How to stop procrastination | Everything you need to know

How does one stop being a regular procrastinator? Why does our mind support procrastination even knowing it is not suitable for us? Let us take a deep dive into the answers and find ideal ways to stop Procrastination.

What is Procrastination?

Procrastination is not a modern phenomenon. It existed from ancient times; The greek philosophers named it “Akrasia” — to act against our better judgement by doing one thing even though we know we should be doing something else. It is the internal resistance that pulls us away from our essential tasks. But with the increased distractions in the modern world, Procrastination takes away a considerable portion of our lives.

Causes of Procrastination

Before knowing how to stop Procrastination, we need to determine the root causes of this internal resistance.

• Fear of uncertainty: Sometimes, we try to avoid some tasks in our lives not because we are lazy or tired, but because we fear the outcome. We delay sharing our feelings with someone fearing they will judge us or delay starting a youtube channel, fearing criticism from our friends. Fear creates the tendency of procrastination.
• The task is too easy or too tricky: Human beings don’t enjoy anything too easy or too difficult. When a task is too easy, our mind always underestimates the job and keeps it for later. On the other hand, when a task is too difficult, we tend to avoid it because our mind believes it is impossible to get it done.
• Ill-defined task: Even when the job is within our league, we might still avoid it because we have no idea where to start. We tend to get lost whenever we think of the task, so we would instead procrastinate on such tasks.
• Distracted: In this modern world, it is easy to get distracted. One notification from our phones can distract us from our most essential tasks. We tend to scroll for just one minute, and suddenly, an hour goes by, leaving all things undone.

Whenever you feel you are procrastinating, you are probably experiencing any of the above reasons. Now you know the reasons, let us learn how to stop Procrastination once and for all.

10 Best ways to stop procrastination

Make to-do lists with clarity.

Every one of us has tried some sorts of To-do lists in our lives to get things done. But most of our to-do lists kind of look like this-

• Call Mom
• Write blog
• Make an Instagram post
• Read books

The problem with this kind of to-do list is that it lacks clarity. Whenever you see your plan, you are unsure what to do exactly and when to do it. Because of this, you tend to keep your task for the latter and keep on procrastinating. A perfect to-do list should be made with absolute transparency. It is best if you mention the time and procedure in your to-do list along with your task.

An ideal To-do list should look like this:

1. Call mom through messenger around 9–10 pm
2. Write a blog about procrastination
3. Make an Instagram post about Time Management
4. Read the book ” Atomic Habits ” during leisure

This to-do list will give you complete openness and will quickly give you hints about how and when to do your tasks exactly.

Do the most challenging task first.

To stop procrastination, start your day by doing the most difficult task in the beginning. Every morning we feel a boost of motivation to make our day a good one. As time passes, our willpower starts to fade, so begin your schedule with the most difficult task when your motivation level is high. It is also known as the “Eat that frog” method when you do the ugliest and most challenging task at the beginning of your day. Also, when the complicated part is done, you will feel much more motivated to do the smaller jobs in your way.

So the first thing on your to-do list should be the ugliest frog.

Break your tasks into segments

Doing a complicated and extensive task can be overwhelming. It could make us procrastinate as we fear the pressure of the massive job at hand. The best way to handle this kind of task is to break them into smaller fragments. Any massive task can seem easy when we are doing only parts of it.
If you have a big task at hand, break them into segments and allocate them into a schedule. Make sure you keep some extra days for editing and revising your assignments before the deadline.

Use the 2-minute rule to stop procrastination.

David Allen, in his book ” Getting things done,” mentions the 2-minute rule. This rule depicts that anything that takes less than 2 minutes should be done right away and not be left for later. If anything takes more than 2 minutes, we should put that on our to-do list for later work of the day.

This technique alone prevents procrastination to a great extent. Cleaning dishes, arranging your desk, turning off the computer, making maggie noodles, etc., can be done in less than 2 minutes. Yet, we leave all these works for the latter and pile up our to-do lists every day.

Avoid Distraction

One of the main reasons for procrastination is distraction. We often get distracted from our task at hand and then fail to get back on the work. It is best if we avoid distractions at all costs. Hide your phone, Turn off its notifications, Block access from people and start your task. The less distracted you are, the more focus you can put into your job. The quality and volume of our work both will receive a good boost.

Use Parkinson’s Law to stop procrastination.

What is Parkinson’s Law? This law is a great time management technique that can also be used to avoid procrastination. the law states that ” Work expands to the time allowed to it.” That means no matter how small or big a task is, you will end up using the total time you have allocated for that specific task.
To stop procrastination, you can designate a short deadline for yourself. This deadline will put pressure on you and will make you avoid procrastination. This technique can accelerate the speed of tasks in all aspects of your life.

Delegate your tasks

We take too much pressure on ourselves and think all our work must be done by ourselves only. Very often, we look at the option of delegation. Delegation is a great strategy to reduce your task from your to-do lists. It will ease your pressure and let you focus on works that you genuinely like. Also, we stress ourselves thinking about which task to delegate and which to keep. I would recommend you to entrust your most manageable tasks, which anyone of any age can do. Sometimes delegation may also come with offering some reward but remember saving time is always worth it.

Use the 10-minute rule to stop procrastination.

It is another rule which alone is capable of eradicating your procrastination. You have to tell your mind that you will only do a specific task for 10 minutes, and then you will stop. The most challenging task is to start a job, which is when we feel the most friction. If we can begin our task by tricking our brain by the 10-minute rule, we will build up momentum. When we start a task, the resistance starts to decrease, and it is easier to continue overtime. The blank page creates all the friction, so begin your job and go with the flow.

Keep the momentum and Take fewer breaks.

People talk about taking breaks to ease yourself from the stressful tasks, but the reality is gaps can be distracting. Breaks create scopes for procrastination. To stop procrastination, take fewer breaks and keep up the momentum that you already built. Do not fall into the illusions of ” Just going to check social media for 5 minutes”. These 5-minute breaks eventually turn to 3 hours, which ultimately leads to unfinished jobs for the day. Take least breaks as possible, and even if you take breaks, limit the time with a timer or alarm. Alert your brain that you are still on duty and make sure not to lose momentum.

Motivation is a myth.

Now and then, we come up with an excuse that we lack motivation. But the idea of motivation is entirely different from what we think it is.
We think motivation is something that we need to do a particular task. But in reality it motivation is something that develops after we do a specific job. You can not have the motivation; you need to grow it. The only way to boost motivation about something is to keep repeating the task.
So stop coming up with this kind of excuse and keep grinding. Remember Nike’s motto, ” JUST DO IT.”

Conclusion

Procrastination is usual & common, but if you want to get things done faster and better, you need to stop procrastinating. To keep up with the modern world, we all need to be fast and efficient. We need to let go of our idleness and practice self-discipline. Procrastination is something that hinders us from being our very best. In a nutshell, these are the ten steps of stopping procrastination:

1. Make to-do lists with clarity
2. Do the most challenging task first
3. Break the task into segments
4. Use the 2-minute rule
5. Avoid Distraction
6. Use the Parkinsons Law
7. Delegate your tasks
8. Use the 10-minute rule
9. Keep up the momentum
10. Motivation is a myth

Best of luck in fighting procrastination

What to do now?

App suggestion: Forest

Forest is a fantastic app that helps you focus and gives you no time to procrastinate. You can find it for IOS and Android. It is completely free.

Read the book: Eat that frog by Brian Tracy.

This book is ideal for procrastinators. Brian mentions 21 excellent ways to stop procrastinating. Some of the ideas in this blog have been from this book. If you are interested, you can click this link to order it.