We are all guilty of procrastination, especially with social networking and the convenience of the internet. But it is self defeating and hurts your production.
I stumbled across a wiki-how and found it helpful. It points out that you don’t “have” to do anything. Everything is a choice, and you have the power to do it, or not do it. This helps so that you don’t feel victimized by the task. It also stresses focusing on the beginning action, not the daunting or intimidating end product. These seem like common sense ideas, but it’s easy to forget them when your inner conversation is habitually thinking in such a negative way. Check out the complete list here:
How To Overcome Procrastination
American Way suggests that you work on procrastination everyday – testing what works and what doesn’t. You build up an emotional and mental toughness by consciously focusing on overcoming this problem that everyone has to varying degrees. Build up good habits to eventually overcome the bad habits. Read the entire Art of Procrastination here.
It seems simple to just say ‘put your shoulder to the grindstone.’ Procrastination seeps into our lives often unseen, on a subconscious level. Personally, my biggest agitator for such habits is my own self-defeatism, and my want for things to be ‘perfect.’ The best designers that I know aren’t mulling on this idea of making their work the best – they aren’t thinking of the process at all, so much as they are just moving forward with diliberate action. Don’t think, make!
One way I have been getting more things done is by modifying my lists. I use a pad of paper, a ruler and pen to make a total of 14 boxes – seven days split in two for personal and work related tasks. Keep the space small, so you have to use discretion with what you put in the space. Then I fill out what I have to do, while being mindful to not put more than can actually be done in a day. This may force a task to be broken up into smaller parts. When I see my week outlined, I know I have to complete the tasks each day, or I will get behind. If you have any list making habits, I’d be interested to hear about them.
