7 Effective Ways To Put Off Procrastination

A quick guide for putting off putting off. Or something to that effect.

I don’t pretend to understand the phenomenon of procrastination.

I have my reasons for doing it. You have yours.

If I had to take a general guess as to what makes us put off projects — both personal and professional — it’s that we feel overwhelmed. We might fear failure a bit as well. I once read a productivity guru suggest we fear success, which doesn’t make sense to me.

While I can’t, in good conscience, claim to be an expert on procrastination’s root causes — not even my occasional own — but I have found some strategies that work for me. I see no reason why they might not work for you as well.

Give some or all of these suggestions a try:

Avoid distractions

Turn off the TV. While many people work well with background noise, the visual elements of television can prove too much of a distraction.

Try music instead. Or a podcast.

Or try silence. You might be surprised to find that silence works best for you.

If you live or work in a noisy environment, get some noise-canceling headphones. These have become very popular among the work-from-home crowd. Or you could talk with those around you and explain that you really need to focus, and if they could hold things down to a dull roar (or, better yet, leave) for a few hours, that would be great.

Neaten up your workspace

My workspace has a tendency to collect clutter throughout the day — mail, bags from the store, printouts, books, used coffee cups, loose crayons, etc. (I have a four-year-old, don’t judge me. The kid drinks a lot of coffee.)

That kind of chaos does not nurture positive work energy. I make it a point each morning to get things in order.

A quick tidying of your workspace will give you a small sense of accomplishment, which can help you approach your project with a more positive attitude.

Don’t spend too much time tidying, however. That could quickly become the new excuse you’re using to not get your work done.

Straighten things up and put things in order just enough to make you feel professional and productive. See how well that helps you get your work tasks accomplished.

Schedule tasks

Be precise in your scheduling. Instead of saying, “Oh, I’ll take care of that this afternoon,” try, “I’ll sit down and start formatting these articles at 2 pm. I’ll take a break at 3:30, then work on that cover design until it’s finished.”

Scheduling your work tasks makes a to-do list more concrete. I’d recommend making this something you do each morning. Some people try to organize everything days in advance, but I find that kind of overscheduling leads to frustration when life fails to go precisely as planned.

This leads us to the next tip.

Break large tasks down in your to-do list

I live by my to-do list, but I have to be careful about it.

If I have an intimating project sitting on my to-do list and I’m still avoiding it for whatever reason, that’s only raises my anxiety and guilt.

What I’ll do instead is have a select to-do list devoted to that project alone with individual steps for that project listed. For example, I have a film journal project on my to-do list right now. It’s a full-on project. On the facing page of my notebook, I have a smaller to-do list that breaks down the journal project into individual steps. It looks something like this:

JOURNAL LAYOUT

__ Insert articles

__ Do basic formatting

__ Insert images

__ Add captions

__ Fine-tune formatting

I get a certain amount of satisfaction as each item off is checked off. Then, before I know it, the entire project is complete and off to the client for proofing.

Visualize yourself completing your project

I almost didn’t include this suggestion. It seems to me a too metaphysical approach rather than practical. Just the same, it is a method I employ on occasion when trying to beat some kind of block in tackling a project.

Certainly, it’s not a step to be taken by itself, but in conjunction with any of these other methods. The idea is that when you visualize a project’s completion, you’re not attaching any negative emotions or feelings to the task at hand. Instead, you’re approaching the project from a more positive, encouraging one. And maybe that visualization can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It doesn’t hurt to try, right?

Partner up

We’re social animals. Sometimes, working alone can be more challenging than working alongside someone else. Consider these two scenarios:

(Over the phone) “Hey, Jen! Whatcha working on?”

“I need to finish five illustrations for a client’s book. What about you?”

“Taxes.”

“Uf. Make a pot of coffee. I’ll be over in 15 minutes, and we’ll each work on our projects in silence.”

“Sounds like a plan!”

Or…

(Husband to wife) “I just dropped the kid off at your mother’s. You know what that means, right?”

“You do the back yard, and I’ll do the front?”

“Hedge clippers are in the garage.”

Hey, it works. Two, three, or more people all working in the same general area, but keeping to themselves, can create a partner-driven enthusiasm to get things done.

The Great Motivator

Of all of these counter-procrastination tips, this is the one I find most compelling. It essentially boils down to, “If you don’t do the work, you don’t get paid.”

I accompany this method by looking at a stack of bills that need attention. Sure, no one in their right mind wants to edit and format 400 pages of old radio transcripts (for example). Still, it’s a job that was taken on in exchange for payment, and that payment will help keep the lights on, and the refrigerator stocked.

When all else fails, it’s the Great Motivator (bills coming due) that comes through.

Whatever it takes

No one likes watching projects pile up uncompleted or not even started. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to procrastination, but you have options. Give these suggestions a try. Get the momentum started.

Things will move on from there and, soon enough, you’ll be caught up and feeling fine.

Thank you for reading. I’d love to share more with you via my Bi-Weekly Word Roundup newsletter sent to subscribers every other Sunday. It will feature news, productivity tips, life hacks, and links to top stories making the rounds on the Internet. You can unsubscribe at any time.