Prescription for Procrastination

**Dramatic Thanos Voice**

“Procrastination… is inevitable”

I believe procrastination is a sickness more common than, well, the common cold. Everyone procrastinates to some degree, though it certainly affects some more drastically than others. Just like the common cold and other everyday ailments, there is a prescription for getting over procrastination. If I were a doctor who specialized in procrastination, here are some of the “medications” I would prescribe.  

Make a list

I’ve mentioned it in previous posts, but one of the most important ways to overcome the procrastination hurdle is to break down your workload into a detailed list of actionable tasks. The difference between having vague goals and having clear goals is tremendous; after all, it’s much harder to simply begin creating a website than it is to, for example, purchase and register your domain, choose a hosting service, and install WordPress. 

Designate an accountability partner

To continue from the last point, I highly recommend sharing a list of both short-term and long-term goals with someone you trust to hold you liable for the goals you want to achieve. As a society, humans are more often than not stronger together than they are apart. Find a kindred spirit that shares similar passions and motives as you and invite them to check in periodically to hold you accountable. 

Establish the Ten-minute rule

“If it can be finished in 10 minutes or less, do it immediately.” So often I find myself overwhelmed because I have put off many small chores/tasks over a long period of time, and the resulting workload feels insurmountable. Things like switching over laundry, folding clothes, emptying the dishwasher, or smaller work tasks like writing an email or making a phone call commonly get swept aside to manage tasks that are deemed as more important, and then they are forgotten until it feels like you’re drowning in work. It’s not always easy – most good practices aren’t – but tackling modest tasks as they come to you is a good way to keep your head above the water. 

Learn to say no

Overscheduling is a frequent originator of procrastination. If you’ve committed yourself to a surplus of work or events, sometimes there’s nothing you can possibly do to keep up. Work at identifying your priorities, commit to the things that help you advance those priorities, and nix some of the inessential tasks. Be careful not to swing too far the other way and turn down challenging opportunities; therefore, it’s crucial to be certain that what you are committing to is something you want to invest in, and if so, go after it entirely. 

Start small

This can be interpreted in two different ways – either start small in dedicated work-time or start small in task workload. Set aside thirty (a safe but ultimately arbitrary number – decide what works best for you) minutes to sit down and work. Eliminate all other distractions, and just do thirty minutes. It’s likely that you will be in a groove after thirty minutes and will want to keep going, but even if you are ready for a break after thirty minutes, you are thirty minutes farther ahead in your work than you were before, and after a short rest you can start the process all over again.

In addition to short bursts of work, in order to get yourself in that groove, begin working on some of the smaller, simpler tasks. Once you’ve broken down your work into a list as suggested above, break that list into small, medium, and large-sized tasks. Start with some of the easier ones, develop the framework of whatever you are working on, and then when you are more comfortable, dive into the meatier parts of the project.

Procrastination, although abstract, can impose a pretty significant emotional/psychological toll if it not addressed – it is frequently ignored until the pressure breaks and causes some legitimate damage. This list is certainly far from exhaustive, but it serves as a good starting place for those who are lost and scrambling for a solution. Find what works for you and begin working to establish a routine, and soon enough you will find yourself eager to get right to work.