5 Techniques To Reduce Procrastination
When you procrastinate, you often spend more time and energy avoiding the task than you would spend actually doing it.
But the next time a situation like this comes up, I want you to ask yourself one simple question:
- Do you prefer short term pain, or long term pain?
- You know it’s more painful to avoid the thing and still have to do it, than to just do it. But in the moment, avoiding it seems like the path to lesser pain.
Not every procrastination situation is the same. So, let’s break down some reasons why you might be procrastinating, even when you know you’re causing yourself more stress and anxiety by doing so:
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The task is unclear or too vague
- If your task starts with “figure out”, it’s not clear enough. You brain has to do too much work to take action. So it doesn’t.
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The task is too big for a single sitting
- This task will take 3 hours.
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You’re not sure where to start
- You’ve never done this before. So, you don’t know how to get started.
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You just don’t want to do it (it’s boring or tedious)
- But what’s more tedious? Confronting the fact that you need to do a boring or tedious task day after day without actually doing it? Or doing it?
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It’s emotionally charged
- Some tasks make you face things you don’t want to face.
What can you do to avoid this fate?
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Use clear language
- Make it easy for your brain to execute. Instead of “contact Jim”, say “email Jim”. A simple tweak, but it doesn’t give your mind leeway.
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Break it down
- Make the next step so small you can’t convince yourself not to do it. Repeat until you’ve completed all the steps.
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Get help getting started
- Sometimes you don’t know where to start. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have options!
- Ask someone who’s done it before or use Google or ChatGPT to point you in the right direction.
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Give yourself a reward
- If you know you’re just not going to enjoy it, add a reward to help you get there.
- Maybe you get 10 minutes of guilt-free scrolling when you’re done? Or something even better!
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Decide not to do it or to delay it
- Sometimes you’re procrastinating on things because you know that you actually don’t need to do them. If that’s the case, you can decide not to do it. And thus stop it from hanging over your head.
- What if it still needs to be done by SOMEONE? Outsource or ask for help.
- What if YOU need to do it, but not right away? Give yourself the grace to push it. If there’s no penalty for delaying, then delay is a reasonable, and perhaps even preferable, option.
Read the complete article available at Thrive Global!
Reflection:
Do you struggle with procrastination?
#Procrastination #Coping #MentalHealth
@comfortableNight4463
The picture and text above seem to have been completely copied from the original article webpage.
Is that legal?
@7motivation
it should be. it is referenced. I went to Thrive to share it to *** for myself. thrive may have accrued a new subscriber, possibly more if my friends like it too.
@adaptableOcean4193
Saying "it should be"
might just be
"wishful thinking"
unless one can show it's really truly legal.
For example, according to this legal advice webpage, republishing copyrighted material without permission isn't legal unless it meets "fair use" conditions.
https://www.findlaw.com/smallbusiness/business-operations/is-it-ok-to-copy-material-from-a-website.html#:~:text=At%20first%20glance%2C%20it%20may,digital%2C%20%22offline%22%20content
It would be helpful if 7Cups would advice everyone on this.
If 7Cups condones copying articles and photos from copyrighted webpages without permission because it's "fair use" then that would be good for everyone to know.
Otherwise how are we to know what's allowed and what isn't?
The poster asked for and allowed the article to be shared