5 Surprisingly Simple Techniques That Will Make Procrastination Impossible

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. — Arthur Ashe

Procrastination is like a credit card: It’s a lot of fun until you get the bill. – Christopher Parker

Last week I got an assignment that was due yesterday. Before I got this assignment, I had decided that I’ll be completing my assignments the day I’m assigned one.

But I kept on saying to myself, “Relax, I’ll do it tomorrow, it isn’t due today. I still have a lot of time.” And this approach of mine didn’t let me complete it until today. I hate to admit that it got completed yesterday. That too because the deadline made me do it.

This left me wondering, “Why do I procrastinate so much?” Procrastination is not a big deal, we all do it. Lately, I have realized that I tend to linger on tasks until the deadline is near or until I’m forced to do so.

I spent hours of reading and researching about procrastination. Abstract goals, longer waiting time until getting rewarded, perfectionism, fear of failure, lack of motivation, and perceived lack of self-control are some of the most reasons behind procrastination.

But figuring out the reasons alone doesn’t help. You have to find ways to deal with them. I further read about ways to deal with procrastination and I found these techniques promising:

Mel Robbins’ 5 Second Rule

Mel Robbins’ 5-second rule states that if you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it.

Whenever you want to accomplish a task, you need to count 5–4–3–2–1. And as soon as you reach 1, you need to make your move/act towards starting the task. The brain gives us a window of 5 seconds until it starts giving it a second thought.

Whenever you take more than 5 seconds from the moment you wanted to do something to making the first move, your brain will be engulfed by second thoughts. And you’ll ultimately find excuses to linger on the task.

David Allen’s 2 Second Rule

David Allen’s 2 Second Rule is based on the Getting Things Done methodology.

The 2-minute tool states that if you take a look at an action and you figure out that it would take less than 2 minutes to complete. You should complete it right there at that moment.

He says that it is better to do it at that point rather than hanging up on that task and creating a backlog. It would take you longer than 2 minutes if you look at it again and then decide to act upon it.

Consider an email that you were supposed to send after the meeting summing up the day. It would have hardly taken you 2 minutes because the event was still afresh in your mind. But you chose not to send it at that time. And you thought you would send it later.

If you had done it right away it would have you less than 2 minutes. But since you didn’t do it right away and thought of sending it an hour later. You would find it difficult to do so because your body has been out of that zone for an hour.

Now you want it to get back there, recall the meeting and now sum up the meeting. It will take you a lot more time than it would have taken had you completed it right away.

Use visual cues

Visual cues have two benefits,

1. The reminders would encourage you to take action.
2. The more visual progress you would see, the nearer the goal would look and would motivate you to finish the task.

A calendar layout would serve the purpose in case of long-term goals, such as fitness goals where you won’t witness results on daily basis.

Timetable layout would serve your daily purposes, where you can list down all your tasks for the day and work according to them.

Make The First Step Easy

The hardest part of undertaking any task is the first step. If we make that first step look easy, it will leave us with a lot of positive intent to accomplish further tasks.

If you have numerous tasks lined up, completing the easy tasks quickly would help you cross out several tasks. It would turn out to be psychologically beneficial for you. When you’ll gain enough momentum, even the harder tasks won't concern you much.

You have limited willpower. You have to utilize it judiciously. If you go on with the hardest task and end up messing it, you won’t be able to move forward. Harder tasks take more effort. If you try to start with the most difficult part of the task and you aren’t able to excel in it, you’ll end up demotivated.

Design A Reward System

Who doesn’t love to be rewarded? We all undertake tasks whenever we find them rewarding in any way. Rewards ensure that you aren’t doing something just for the sake of doing instead you are doing so out of your own will.

But the catch here is to shift the focus from rewarding the final outcome to rewarding the performance or small tasks that will help you achieve the final goal.

Small rewards at every stage keep you motivated to complete what you started.

When you know you need to accomplish a major task, you divide it into smaller tasks. And a 5-minutes break between these smaller tasks seems enough rewarding in itself.

Conclusion

Dealing with procrastination isn’t that tough. Follow these simple techniques that will help you beat procrastination:

1. 5-second rule — If you want to accomplish a task, count 5–4–3–2–1 and make the first move.
2. 2-minute rule — If a task would take 2 minutes or less, complete it immediately.
3. Use visual cues — Use timetable/calendar layout to track your progress.
4. Take on the easy task first — It is always better to start with the easy task rather than the hardest task.
5. Design a reward system — Reward yourself for every successful task not just for the final outcome.

Good luck, with your fight to take on procrastination.