YouTube videos and PlayStation games are just so much more appealing? Don’t worry, you are not the only one, a lot of people are dealing with this problem.
Let’s see if few tricks we will mention below will actually help beat procrastination and start recognizing it in earl stages or when it is disguised procrastination.
What is Procrastination?
Procrastination is the act of delaying or putting off tasks until the last minute, or past their deadline. Some researchers define procrastination as a “form of self-regulation failure characterized by the irrational delay of tasks despite potentially negative consequences.”
Disguised Procrastination
The first step in our how to beat procrastination guide is to actually recognize it. Often times, it comes in a form of disguised procrastination.
For example:
- Taking multiple online courses
- Reading way too many books/articles
- Setting up that perfect productivity workflow
- Excessive note-taking (I have 342 notes currently and all are important)
- Joining multiple communities
- Starting something that you are actually not interested in
For example, for my article and YouTube video on How to Make Money Using YouTube Shorts, I watched like 30 videos, and read 45 articles before I did anything… it took days.
Anything to keep you away from the main goals and tasks at hand. When you do the above things, ask yourself, are you trying to avoid getting real work done?
You probably are, and the first step in how to beat procrastination is this recognition that you are actually delaying things.
Jakob Greenfeld tweeted: “Taking a course is oftentimes a form of procrastination because people feel like they need to take a course before they’re ‘allowed’ or ready to start/create something.“
But, you can learn by doing. And this way, you are actually doing real work instead of finding excuses not to start to work, as you are not ready, or it is still not a perfect time.
There is a big secret I will reveal to you: There is no such thing as perfect time. It will never be perfect. So, just start doing real work and results will be there. And it will seem like ti is the perfect time. That is the catch 🙂
Some tips on how to beat procrastination (most of them don’t work for me)
Get Up and Move – they say this helps, you changed the scenery … but for me, it just makes other things interesting, like long walk, or coffee in a local bar, anything but work …
Set Up Reminders – yes, it reminds me I should work, but I am already aware of that… not helping
Wake Up Early – yes, it helps to get a clear head by the time I actually want to start working, but no, doesn’t help me a bit, as then I start doing other things but with clear head
Time Blocks – this semi-works for me, but often times I got distracted by questions during that time blocks and everything goes to hell…
I am not saying that these tips do not work, I am just saying, they don’t work for me. Some of those are pretty great, like read these 30 quotes to stop procrastination…well, I am now reading quotes, still not working 🙂
Some of the tips are really silly, like sell your TV or cut your internet while working…
The 5 minute rule on how to beat Procrastination (this works for me)
This is not something I invented or something, but it seems to work on me.
Basically, you start to work on a task at hand for 5 minutes and if you don’t like it, just STOP.
The thing that happens to me, I just keep going, as I overcame the biggest obstacle and it is behind me – I STARTED.
This helps me get going without interrupts, nothing can stop me now.
Conclusion
What makes you beat the procrastination? How often do you find yourself procrastinating and what do you do in these scenarios? Is it stressful to you?
Please share your experience in comments below.
