Stop Procrastinating: Change Your Environment, Your Tasks & Your Habits

Again, the irony is not lost on me, that I spread Procrastination solutions to two separate weekly topics! But it is a meaty subject, for sure!!

If you missed last week’s episode or article, I invite you to get back and have a listen.  

In summary, last week we learned about 

• what procrastination is and what it is not.

• Some of the reasons why we procrastinate.

• tools to help us conquer procrastination including

• A planner, with a calendar, goals, to-do lists

• Realistic time estimates

• Accountability 

• Body doubling

This week, we will look at the three other categories of procrastination solutions, 

• Physical and Environmental Suggestions, 

• Task Modifications and 

• Behavioral Exchanges 

Physical and Environmental Suggestions:

• Pomodoro Method

  • I considered adding the Pomodoro Method into last week’s article regarding tools, but I liked how it dovetails nicely into solving the physical causes of procrastination by helping us strike a balance between action and breaks, to avoid burning out. Research has shown that the best ratio for sustainable productivity is 52 minutes of work and 10 minutes of break.  More specifically, the Pomodoro Method is using 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of break in multiple cycles to take care of ourselves physically and mentally while doing our work.

• Which leads smoothly into 

  • If you’re working to overcome procrastination, take care of yourself! Exercise, eat right and get good sleep so you have the energy and focus to get things done. Plus, we make poor decisions about work and everything else when we are hungry, angry, lonely or tired.

• Physically, please Tackle difficult and / or less appealing tasks during your peak energy. Know for yourself if you’re a morning person or a night owl, or somewhere in between.   Plan your day’s objectives according to your “prime” and “down” times.

• Create a supportive environment: 

  • If you’re struggling with procrastination, or just trying to be more productive in general, consider your environment at home or at work, inducing furniture placement; physical comfort; sound and light levels and stimuli, and managing distractions. Our environment impacts how we feel physically and mentally and emotionally - what might be distracting us - are we too cold or too hot?  Are the lights too bright or too dim?  Is the space too noisy or too quiet for us to concentrate?  If you have a hard time focusing anyway (well, hello, ADHD), can you limit people walking or dropping, or silence your tech notifications in 30 min to 60 minute blocks to get things done? 

• Eliminate the temptation to do something else, for e.g., social media: turn off notifications, put phone away for an hour, move apps to the last screen.

• As an aside, is the concept of time part of your procrastination challenge?  Some of us do not feel the passage of time, or not in an accurate way. If that is you, consider ways to SEE time passing, like use analog clocks in your work space or set timers for odd numbers.

Task Modification:

• Don’t confuse busy work for real work:

  • Recently read “Don’t confuse busy work with real work”  By Harold Taylor.  Here is an excerpt: “Mark Forster, in his book Do it tomorrow, points out that real work advances your business or job while busywork is what you do to avoid real work.” Taylor suggests we look at results, not just movement.  “Real work includes things such as planning, goal setting, creative thinking, problem solving and decision-making. There is little visible activity with this type of work – consequently busywork looks more like real work that real work does.”

• We Start with the easiest task. Start with the hardest task.

• Start with the longest task, just in case.  Start with the short and quick tasks, to gain momentum.

• Just start! We don’t begin motivated. Movement makes motivation which makes momentum.

• Break them up!

  • Sometime we procrastinate because a project feels SOOOOO BIG AND OVERWHELMING!

    • Once, a client had “buy paper towels”, “call the plumber” and “learn how to play the guitar” all on the same daily to-do list.  Obviously, the scope of the guitar task was far beyond the other two simple tasks.  And not surprisingly, “learn to play the guitar” was too broad and too vague to really allow any progress towards the goal! So we Break down big projects into smaller, more manageable pieces.  My client’s first step might be to locate the family guitar in the attic, or contact her friend who’s taking guitar lessons for the instructor’s contact information.  Little pieces!

  • “Minimal viable action” – find the smallest possible next step to take, and take it!

  • Every big project is a series of smaller projects, or smaller less overwhelming tasks.

  • Once you start to enjoy a small accomplishment or two, you’re more likely to finish. Organizing your desk a drawer at a time still gives you an organized desk.

• Make a daily “to-do” list and highlight your Top Three.

  • Develop a list every night before you go to bed with the next day’s duties.  Don’t forget to prioritize with high, medium and low levels of urgency / priority.

  • Consider making a list of the items you’re avoiding, then set deadlines.

  • This takes the decision making out of the Work Process. Decisions are already made!

• Gamify!

  • Set a 20 minute timer for tough tasks, then take a short break. Then get back to work!

  • Two minute trick: jump up with the intention of working for only 120 seconds. Once you being, the momentum may keep you rolling.

  •  I bet there’s an app for that!

• Change up your tasks, for variety and to avoid burning out.
  

Behavior: replace with new and positive habits

• Procrastination is a habit.  Which means we learned it, and we can unlearn it.  

  • Sometimes we procrastinate because it is just what we have always done.

• Find your motivator: money, freedom, esteem, love; avoiding shame, embarrassment or pain.

• Find relevance and interest in everything you do. Seek value in what you undertake.

• Create a “Get to Work” ritual – activation and effort! Movement, playlist, first few tasks?

• Bargain With and /or Reward Yourself!  Finish the business plan now, go to the movies later!

• Improve your inner self talk!  No more inner critic or “poor me” mentality!

  • I Get To, instead of I Have To

  • Negative self-talk says “I Can’t Do it” and creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. Swap to I CAN! 

  • You are ultimately responsible for your choices and consequences, no blaming or whining allowed! Try a “creator” mentality to put the control in your hands.

• Track your progress:

  • Focus on Progress, not just completion – sometimes the journey IS the destination.

  • Promote sense of accomplishment with visual tracking, crossing off finished items.

  • Use tracking to become aware of what does and doesn’t work for you to adjust your general game plan, whether school or work or life in general.

So, what did we learn this week?  

• We looked at three other categories of procrastination solutions, 

• Physical and Environmental Suggestions

  • The Pomodoro Method, with a healthy blend of work and rest

  • Taking care of ourselves physically

  • Creating a supportive work environment

  • Minimizing distractions

• Task Modifications

  • Which looks at breaking up our tasks into the smallest pieces possible to help us clear the overwhelm and get things done

  • Prioritizing our most important work 

  • Gamifying our tasks 

• Behavioral Exchanges, exchanging the habit of procrastination for other more productive habits like a Get to Work Ritual, Positive Self-Talk and Focusing on progress instead of completion

Start living better today.  If any of these reasons for procrastination feels really familiar, making positive choices this week to work better is a great place to start!