I am a master procrastinator. I procrasti-cleaned the other day. So much so, that I completely cleaned out my dorm room, rearranged the furniture, LOFTED the bed (by myself – what a feat), organized my shoes, decluttered everything…yet somehow still forgot to water my plants.
Why did I do all this? Because I had a lofty amount of reading ahead of me, to the tune of 350 pages. I was suddenly reminded how much I urgently needed to make my bed, which turned into…all of that.
So. I understand productive procrastination. In fact, you may argue, this blog is a form of that. (Teehee) For someone who’s spent so much time getting organized and planning things for so long, a surprising amount of it never got done.
Seriously, my New Year’s resolution since like, second grade, was to “be more organized.”
I’ve spent so much time waxing philosophical about my week-old fit lifestyle that I forgot what my own purpose was: to help you procrastinate more efficiently and effectively, and to turn that into actually doing things.
Now. Here’s the key to understanding procrastination:you procrastinate because you find other tasks more rewarding than whatever it is you are supposed to be doing.
The impending task may intimidate you, and that’s why you procrastinate. It may bore you, and that’s why you delay it. It may make you cry, and that’s why you don’t want to do it.
Similarly, if you say anything along these lines to yourself, you are a procastinator. And a liar.
- “I work better under pressure.”
- “It’s not due yet. I still have time.”
- “I don’t feel like it now…but I will tomorrow/next week/whenever I put it on my to-do list”.
- “I’ll start as soon as I do X.”
NO, you won’t! You are never going to feel like reading 60 pages of dry, unexciting text for class. You are never going to feel like paying your bills. You are never going to feel like filling out proposals for applications. At least, not until some other, even more unpleasant task comes along. Suddenly, 11 PM laundry will be the best idea ever.
You have got to make the completion of the task more rewarding than anything else in your life at that moment.
Having a clean room would have been the best thing last Thursday afternoon. Which is why I proceeded to clean it, despite having not really done much to it in the previous few days, and despite having other pressing, time-sensitive tasks to take care of.
BUT. Once I wanted nothing more than to get my reading done and over with, I managed to tackle it.I gave myself a goal of 100 pages here, 100 pages there, and finally the end. As soon as I began, I was on a roll. And I finished the entire book in three days. And in all actuality, it took me about 6-8 hours. Total. (Disclaimer: I’m a fast reader. The point is: It’s rarely as awful, painful, and time-consuming as we think it will be. Unless we wait until the very last minute. And then some.)
The hardest part is just getting started. But that’s the easiest way to get things done.
Seriously, half the battle really is just showing up. Someone once bemoaned to me that they wouldn’t feel like exercising after a long day at work, and I suggested to just try showing up at the gym. That’s it. Not to commit to exercise, or anything besides just being there. Once you get there, you’ll find that it’s hard to just leave without putting forth the effort, and voila! The workout commences.
Same thing with any other unpleasant task. Gotta write a paper? Go to a quiet spot with your books, pertinent notes, and a computer. Open a Word document and nothing else. If you’ve got a blank document open, you’re not procrastinating. If you’re typing a hodgepodge mess of words that you hope will make sense later, you’re still not procrastinating. The moment you open Facebook, the news, the black holes of Wikipedia, or e-mail Grandma about how much you miss her at 2 AM when your paper is due tomorrow…you are procrastinating. Gotta mail a letter? Commit yourself to going to the post office. Need to write an important e-mail? Sit down, and start a draft.
I really hope this comes across, not as “JUST DO IT MAN, STOP BEING A BABY AND GET THINGS DONE!!!1” because I understand that doesn’t motivate ANYONE. And I understand that it’s not that you don’t want to (except when it is). Maybe you don’t want to do it now, or you don’t feel ready or prepared, or you expect that it’s gonna suck. A lot.
But I gotta tell you. I get much more satisfaction now from getting an assignment done early than I do from getting it done at the last minute. Then you avoid all that horrible “I-know-I’m-procrastinating-so-let-me-take-some-more-precious-time-to-panic-about-that-too.”
The psychological switch you have to make is to turn your horrible, awful task into something rewarding!
Commit to “showing up” – mentally, psychologically, or physically – for just one task tomorrow, and see what happens!