Wondering how to finally be able to overcome procrastination?
You’re not alone! I compiled 5 techniques that you can start using today to overcome procrastination once and for all.
Do you want to hear more of my accent?! Discover all episodes here!! 🙂
Here’s the deal…
You have something to do but it’s stronger than you: you’re pushing it to later!
This is it! With these 5 techniques, you will stop procrastinating!
Things will get done and you will be able to devote your time to something that is really worth your time and that makes you truly happy.
What can it be? Spending time with your friends and family? Reading? Listening to music?
No matter what you like to do: you’ll get much more time to do it.
Let’s get into the best overcoming procrastination tips! 🙂
Wait but why procrastination?
There are many reasons for us to be procrastinators.
I asked around me and people tell me that they are procrastinating because they feel overwhelmed with the task they need to do.
They’re not sure what to do, how to do it, how much time it will take them and most of the time, they are not really sure what will be the benefits of doing the task.
This last one is very interesting…
And this is why I now want to talk about…
What do you need help with?
(Choose between the 2 options)
Remember your “why”
Sometimes, we also need to get out of our comfort zone and as you probably know it, this may be very uncomfortable!
What has worked very much for me is to remember “why” I need to do what I’m doing.
So, you can ask yourself: why do you need to complete this task?
I truly believe that it’s not really about the task itself that we should focus on, but more on what we will really get the moment the task is done.
For example, doing a workout: the real “why” is maybe feeling better, being healthier.
What about organizing all of your administrative papers at home? It’s really annoying, I totally get you! But, if you’re done doing it, you’ll have more time to hang out with your friends and family. And even more: you’ll find everything much easier!
You’ll also get more time in the long run when you will finally stop looking everywhere for everything!! 🙂
No matter what you have to do: think of “why” you need to do it!!
Related article:
Why and How Discomfort Is The Key to your Success
How to stop procrastinating, 5 methods
You can stop being a procrastinator TODAY! 🙂
Discover these 5 strategies and please, do not procrastinate reading this post for later! 😉
Overcoming procrastination
1. The 5-second rule by Mel Robbins
It seems like I was the last one hearing about this method!
Mel Robbins is simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
And she knows what she’s talking about!
Basically, she was stuck in a time of her life where she was snoozing every morning because she couldn’t get out of bed. She just didn’t have the strength to prepare breakfast for her children.
One night, she was watching TV and saw the launch of a rocket… 5-4-3-2-1… GO!
At this very moment, she realized it that counting backward like this will help her get out of her bed.
So… What’s the method?
When you need to take action, to do something, count backward from 5 to 1.
Do not let your brain take you out of it!
Our brain likes to repeat the past because it knows that this is what kept us alive until now!
But you don’t need to feel afraid or overwhelmed!
So, when you find yourself in the morning in your bed or at work and you need to do a task, simply start counting backward from 5-4-3-2-1… And GO! 🙂
I’ve tried it and…
It really works.
It gives you the power of doing something right away!
From now on, each time that I know that I need to do something, I’m just repeating in myself the countdown and I don’t even hear the thoughts in my head that are trying to stop me from doing it.
Check it out!
2. The 2-minute rule by David Allen
Okay, so this method is an amazing habit to help you take care quickly of small things.
My sister sent an article about it last week in my emails, it comes from the World Economic Forum.
So… What’s the method?
This method is separated into 2 parts.
I like the way they wrote it in the article:
“Part 1: If you can complete a task in 2 minutes or less, do it now.”
Without waiting or thinking about something else, you should just do it NOW, STRAIGHT!
“Part 2: When you start a new habit, make sure it only takes two minutes or less to complete.”
About the second one, there are a few more details included that help to understand: “The trick here is to create a two-minute habit the leads to your goal habit. If your goal is to go to the gym more, for example, your two-minute habit should be packing your gym pack. A two-minute task is easy to knock out, making it much easier to begin a larger, more time-consuming habit.”
All of this is very interesting because most of the time, we think that a task will be annoying and may take us a lot of time to do.
Have you ever felt this way?
Thinking of doing something and when you finally do it, you realize that it didn’t take you so much time that you thought it would?
I find it fascinating! 🙂
I’ve tried it and…
It also really works!
What I like about this method is that you realize what task needs 2 minutes of your time and what other that needs more.
Then, from this moment, you won’t be able to find any excuses for the 2-minute task not be done, because you know that it will take you only 2 minutes to do it! 😉
I was also surprised that you can actually get the habit of doing these small tasks.
I thought that I would just do it on the day that I read the article but actually, I continued the next day, so… I’m convinced! 🙂
Check it out!
You can get more information about this technique in this short article on the World Economic Forum’s website.
3. Let go of perfection!
This method is one method out of 10 others that I read back then in 2009, and I think that it is a very good one.
I think about it a lot often and this is why I wanted to share it with you!
So… What’s the method?
Basically, we might find ourselves procrastinating because we want things to be done PERFECTLY.
And it’s not easy, you need to train yourself to accept that things don’t need to be perfect to be good!
So slowly slowly, try to convince yourself that it’s better than something may be done well but not perfect than not being done at all.
And by the way, what do we mean when we say “perfect”? Perfect for whom? For you? For others?
