Any tips for procrastination?

Working from home is great. You’re probably finding that you’re getting more work done in less amount of time due to a lack of distractions (meetings, impromptu “brainstorming, office politics, etc). On the other hand procrastination might be settling in to your routine. With all that extra time, you might be pushing tasks off to the side. I’ve asked some professionals for tips on how they tackle procrastination:

Tony Crockford / https://www.boldfish.co.uk/

I think you need to work out why you are procrastinating.

Some reasons I’ve found:

uninspiring work

project not properly planned - too vague

low mental energy

low physical energy

The solution to ‘getting on with it’ depends on why you’re not, in my experience. Sometimes a little downtime helps to clarify things.

Ann Moreno /  AVM Graphics

I have done a “3 page dump” when procrastination hits. Some part of you may be scared, and wants to keep you safe; having a conversation with that part of you, or even just writing down your thoughts will give you insight. You can try setting conditions on your forward movement, or make agreements with yourself. Meta-thinking works. THEN you can take your baby steps!

Adam Stanecki / https://transcendanxiety.com.au/about

Write down what you achieved today at the end of each day.

Review that at the the start of the next day to remind yourself how much important work you actually get done. (Bonus: you’ll self-police wasting time.)

Chris Beaumont / https://www.chrisbeaumont.co.uk

A couple of quick suggestions:

Don’t try and tackle something big head on (“Eat that Frog”.) Break everything into small, baby steps and just take it one at a time. You could call this the “Bird by Bird” approach.

You don’t have to start at the beginning. If you’re writing something like a difficult email but don’t know how to begin, start with the part that you do know. That can be the middle of a paragraph, a sentence, anywhere you like. Then come back and fill in the blanks.

Look for easy ways to gain momentum. One question I’ve been asking myself today - what’s the one thing that I can do that will make me feel better once it’s done?

Paula Mae /  PaulasBodyShop.com

I’d like to suggest taking a step back and asking yourself how has procrastinating benefited you? For many of us, we work best under certain kinds of pressure. If the pressure doesn’t come from without, we subconsciously generate pressure from within through procrastination. In fact, some of us do our best work when we create the pressure to perform at our best. Slow and steady isn’t for everyone.

Herman Jaramillo / Intuitive Mindset Coach

Procrastination and self sabotage are defence mechanisms that we have created to avoid pain. We create a belief that if we take action, come out of our comfort zone, empower ourselves there might be pain. That staying where we are, is better, or will bring less pain than taking action. I would ask from a very non judgmental place
What am I gaining out of not taking action?
What can I loose or what pain can come out of taking action?

Andrew Cooke / Growth & Profit Solutions, https://growthandprofit.coach

2 great books and specs of ideas are Tiny Habits and Also Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. Great reads, practical tools.

Sunyata Zohar / https://steppingfromatobe.com/

One of the best ways to get started is to set a timer! try two 35-45 min slots with 10 min break (with timer too) and during this time you are doing only what you planned. you do not make coffee, go to pee  or FB wondering.