Before I share my tips on how to stop procrastinating, I want to tell you this: You’re not lazy.
Procrastination usually stems from one of two experiences:
01: You don’t feel like you can do the thing you’re procrastinating, so you avoid it out of fear of failure. (Insecurity)
02: What you’re procrastinating feels so small and insignificant, you keep pushing it off for other seemingly more important tasks. (Lack of vision)
Here are my tips to stop procrastinating:
01. Write Your WHY
When you’re making a to-do list, always write the “why” under or next to it. Write why it’s important or why it’s even on your to-do list in the first place. If you’re procrastinating out of insecurity, it will help you muster the courage to work on it. If you’re procrastinating out of lack of vision, it will remind you why the task is needed.
Example:
- Edit your resume and submit it to a job posting.
WHY: Because it’s the first step to possibly reaching your dream job.
02. 20-Minute Timer
Open a timer (on your phone or just google “timer” in your web browser) and set it for 20 minutes. You can do anything for 20 minutes.
Seriously, you can handle it. You can do something scary or boring for 20 minutes.
The time ticking down will help you stay on track when you reach for your phone. When it goes off, you’ll either set the timer again or you’ll be so engrossed in your work that you just keep going! Starting is always the hardest part.
03. Keep Your Promises to Yourself
We all have that friend who will bail on plans. “Yeah, we should hang out this week!” she calls as you start walking away. But it never happens. Or she’ll call you 30 minutes before about how she doesn’t feel well and has to stay home. Eventually, you stop believing she’ll ever make it to girls’ night. And at some point, you stop engaging with her altogether.
Listen, when we tell ourselves that we are going to do something (work out, address that task, make dinner, stop online shopping, post that package) but then we don’t, we stop believing ourselves.
We become the flakey friend to ourselves and our goals!
If you tell yourself, “Yeah, I’ll work on that tomorrow,” but enough tomorrows go by – you’ll stop believing you’ll do it at all. This means we’ll eventually stop making promises to ourselves. We’ll stop making goals, plans, and – eventually – dreams.
Procrastination is SO NORMAL. Don’t beat yourself up for it. Follow these three steps and keep choosing yourself. Keep choosing your goals. Keep choosing your dreams. Even if you have to make the decision over and over again 100 times a day. I believe in you.
[…] do it, but we don’t have to anymore. If you missed the last blog post full of part 01’s tips, click here to see them! Here are 02 more tips on how to Stop Procrastinating, and this is where the tough love which is […]