It’s amazing to try to do your best, but when you think about it, you can often get better at something!
Imagine yourself learning how to play the piano.
The first time you will play, it won’t be as good as the 50th time you’re sitting at your piano, right?
Nothing will be perfect the first time you try (and maybe ever!) but at least, you’ve got to give it a little try! 🙂
I always say that “life doesn’t need to be perfect to be wonderful”!
So, the task you need to do also doesn’t need to be perfect, it simply needs to be done! 🙂
I’ve tried it and…
It takes a bit of time to accept that things won’t be perfect.
But as I said it, slowly slowly, after some time, you will stop procrastinating, because you will prefer to get things done than not getting things done at all…
Check it out!
You can get more information about this technique and get other ones that are good but not as powerful as this one from my point of view in this article: 10 Techniques to Successfully Overcome Procrastination
4. Manage your environment
Probably it isn’t something new to you but still, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram… There are so many temptations!!
It’s really hard to go through a task and to be done with it when all the time, you have someone or something that is interrupting you!
So… What’s the method?
InnerDrive is a mental skill training company and this is where I found the article about techniques than answers the question “how to stop procrastinating”.
About the phone being a huge distraction, it’s written that”a recent study found that having your phone out and in sight, even if you are not using it, can make you perform 20% worse than if you had put your phone away. The authors of this study state that ‘the mere presence of a cell phone may be sufficiently distracting to produce diminished attention’.”
What you can do that will help you stop procrastinating is organizing your environment.
Keep your phone away and in silent when you don’t want to be disturbed.
I know that it’s very hard! I’m afraid of missing an important message, but for sure IT CAN WAIT.
We really became dependent…
By the way, I still think that phone calls can be important, so I’m usually keeping my phone in another room but turning off the Wifi.
So, if someone needs to contact me, he/she can call me.
I’ve tried it and…
It takes a bit of time to get used to the feeling of “maybe someone sent me a message but I don’t know about it yet”.
But again, slowly slowly, you will get used to the idea and you will be okay with it.
It happened also to me that sometimes, I check my phone after a few hours of hard work and… Nothing was really that important! 😉
Then, you realize that it’s really okay to wait a bit and you get really used to it! 🙂
Check it out!
You can get more information about this technique in this short article on the 7 WAYS TO OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION.
5. Chunk it!
I discovered this one a year ago and it’s really one technique that is helping me not to feel overwhelmed with everything in life!
It’s basically telling you to create an “outline” of the whole task by creating a general view on it so you know how to properly do it.
So… What’s the method?
I found this method in an article on the website of Psychology Today.
It’s written that “When a task seems overbearing, procrastination often follows.”
How to help with this feeling? By separating the task into different small tasks.
Then, you know in what direction you’re going into, what comes before and what comes next.
For example, I needed to take care of my car.
I needed to take it to the garage, then take it to some yearly tests and also, I wanted to organize the place where I’m putting all of my car papers.
I first felt overwhelmed with all what needed to be done!
I knew that I needed to take care of my car, but wasn’t sure where to begin.
So I started by creating a to-do list of all what I needed to do until the task will be considered as done!
I then knew where to start and how to continue until the task was done.
Also, it was necessary because this kind of task is quite long!
It’s not a 2-minute task! You really need to organize it to make sure that you get the result you want (the car being all set and your mind being quiet!).
I’ve tried it and…
As I just showed it, it really works and helps a lot against procrastination and the feeling of overwhelm!
Check it out!
You can get more information about this technique in this short article on the 11 Ways to Overcome Procrastination.
8 Procrastination quotes
I wanted to share with you a few procrastination quotes to get you motivated! 🙂
- “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step”. Martin Luther Kind
- “Do not act as if you had a thousand years to live”. Marcus Aurelius
- “The most effective way to do it, is to do it”. Amelia Earhart
- “Procrastination is hands down, our favorite form of self-sabotage”. Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby
- “Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill”. Christophe Parker
- “Don’t WAIT. The time will never be just RIGHT”. Napoleon Hill
- “A year from now you may wish you had started today”. Karen Lamb
- “If you procrastinate when faced with a big difficult problem… break the problem into parts, and handle one part at a time.” Robert Collier
Stop procrastinating and build your self-confidence
When you overcome procrastination, you are showing to yourself that YOU CAN DO IT.
And as you remember probably what I always say, when we are taking actions, we are building our self-confidence.
It’s not about succeeding or not at what we are trying to do, but it’s about DOING something because we want an end result!
And when you are trying, you can only be PROUD of yourself! 🙂
And this will make you feel secure and empowered for being who you are. You are totally worth it, you can do anything you want, as long as you can overcome procrastination. 🙂
Start today and see in a few days, weeks and months how your self-confidence will be, probably higher than it is the moment you’re procrastinating… Right? 😉
To sum up!
Try one of these methods and see which one is great for you to overcome procrastination.
We may procrastinate because we forget WHY we need this task to be done.
So, remember WHY you need this task to be done, what are you going to get/be/feel when this task will be done?
There is a famous saying in French that says “when you’ll know the “why”, you’ll know the “how”.”
Which means that sometimes, we’re not sure HOW to do something. But the moment that you know WHY you’re doing it, it will make things easier! 🙂
What do you think about that?
