PERFORMANCE Hypnosis & Coaching

5 Simple Strategies for
Overcoming Procrastination

We all procrastinate. Why do today what can be put off until tomorrow? But if procrastination has become a habit for you, here are 5 Simple Strategies to help you deal with the problem.

1. Think Small
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Are you faced with a big, overwhelming, distasteful task? Break it down into a series of small steps.

Example: Cleaning the bathroom (yuck).
Instead of thinking about CLEANING THE BATHROOM, try thinking about: 1. shaking out the bathroom rug; 2. sweeping the bathroom floor; 3. cleaning the bathtub; 4. cleaning the sink; and finally (oh boy!) 5. cleaning the toilet. Do one thing before you think about doing another.

2. Think Big
Tackle the whole project at once. Turn off the phone, cancel your appointments, get out of the office and go to a café or a quiet library, and get to work. Find a way to immerse yourself totally in the project.

(Extreme) Example: Need or want to learn French?
Get on a plane and go to France for a month.

3. Time Boxes
Faced with lots of little tasks? Set them up and decide to work in 15 minute blocks. Work for 15 minutes (or 30, or 60) on Task #1, put it aside and work the same amount of time on Task #2, and so on, until the tasks are finished or you find yourself at a suitable stopping point.

4. Make a Deadline
Remember that college term paper that was due the next day and you stayed up all night to finish it? You probably said, “I always work best with a deadline.” Well then, give yourself a deadline. Decide that the important Task absolutely, positively has to be done by tomorrow (and make sure that you make that commitment to someone else other than yourself).

5. Do Nothing
Just force yourself to do nothing. NOTHING (No reading, watching TV, internet surfing, NOTHING!). Resist the urge to take action as long as you can. It will be like pulling the string back on a bow until you absolutely can’t hold off any longer, and the arrow will shoot itself.

6. Do Something – Anything!
Bonus Simple Strategy: Get up our of your chair and just do something, anything. It doesn’t have to even relate to the Task at hand. The process of simply taking action will lead to more action and sooner, rather than later, you will do what needs to be done.

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. "
~William James

"It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in. "
~ Earl of Chesterfield